**~Depressed? Little Ducklings' Top Ten Cheerful Songs~** VERY SHINee~! Mostly Godly.
My plans for the past two years to do ministry work in West Africa have not worked out. . . God shut the door, just like He did when Noah entered the ark. There is instead now an open door to go to Japan to teach English in a Christian school. So I'm praying about that. It's a wonderful opportunity. Still... I feel like an idiot for pursuing something for two years that seems to have blown up in my face and been a complete failure.
Sounds like the perfect time to turn to some cheerful songs, ey?
Recently (almost against my will) I have been writing a lot of poetry. It's really amazing when you realize there was only three books of poetry that I really read over and over in elementary school- 1) Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (one summer I think I re-read it every two weeks) 2) Final Harvest by Emily Dickinson (no, I didn't understand any of the poems, but I liked the music of her language, also her plainness/simplicity, and quiet,still, almost Holy-Spirit-like voice... guess I was destined to attend Amherst College) 3) Black Poets edited by Dudley Randall (local poet David Cope gave me this book when I was in sixth grade and I treasured it because it seemed like for the first time I realized that African-American folk write poetry too sigh). Somewhere in there, I read “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein and kind of liked it too, on the basis of recommendation from Mr. Joshua Wells, one of my favorite teachers who also influenced me later in life to become a vegetarian.
I think what really forced me to become interested in poems was all the millions of songs I was exposed to growing up, really. My mom is a singer, and my dad is a hobbyist musician. A lot of all their natural talents passed me by... I can't sing much, and can't play an instrument either. However, I've always been fascinated by song lyrics. There are pages and pages I wrote out in elementary school, copying down song lyrics that I enjoyed and tried to memorize... while I was in Japan, one of my hobbies was also to translate some songs I enjoyed into English, not very easy I know, but it helped me to improve my Japanese skills...
Anyways, here are some of the songs that have helped to cheer me up, hope they can help someone else, too~!!!
1) Josh Groban- “You Are Loved [Don't Give Up].” In regards to lyrics, sometimes simplest is best. Wait a minute, don't I write haiku? Yes, the briefest, most condensed message can have an intensity longer works don't have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLSk3AVcUU
2) Chosen- “No More Pain.” Intense South African Harmonies, man. What could be calmer? And why my goodness isn't this group more widely known?!?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyFjNORODLM
3) BeBe & CeCe Winans- “Heaven.” Ah, the dearly beloved classic. I just found out today there was actually a music video for this song, too~! Happiness~!!! I wish more contemporary gospel artists would develop more calm songs instead of focusing on party hype-type praise songs with a booming baseline...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2x_sPRnRVE
4) The Winans “Count it All Joy.” Nearly forgot about this among the so many other stellar songs of the Winans, but I'm so thankful for my mother because she played this song today and reminded me of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6f47WfJtCA
5) Matt & Sherry McPherson- “Carry Me.” I plan on buying their whole CD after hearing this one song, no kidding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXjT8Jz3Fqk
6) Selah- “Unredeemed.” Now this is a poetic prayer song. Very deep. Yeah~!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhOSspNj84w
7) Wayne Watson- “Friend of a Wounded Heart.” The classic. Lyrics have a lot more deep meaning than many songs nowadays. I love the version Damaris Carbaugh sings but couldn't find it online, sorry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgq-GPRKVkg
8) Byron Cage- "I will Bless the Lord." Sneaky song. Even if you don't feel like it, he will make you sing along with him by the end of the song. And you'll be praising the Lord fer reals. Yea~!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR1UzUhPknc
9) Damita- “No Looking Back.” It is just crazy amazing how well she and her husband can sing, yo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IhNqocWrxk&feature=related
10) Hillsong- “Mighty to Save.” At a certain time in my life this very much spoke to me. It will always be on this list for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-08YZF87OBQ
11) DeWayne Woods- "Let Go."This is one of those songs I heard just the last five seconds of, and then I had to search and search and listen to the radio like mad until I could finally find out WHO was that and what was the song title. Heh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76o4xhxIKfs&NR=1&feature=fvwp
12) Deitrick Haddon- “He's Able.” I like the way he sings so confidently and matter-of-fact. That's faith.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GVZeRIaAhI
13) Seabird- “Don't You Know You're Beautiful.” I was visiting a Detroit church and staying at the pastor's house. This song came on the Christian station. It really spoke to me at the time, when I was having a string of disappointments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsaMplgr3c4
14) Nicol Sponberg- “Resurrection.” Together with one of the little girls that I mentor in the neighborhood, I saw a dance to this song which was so touching and inspiring, which was performed in my hometown for our Festival of the Arts downtown by special needs kids. Never forget that, a memory precious in my life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t8Sk6cZ-PA
15) Erykah Badu- “Didn't Cha Know.” Not Christian... but a mesmerizing beat with a meaningful message. Everybody's felt that way sometimes... like we were born to make mistakes. But God will guide us to the right path if we trust Him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np21rH7Ldto
16) Coldplay- “Fix You.” For the awards ceremony of ArtPrize 2010, there was a dance company out of Texas that created an lavish production to this song with costumes. It was about the frustrations and joys of one day in the life of an artist. The gentleman was at an easel, trying to pain, while there was a forest of plants behind him, inspiring him and encouraging him although he at times felt unable to express what he really wanted to. I had never heard this song before. It brought tears to my eyes for some reason, even though I felt like I didn't really understand what the song was about at first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skUJ-B6oVDQ
Guess I can't count. Somehow I ended up with six extra songs there. Oh yeah, and this list would not be from Little Duckling without some Japanese songs thrown in:
Kyu Sakamoto- 'Sukiyaki Song' Ue wo muite Arukou This translation is maybe not so good, but at least you can kind of understand the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U2nBre-JEU&feature=related
The BOOM- “Shima Uta” There is a lot of pain and the ups and downs of life inside this song. The first time I heard it, I didn't understand a word but was nearly instantly driven to tears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ggJquImms
Kariyushi 58-“The End, the Beginning” “Owari, Hajimari”
Thanks to my friend Yui, just found out about this Okinawa group. Like her, I really like groups from Okinawa for some reason. Sorry no English translation I could find yet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOh6Sy7dXTo
Next post... planning to share three recent poems. Now let's see, which ones are good...
