Friday, December 30, 2011

Stripping Cane - Jeffrey Foucault



"There's no more room for angels
To dance or even stand
Upon this pin entangled
Bleeding sugar from our hands
Bleeding ashes from our feet
Won't you help me count my sheep
Won't you help me count my sheep tonight

You make your heart a decoration
It's like a broken violin
So carefully made empty
Taking only silence in
Taking saccharine to kill your pain
Won't you help me stripping cane
Won't you help me stripping cane tonight

Stripping cane for something sweet
Stripping cane a man complete is born
His heart a thing to hold both dark and light
Stripping cane no tongue can tell
The silent ring of this empty bell
Won't you tell me fare thee well
Fare thee well tonight

I've got nowhere to go now
I'm like a bird in an eclipse
And the grammar of our bodies
Breathing poems to our lips
Breathing verses out of rhyme
Won't you help me killing time
Won't you help me killing time tonight

There's no more room for angels
To dance or even stand
Upon this pin entangled
Bleeding sugar from our hands
Bleeding ashes from our feet
Won't you help me count my sheep
Won't you help me count my sheep tonight
Won't you help me count my sheep tonight
Won't you help me"


I don't remember how I first found Jeffery Foucault, but it was an actual CD, with a plastic cover and paper jacket. His CD STRIPPING CANE ministered to me before I even knew what the genre was. I just knew I wanted more. I recommend his newest CD also, HORSE LATITUDES. Good kickback-thinking music. Hard to understand his vocal lyrics sometimes, but I suppose that's why it's good thinking music....they don't interfere with your own.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Sidewalk Prophets



"Leaving family and friends to live on the road for half of each year, sleeping in the janitor’s closet at some venues, and making due with beans and cornbread while constantly honing their triplet calling of songwriting, performing, and ministering to the kind of kids that never got picked first for kickball sounds a lot like tenacious work ethic than luck. 'It literally took stepping out on a ledge to get us where we are today,' Dave declares. 'We moved to Nashville on a wing and a prayer with nothing but an EP and a determination to play anywhere and everywhere we could. It was not safety that we were looking for, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t nights when I would lie awake and wonder what God was up to."


(Most Christian music feels too sappy for my dark nature, but today these songs are completely ministering to me.)


THE WORDS I WOULD SAY

♫Three in the morning, and I'm still awake
So I picked up a pen and a page
And I started writing just what I'd say
If we were face to face

I'd tell you just what you mean to me
Tell you these simple truths

Be strong in the Lord
And never give up hope
You're gonna do great things
I already know
God's got His hand on You
So don't live life in fear
Forgive and forget
But don't forget why you're here
Take your time and pray
These are the words I would say

Last time we spoke you said you were hurting
And I felt your pain in my heart
I want to tell you that I keep on praying
That love will find you where you are
I know cause I've already been there
So please hear these simple truths

Say... from one simple life to another
I will say... come find peace in the Father♫







YOU LOVED ME ANYWAY

♫The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind
Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me

It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me

I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway
See now, I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking
ground

Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes,You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
You love me, yes You love me
How You love me♫

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Let it go - Tenth Avenue North





It's hard to let go and give control over. We try so hard to affect outcomes. We try so hard to prepare. We try so damn hard.


♫I’ve been holding on so tight
Look at these knuckles they’ve grown white
I’m fighting for who I want to be
I’m just trying to find security

You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the ones who lose control
You say it will be everything I need
You say if I lose my life, it’s then I’ll find my soul
You say let it go

Well it’s hard enough to hear
Harder still to move beyond this fear
We know there’s nothing I can bring
So tell me what do You want from me?

You say let it go
What do I love? What do I hate?
What will I lose? What will I gain?
How do I save my soul?
What if I bend? What if I break?
What will it cost? What will it take?
For You to save my soul?♫

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Say Goodbye - Katharine McPhee





♫If I seem distant, baby I am
Words are like scissors, in (my) hands
And there's no script to follow, so I just close my eyes
That way it won't hurt so much, when we say goodbye

I feel just like an actress, up on the stage
I can't believe, what I'm hearing myself say
And a porch light is my spotlight, so I play along with this lie
That way it won't hurt so much, when we say goodbye

Did you ever love me? Does it even matter?
Did you even notice, the whole word shatter?
I just want to hold you, and tell you that I'm sorry
But I just keep it all inside
That way it won't hurt so much, when we say goodbye

My heart feels like a circus
It's too much to take in
It's hard to lose a love
But you were my best friend

So walk this high wire, alone tonight
That way it won't hurt so much, when we say goodbye♫

Friday, December 9, 2011

Chances - Five For Fighting





♫Chances are when said and done
Who'll be the lucky ones
Who make it all the way?
Though you say I could be your answer
Nothing lasts forever
No matter how it feels today

Chances are we´ll find a new equation
Chances roll away from me
Chances are all they hope to be

Don't get me wrong I'd never say never
Cause though love can change the weather
No act of God can pull me away from you

I´m just a realistic man
A bottle filled with shells and sand
Afraid to love beyond what I can lose when it comes to you
And though I see us through yeah

Chances are we´ll find two destinations
Chances roll away from me
Still chances are more than expectations
The possibilities
Over me
Eight to five, two to one
Lay your money on the sun
until you crash what have you done?
Is there a better bet than love?
What you are is what you breathe
You gotta cry before you sing

Chances chances

Chances lost are hopes torn up pages
Maybe this time
Chances are we´ll be the combination
Chances come and carry me
Chances are waiting to be taken
And I can see
Chances are the fascination
Chances won't escape from me
Chances are only what we make them
And all I need♫

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

For My Marion




"Our Hope Endures"


♫You would think only so much can go wrong
Calamity only strikes once
And you assume this one has suffered her share
Life will be kinder from here
Oh, but sometimes the sun stays hidden for years
Sometimes the sky rains night after night
When will it clear?

But our Hope endures the worst of conditions
It's more than our optimism
Let the earth quake
Our Hope is unchanged

How do we comprehend peace within pain?
Or joy at a good man's wake?
Walk a mile with the woman whose body is torn
With illness but she marches on
Oh, 'cause sometimes the sun stays hidden for years
Sometimes the sky rains night after night
When will it clear?

But our Hope endures the worst of conditions
It's more than our optimism
Let the earth quake
Our Hope is unchanged

Emmanuel, God is with us
El Shaddai, all sufficient
We never walk alone
And this is our hope

But our Hope endures the worst of conditions
It's more than our optimism
Let the earth quake
Our Hope is unchanged♫