Music and Lyrics

Songs have a way of eloquently and elegantly expressing thoughts, emotions, truths and experiences that no other medium of art possesses. Somehow when beautifully crafted words are set to carefully concocted melodies, certain sentiments -- from the most mundane to the highly controversial -- become tolerable, easier to accept and more believable. Such is the talent and skill of singer-songwriters.

These gifted wordsmiths have such an impeccable knack for conveying their ideas through song that those of us who take time to listen and ponder on the lyrical content of their work would instantly or eventually find them relatable. It almost seems like these songwriters have taken a peek into our hearts and minds and proceeded to write songs based on our thoughts and experiences.

I totally have great admiration (and partial envy) for musicians who write exceptionally well, encapsulate their thoughts into words proficiently, and combine it with music skillfully.

I love how singer-songwriters like Jon Foreman of Switchfoot can take an issue like the commodification of sex and sing about it (Easier Than Love) without condemning or pinning guilt on anyone, while effectively educating listeners about effects of this generation's casual relationship with the most intimate of all human activities.

I admire how Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic captures the daily human struggle of choosing right from wrong and the conflicting emotions that ensue ("I feel something so right doing the wrong thing... I feel something so wrong doing the right thing." -- Counting Stars).

I applaud the way Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay expresses the anguish of a broken soul caught in the miserable pain of feeling great abandonment ("I thought you left me for the wreckage and the waste on an empty beach of faith." -- Silence).

I enjoy how Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons masterfully iterates the frustration of having people and world systems pull us down and how in spite of that we manage to get back up and flourish  ("I was choking in the crowd. Building my rain up in the cloud. Falling like ashes to the ground. Hoping my feelings, they would drown but they never did..." -- Believer).

Oftentimes, these verbal craftsmen express for us what we either can't begin to articulate or won't even dare to. At any rate, I'm glad their music and lyrics find resonance with some, if not all, of our thoughts, emotions, truths and experiences because they give us a means by which we can convey what may sometimes lie buried inside the deep recesses of our hearts and minds.

Thank God for skillful and talented singer-songwriters.