Oaklaw Nopry Music

Archive for the ‘music lyrics’ Category

Whether read or listened to, southern gospel music lyrics have the focus and the message that grounds you in an attitude of thankfulness and humbleness, whether you are Christian or not.

Of all the genres of music popular today, one of the most authentically original is black gospel and souther gospel music. The gospel music song lyrics are one of the most searched for items on the internet, and for one good reason. They uplift. They pick you up.

Let’s look at two of the most popular gospel songs and see why.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is perhaps one of the most famous and popular American songs, well beyond the gospel category. Here are the opening lyrics:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me….

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

Aside music itself, which sends shivers down your spine from the opening notes, the lyrics speak to a universal condition. All of us, at various times, feel lost and unworthy, blind and hopeless. So this song’s lyrics bring a powerful message of the bliss of when we find our way, our purpose, whatever that might be.

Beulah Land

This song is one of my favorites. It is so short, but it speaks to the longing for a home that we all feel: a place where our separations and sorrows of this world will no longer intrude.

I’m kind of homesick for a country

To which I’ve never been before.

No sad goodbyes will there be spoken

for time won’t matter anymore.

This song is a great example of how universal the southern gospel themes are, breaking out of the bounds of bible-thumbing Jesus-saved me politics, and speaking to the human condition in a timeless way. Beulah Land closes out with these amazing lyrics:

I’m looking now across the river

where my faith will end in sight.

There’s just a few more days to labor.

Then I will take my heavenly flight.

Cure Those Blues Now

How ironic that another great southern music tradition is the blues, and this phrase has entered our language to denote ‘being down.’ If you think about it, perhaps it’s only logical that the 19th century slavery experience would lead 20th century African American culture — still segregated and oppressed for much of that century too — to develop two great music traditions that denote the depressed condition (the Blues), and provide the antidote (Gospel Music).

So pump yourself up with some gospel music – you can either listen to it online or, one of my favorites, is to print out the lyrics to my favorite songs. Once you’re up again, feeling good, and all jazzed up, then it’s time to listen to the third great black southern music tradition, Jazz. But that’s another whole story.

Additional Resources

You can find southern & black gospel music lyrics online at: Black Gospel Song Lyrics

Christian music is changing. It’s changing both in form and style, in terms of how it’s played and performed, but just as much, it’s also changing people, leading them closer to Christ. Christian music has become more and more mainstream where it’s hard to differentiate between mainstream music and Christian music. The difference between mainstream music and Christian music is that the Christian music lyrics are a positive alternative, not just another negative song out on the market.

Just the other day, listening to the radio, I heard Alive by P.O.D. on KROQ, an extremely secular radio station. This proves how Christian music is changing and evolving because it’s becoming more and more adopted as normal music than it is this church-going, hymnal music.

Christian music is becoming more of a “positive alternative” than it is this independent genre of its own that people stay away from. The positive aspect of Christian music though, is the how the Christian lyrics are influenced. It’s not the beat, it’s not the sound, but it’s the actual Christian lyrics that are being integrated into mainstream media.

Another band that can be captured in this is Switchfoot. Switchfoot lyrics are heavily influenced by Christianity, but they are not considered to be a Christian band by the secular world. They are certainly Christian rock lyrics, but still just rock lyrics in the eyes of the world.

There is the complete flip side of that though, such as Casting Crowns. Their lyrics are strongly influenced by Christianity and they are labeled as a Christian band because their music is more worship-focused. Christian worship music is almost a complete genre by itself because of how huge it is.

How has Christian worship music changed over time? It’s become quite a bit more modern. Casting Crowns is a great example of how it’s been modernized because it’s not the traditional organ and piano, but you have the complete band with guitar, drums, including the piano. It’s a complete band that sounds like a normal band, but it takes a worship aspect.

Christian music is a genre of music that cannot be ignored as a genre because of how massive it is. There are really no other religions which have such a prominent role in music as Christianity does.

There is a new company called i/denti/tee that opened for business in December 2008. They have partnered with EDUN Live, a project to create jobs in Africa, created by Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, Hard Rock Café and iTunes who offer10 free downloads with each purchase!

 

Through their custom widget, they are also running a debate on site about what the best “I” lyric of all time, which you can imagine has gotten pretty heated. And their engineering some pretty cool data visualizations around the results from the debate. The widget was built it to get people talking about all kinds of music together.

 

At this time, there are 9 i/denti/tee t-shirts in production, however they are working on adding lots more. People can go to their website and add their favorite song lyrics that begin with “i”

 

After that, you can vote on which “i” lyrics make it to the next batch of i/denti/tee t-shirts that will go into production. My personal favorite already for sale looks like this – istillhaventfoundwhatimlookingfor – kinda makes you look at lyrics differently in a cool kinda way, doesn’t it? All copyright issues become resolved through hard work to make sure all of our printed lyrics have been legally cleared by the publisher and that the shirts are sourced locally from Africa.

Users can pick from a pre-cleared set of lyrics (U2, Jay-Z, Coldplay, to name a few) or they can enter the music debate themselves by submitting their favorite lyric, garnering support for it, and getting it cleared to print and wear.

 

These efforts have created a new, responsible and ethical line of t-shirts that allow music lovers to express their passion for music by wearing their favorite lyrics on their chest. Inspired by a love for music and the lyrics of their favorite songs, i/denti/tee gives other people the opportunity to express themselves.

 

i/denti/tee has an opportunity to grow into something big. It’s not only a fun project but also provides opportunity, which helps to heal our world. Imagine the t-shirt you would like to design. What song lyric means the most to you? What is the meaning and how does it relate to your life? I have hundreds of song “I” lyrics posted on my blog and feel free to add yours too.