Drowning Man

Long time no blog. Sometimes life intervenes. There's a long list of songs this time, but a normal set of featured tunes, so there shouldn't be too much more of my words to wade through than usual.

Featured tunes: "Drowning Man" by U2, "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles, and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.

Drowning Man - "Hold on, hold on tightly / Rise up, rise up / With wings like eagles / You run, you run, you run and not grow weary." This is one of my very favorite songs and has been ever since I bought U2's "War" in 1983. It's haunting, powerful, and encouraging. I know I'm not alone holding it in such high esteem - my great friend, college roommate, and brother-in-law, Kurt, had the lyrics hanging up in his room in college. (Not sure if I was supposed to notice or know that.) I always felt the song's power. I thought it was about a man being pulled up by a woman's love - somehow not noticing that it says "His love will last forever." One of the first times I went to our family's current church (they had gone to other churches without me before; I wasn't interested) - I instantly took a liking to a brief song that went "God will raise you up on eagles' wings...". I knew it echoed "Drowning Man" and decided to do a little research. Reading Isaiah 40:31 for the first time hit me like a ton of bricks - "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary." All the times I'd sung along, I'd been reciting the Old Testament! What a revelation. Many Christians, often including myself, decry the current state of moral decay in the world. I think we overlook many things that bear witness to us, by failing to listen. I'm sure I'll recount others in the future in this blogspace - I really try to pay attention. The ones I notice will, no doubt, be heavily outweighed by those I don't. I'm a constant work in progress - but I'm God's handiwork, and that makes me good. Just like you.

Eleanor Rigby - "Look at all the lonely people." A couple of posts back (Broken, Beat & Scarred), I promised a list of the saddest songs on my iPod:
6. (Tie) Mothers of the Disappeared, Running to Stand Still, and One Tree Hill, all from U2's "Joshua Tree"
5. Don't Get So Down On Yourself - Chris Isaak
4. I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash (written by and orginally performed by Sting)
3. Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
2. Bulletproof Weeks - Matt Nathanson
1. Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles

Everybody Wants to Rule the World - "I can't stand this indecision / Married with a lack of vision / Everybody wants to rule the world." I can't hear this song without thinking about college - the song was huge as I started my sophomore year. I surely don't want to rule the world. I have enough to keep up with just being a normal guy. The album (for those of you too young to remember, that's the big black vinyl thing we had before CDs) "Songs From the Big Chair", which produced this song and several other hits, was monumental. It achieved far more success than anything Tears for Fears had done previously or anything they would do in the future. There were quite a few bands that had that happen in the same timeframe - INXS with "Kick" (although they had several really good releases), "Once Upon a Time" by Simple Minds, Def Leppard's "Pyromania", even Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" and REO Speedwagon's "Hi Infidelity".

• Drag Me Down - Tonic
• Draggin' the Line - Tommy James & The Shondells
• Drain You - Nirvana
• Dream of Mirrors - Iron Maiden
• Dreaming With a Broken Heart - John Mayer
• Dreamline - Rush
• Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
• Dreams Be Dreams - Jack Johnson
• Drifter - Iron Maiden
• Drifting Away - Fastball
• Drink the Water - Jack Johnson
• Drive - The Cars
• Drive - Incubus : "Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear / And I can't help but ask myself how much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer. / It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal."
  
• Drive - R.E.M.
• Drive My Car - The Beatles
• Drive On - Johnny Cash
• Driven - Rush
• Driven to Tears - The Police
• Driver 8 - R.E.M. : "And the train conductor says, 'Take a break Driver 8. Driver 8, take a break. We've been on this shift too long.'"
  
• Drown - Smashing Pumpkins
• Drown In My Own Tears - The Smithereens
• Drowning Man - U2
• Dry - Kutless
• Duck and Run - 3 Doors Down
• The Duellists - Iron Maiden
• Dumb - Nirvana
• Dumb Love - Stone Temple Pilots
• E-Bow The Letter - R.E.M.
• Earth to Bella, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 - Incubus
• Easy - Fuel
• Easy Skanking - Bob Marley
• Eater - Fastball
• Echo - Incubus
• Echo - Vertical Horizon
• The Economy of Mercy - Switchfoot
• Edge of My Seat - Switchfoot

Back-to-back from Switchfoot

• Eight Days a Week - The Beatles
• El Scorcho - Weezer
• Eleanor - Jet
  
• Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
• Election Day - Lyle Lovett
• Electric Barberella - Duran Duran
• Electrolite - R.E.M.
• Elevation - U2
• Elvis Presley and America - U2

U2 B2B (back-to-back)

• Emily - Fastball
• Emotion Detector - Rush
• Emotional - Fastball
• Empty Spaces - Fuel
• The End - The Beatles
• The End of the Line - Metallica
• End Over End - Foo Fighters
• Endgame - R.E.M.
• Endless Supply - The Pernice Brothers
• Enemy - Jack Johnson
• The Enemy Within, Pt. 1 of "Fear" - Rush
• Enough Space - Foo Fighters : Possibly the greatest SCREAM song ever. Dave Grohl just lets loose - I couldn't talk for days after the concert scream-along.
  
• Enter Sandman - Metallica : Best heavy metal song ever?
  
• Entre Nous - Rush : "Just between us, I think it's time for us to recognize the differences we sometimes fear to show / Just between us, I think it's time for us to realize, the spaces in between leave room for you and I to grow."
  
• Epilogue (Resolution) - Triumph
• Epiphany - Staind
• Erase/Replace - Foo Fighters
• Erosion - Switchfoot
• Eve of Destruction - The Turtles
• Even Better Than the Real Thing - U2
• Even the Losers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Everlong - Foo Fighters
• Every Breath You Take - The Police
• Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police

Double-shot of The Police

• Every Time I Think of You - The Babys
• Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
• Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something - King's X
• Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears
• Everybody Wants You - Billy Squier
• Everybody Wins - Celia Whitler
• Everyday Glory - Rush
• Everything's Not Lost - Coldplay
• Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon
• Everything Zen - Bush : "I don't believe that Elvis is dead"
  
• Everytime I See Your Face - Live
• The Evil That Men Do - Iron Maiden
• Exhausted - Foo Fighters
• Exhuming McCarthy - R.E.M.
• Exit - U2
• Exodus - Bob Marley : "Open your eyes and look within / Are you satisfied with the life you're living?"
  
• Expecting - The White Stripes
• Exploder - Audioslave
• Eyes Wide Open - Goo Goo Dolls
• Eyes Without a Face - Billy Idol

Summary:
Whew! Finished the D's and got through all the E's
Listened to 90 songs, skipped 7 (all live versions)
5 Dream, 6 Drive, Echo Echo, 2 Eleanors (Jet imitating The Beatles again), 5 Ends, 2 Enemy, 13 Every, 2 Eyes

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Now playing: U2 - Drowning Man
via FoxyTunes