Our favorite quotes can say a lot about us. Our favorite songs and books are windows to our souls. We enjoy these things because they remind us of ourselves and who we want to be. They are memories in the form of music and words on a page.
I love music. I’ve always found that when I can’t express my emotions, music seems to know what I’m trying to say. These are a collection of some of my favorite lyrics. I hope that you can read them and, somehow, get to know me a little better than before.
1. “Take my hand. Take my whole life too.”
"Can’t Help Falling In Love" by Elvis Presley
My response to the "Should Christians listen to secular music?" debate is best represented by this song. When you are consumed with God, you can find Him everywhere. This love song doesn't have to be about another person. It can be about God. I sing this line to Him and ask Him to take my whole life, not just bits and pieces.
2. “I went searching for an answer, up the stairs and down the all. Not to find an answer just to hear the call.”
"Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Knicks
As an over-thinker, this line stood out when I first heard this song. We can frantically search for answers until we’re exhausted, but we need to remember that figuring everything out isn’t always the best option. Sometimes we’re better off sitting and listening to the call rather than stressing ourselves out on our reply.
3. “All these victims stand in line for the crumbs that fall from the table, just enough to get by. All the while, Your invitation.”
This line is what I want to say to the world. People scrape by in life: physically, mentally, emotionally. The whole time they’re scrounging around looking for something to fill them up. They are too busy to see God waiting with out-stretched arms to welcome them into a life of fulfillment.
4. “The tv talks at me apocalyptically, fosters the fear in me.”
This whole song is amazing both musically and lyrically. I can’t tell you why I relate to this line, but I do. There is a truth to it that I don’t quite comprehend, but I know that it was written for someone like me.
5. “Be enthroned upon the praises of a thousand generations.”
"Be Enthroned" by Bethel Music and Jeremy Riddle
When the opening chord of this song comes on, I have to prepare myself. I know that Heaven and I are about to join forces to praise our Creator. This line is so powerful. I, along with all the generations before me, am proclaiming God’s worthiness together.
6. “I’m a walking travesty.”
At a very difficult time in my life, I used to belt out this song. This line in particular. It was admittance that I wasn’t okay. I was broken. I didn’t try to lie to myself and cover up what I was going through. I sang it out. Now, it’s just a fun song to sing at the top of my lungs and a reminder that it’s okay to not be okay.
7. “Is our skin to keep the world out or our bodies in?”
"A Tale Of Outer Suburbia" by Hands Like Houses
Hands Like Houses are great lyricists. When I first heard this song, I remember being struck by this line. What does it mean? I still can’t give you a definitive answer. Am I destructive to the outside world, and is the outside world destructive to me?
8. “Isn’t it beautiful the way we fall apart. It’s magical and tragic all the ways we break our hearts. So unpredictable. We’re comfortably miserable. We think we’re invincible, completely unbreakable. And maybe we are.”
"We Fall Apart" by We As Human
I remember crying to this song after one of my high school homecomings. I didn’t go with any of my friends because they had either gone to another school’s dance or not gone at all. I felt so empty that night and this song happen to be playing on my car radio. It summed up how awful I felt but also validated the realness of my pain. It reminded me that I was human, and that humans experience pain but also hope.
9. “My world goes black before I feel an angel steal me from the greedy jaws of death and chance and pull me in with steady hands. They’ve given me a second chance, the artist in the ambulance.”
"The Artist in the Ambulance" by Thrice
My mom thinks this song would be great if she could understand the lyrics. I think the song is great either way. It tells a story of someone who has just been in a car wreck and the regrets they had in life. This lyric is the climax of the song when the person receives a second chance. In my interpretation of the song, the artist is God.
10. “You say that you are close. Is close the closest star? You just feel twice as far.”
"Fake You Out" by Twenty One Pilots
This might just be my favorite lyric ever. I think it shows that everything we say is relative to the person who is saying it. What is your definition of “close”? Within arm’s reach? Down the block? Or the nearest star? The words that I speak won’t mean the same to you as they do to me. What these lyrics mean to me is personal. They’re part of my life. They’re expressions of my memories and feelings. I have told you what they mean to me, and I challenge you to find your own meaning in them. Think about lyrics that have meant a great deal to you. Write about them and share them.
