I wrote a song today. I used to write lots of poetry, but I think this is the first time I sat down to intentionally write a song. The first couple of lines came to mind while I was driving to work. When I had some time, I Googled every phrase and several artists lyrics, just to be sure I wasn’t remembering a song instead of thinking one up. I didn’t come up with anything terribly similar, so I’m assuming that it’s mine. I rewrote it several times, trying for better internal structure, and came up with one I liked pretty well. Not that I’m planning to try to become famous (haha), but I am thinking of submitting it to my worship pastor. He has written a few of the songs we sing at church and maybe he’ll write some music for it if he likes it. That would be kind of neat, hearing my song in church. It’s a praise song for sure, but it’s not exactly “Word of God Speak” or anything.
I know a lot of people hate Christian music, but I personally like lots of it. The main criticisms I hear are that it’s “sappy” and that the “songs and/or artists would never make it if it weren’t such a specific genre”. I disagree. Certainly not as many of them would be popular, but we can see from the Mainstream songlists that quite a few songs cross-over from Christian to Mainstream radio stations. It’s just that most people don’t know they were on Christian radio first. Also, most of my favorite Christian artists I think would make it just as well in Mainstream radio if they chose not to sing what they sing now. They have good voices, good bands, good writing. Again, obviously not true of all or even most Christian artists, but some. In any case, I think some are much better than a lot of the craptacular stuff i hear on mainstreams stations. Then again, I frequently dislike the music that music snobs recommend to me, so don’t take my word for it. Usually about 1/3 is stuff i like. I’ve never claimed to have good taste in music, just MY taste in music.
I need to note something… I dreamt last night that I was going to marry Zach Braff (definitely not someone who does it for me) and we were having an engagement party / weekend and of course everything was going awry. Only, he was much sexier in my dream. Then again, so was I. Go figure.
Silently Surviving 
August 15th, 2007 at 1:17 am
do you sing or play instruments? i say, lay down a recording yourself! that way you can make the song just how you want it. it’s so easy in this age when almost every computer has recording capabilities. if you do, i’d love to hear it. 🙂 i write songs (tho i haven’t written one in about a year…i need to be inspired…) and have loved how easy it’s become to make recordings of them.
ryc: yes. i am in total agreement with you about trying to figure out why someone really gets under your skin. it usually is very revealing. as for one of these people…i can’t really put my finger on it. there are several different things really. but i’m figuring that if God is intent on making me continually relate to her, there must be something i’m supposed to be learning from all of this. i hope that lesson happens asap!!!
August 15th, 2007 at 10:58 am
So who do you listen to (in the realm of Christian music)? I like a few but not many, I like Jars of Clay, Bebo Norman, Nicole Nordeman, and others similiar to them.
August 16th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
LOL @ your Scrubs-like dream.
“I’ve never claimed to have good taste in music, just MY taste in music.” That says it all! It’s for you and not a competition. Live your life not someone else’s. Enjoy what YOU enjoy.
I personally don’t like a lot of praise music and am ignorant of popular Christian music after the early 1990s (i.e., when I gave up trying to be a Christian/left Evangelical world); but that’s ME.
So you go grrl