My Soundtrack For 2007

I have noticed that some authors are now including a list of the music they listened to while writing their book (Donald Miller comes to mind). I thought that might be a pretty cool thing for me to start doing. Below is my soundtrack for 2007. Each of these twelve songs has impacted me this past year. I’ve even set up an easy way for you to buy this soundtrack!

Creating this playlist was difficult. I set some guidelines for myself before I got started. First, I decided to limit the list to twelve songs. This was a fairly arbitrary decision, but I figured without it I’d be putting just any old song on the album. Second, there’s no more than one song per artist. I really wanted to capture the broadest picture possible with this list and figured that multiple tracks by the same artist might hinder that. Last, I would use both quantitative and qualitative data to make my decision. The quantitative data is how many times I played the song in iTunes (and how long the track stayed on repeat in my car, though I don’t have any solid numbers for that). The qualitative data is how the song impacted my heart. One song in particular I didn’t listen to very often in 2007 because I only got it in December but I consider it to be a very important part of this playlist.

So without further ado, here’s the list.

1. All I Can See by Brendan James from The Ballroom Break-In EP - This song makes me want to travel the world, take risks and do things I all sorts of things I wouldn’t normally do. And his voice! There are certain singers out there who sound like they aren’t even trying. This man is one of them. You may not have heard of him before but I’m telling you he’s something special. “Those who journey can easily understand. The more they see, the more they’ll learn, the more that they will be. So this I swear to you and this I swear to me. I’ll never rest till I’ve seen all I can see.”

2. Overkill by Colin Hay from Man @ Work - I first heard this song on Scrubs. Colin Hay, former lead singer for the band Men At Work, is the town troubadour following Zach Braff’s character in the Season 2 premiere. This song perfectly describes the way I felt this summer while fund raising for my job with the Navigators. There’s a sense of hopelessness and inadequacy throughout the song. “I can’t get to sleep. I think about the implications of diving in too deep and possibly the complications. Especially at night I worry over situations. I know we’ll be alright. Perhaps it’s just imagination.”

3. Work by Jars of Clay from Good Monsters - It’s no secret that I’m a huge Jars of Clay fan. I have 266 of their songs in my iTunes library. This song makes the list because it was really the cry of my heart during my first full year out of college. I had been so used to living in the dorms and having lots of friends close by. All of a sudden that was gone. I didn’t fight hard enough for community in my life and often I felt very alone. “I have no fear of drowning. It’s the breathing that’s taking all this work.”

4. Mockingbird by Derek Webb from Mockingbird - Derek Webb captures the frustration of my doubt and my desire to be a more committed man of God in this song. So often this year, and every year since I started to follow Christ, I’ve felt like I’m just spinning my wheels and not making any real ground. It’s probably the most common form of discouragement that I face. I listened to both this version and the acoustic version found on One Zero [acoustic] quite a bit this year. “I’ll do all I can to be a better man. I’ll clean up this act and be worse than when we started.”

5. Hands of the Potter by Caedmon’s Call from Chronicles, 1992-2004 - This song compliments the one that comes before it perfectly. Whereas Mockingbird is very self-focused, Hands of the Potter acknowledges that any spiritual transformation that takes place in a person’s life is a direct result of God’s influence and interaction. “LORD if I’m the clay then lay me down on Your spinning wheel. Shape me into something You can fill, something real.”

6. Can’t Stop by Leeland from Sound of Melodies – I think most new Christian artists aren’t very good, that they simply lack creativity. Not so with Leeland. This band is incredible. I could have chosen any song from their album Sound of Melodies because there isn’t any “filler” on the album. This song describes my continual desire to fall more in love with God. “I can’t believe You’re here close to me. It’s getting hard to stand but I don’t want to leave. Your beauty stands out like a bright light shining through the clouds. It’s overwhelming just to be with You now.”

7. Here Come Those Eyes by Chris Rice from What a Heart is Beating For - I just started listening to this song over Christmas break but I instantly fell for it. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good love song. Chris Rice is an incredible lyricist and doesn’t get nearly as much credit as he should. “Here come those eyes. There goes my ability to breathe. Those legs are walking her to me. Oh tell me I ain’t dreaming. Here comes that smile. I can’t even move, can’t even blink. ‘Cause I don’t want to miss a thing. And I ain’t even foolin’ when I say the boys are droolin’ and the girls are all staring her down. My knees go weak and my heart starts to pound!”

8. Stolen by Dashboard Confessional from Dusk and Summer - Here’s another love song for you. I’m not really a Dashboard fan. In fact, this is the only song of theirs I own. But this song just has so much passion behind it that I found myself listening to it a lot this fall. I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships this year, probably because I’ve attended so many weddings. I guess this song evokes thoughts of finding that perfect person someday. “Watch you spin around in the highest heals. You are the best one of the best ones.”

9. Dreaming of You by The Coral from The Coral - Musically this is one of the catchiest songs I’ve found in a long time. In fact, I played this song in iTunes more than any other this year: a whopping 74 times! (Remember, I have a desktop, so that’s just when I’m at home on my computer. I played it countless times in my car too.) The song is all about still needing someone even though you know they’re no good for you. Please, don’t read too much into that. “Up in my lonely room when I’m dreaming of you. Oh, what can I do? I still need you but I don’t want you now.”

10. Winter by Joshua Radin from We Were Here - My roommates joke that I have a man crush on Joshua Radin. I forced myself to wait until I’d raised 75% of my fund raising goal for my job with the Navigators before I’d buy his album. I knew if I bought it before then I’d never get anything done. When I did finally get his album it didn’t leave my car CD player for almost three months. It was very difficult for me to choose which of his songs to add, but in the end I had to go with the one that launched his career. Winter is a really sad song about remembering someone you’ve lost. I was drawn to it because of his haunting voice and stellar lyrics. “I could have lost myself in rough blue waters in your eyes. And I miss you still.”

11. Alive with the Glory of Love by Say Anything from …Is a Real Boy - I need to do a good job explaining this choice because this song has some cursing and talks a lot about sex. It’s about the lead singer’s grandparents and their experiences during the Holocaust. I found it to be an incredibly unique look at the pain and fear a couple going through those events must have gone through. Actually, I prefer the acoustic version, but it’s not on any album. So go ahead, rebuke me if you must. I think it’s a winner. “Should they catch us and dispatch us to those separate work camps, I’ll dream about you. I will not doubt you with the passing of time. Should they kill me your love will fill me as warm as the bullet. I’ll know my purpose. This war was worth this. I won’t let you down.”

12. Guy Love by Donald Faison & Zach Braff from Scrubs: My Musical - This year I discovered a delightful little TV show called Scrubs. I have become a huge fan, so much so that I now own all six seasons on DVD. This song is part of the episode My Musical. There’s a patient who has a brain aneurysm which is causing her to hear everyone’s normal talking as singing (this premise was based on an actual medical case). So the entire episode features the cast singing these Broadway-style songs. My favorite is this song between J.D. and Turk. I recently found out the the FSU a cappella band Floodline performed this song at their spring concert this year. “Sometimes it’s easier to hide than explain our guy love. That’s all it is. Guy love: he’s mine I’m his. There’s nothing gay about it in our eyes. You ask me ’bout this thing we share. And he tenderly replies. It’s guy love between two guys.”

So what do you think? Wish you could buy this amazing soundtrack? Well, actually, you can! I turned this beauty into an iMix on iTunes. Essentially that means I took one of my playlists and published it so others could see it. Since all twelve of these tracks are available on iTunes for download you can grab this whole album for a mere $11.88! Or you could buy individual songs off of it too. Just click here to have a look at it. You’ll need iTunes installed on your computer first.

So that’s my soundtrack for 2007. I’ve already found a song or two that might make next year’s edition. If you like my taste in music and you’re ever wondering what I’m listening to throughout the course of the year you can head on over to my last.fm account. That’ll tell you what I’ve been playing in iTunes.