Rick has dropped the gauntlet once again. He went to Starbucks and bought one of their feature albums. In this case, it was a “favorite picks” compilation from Elvis Costello. So Rick has asked us to put together a single “favorite picks” CD album of for ourselves. That shouldn’t have been such a hard thing. After all, I did it for him once before.
But this time was different. First, the list had to be shorter. It had to fit on one CD. Second, the songs are not supposed to be historically or culturally important. Instead, I focused upon music that was meaningful to me. Sounds easy. I could just take my previous list and voila, right? Wrong. My previous list was a rapid stroll through pop music history. This was a walk through Lorin’s life. And I’m pretty complex. I can think of dozens of songs that have touched me – each and every year.
So I closed my eyes and thought about songs that would either define me or define how I felt at a particular point in time. Well, my first cut had over fifty songs. And each meant something. Knowing this was too large, I took out my mental scissors. As I cut, I asked myself whether the ommission of this song from my life would have left me a poorer soul. Yeah, I know that such a question is too subjective. But it got me to about twenty songs.
From there, it was a matter of tossing coins and re-listening to all of the songs. I reached seventeen songs. And these songs would fit on one audio CD. So I have burned the disk and printed labels. Here is the list:
1. Snoopy vs. the Red Baron / The Royal Guardsmen
2. Hotel California / The Eagles
3. Dust in the Wind / Kansas
4. Your Love Broke Though / Keith Green
5. The Power of Love / Huey Lewis & the News
6. Joy in the Journey / Michael Card
7. Faith Makes / Glad
8. Lead of Love / Caedmon’s Call
9. Dandelions / Five Iron Frenzy
10 Pray for Rain / PFR
11. Deeper / Delirious?
12. Too Many Miles / The Waiting
13. Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of / U2
14. Anything but Ordinary / Avril Lavigne
15. The Eleventh Hour / Jars of Clay
16. I Can Only Imagine / MercyMe
17. I Am / Nichole Nordeman
You may not recognize some of these artists. But they each touched me somewhere deep inside my spirit. Some remind me of a particular time (like “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron”). Others re-ignite my spirit to look beyond myself and my circumstances. Each of these songs merits paragraphs of explanation. Someday, I may take the time to record those paragraphs. But for now, I am content to hand the disk to Rick. And I am content to spend Father’s Day thinking about how my heavenly Father has blessed me beyond my comprehension – and my own merit!
Happy Father’s Day to all. Dad, I love you!
-CyclingRoo-
Tags: Music that Matters