Top 100 Songs: #50-#41

My musings are getting longer as we get into the top 50...

• #50: Graceland (Paul Simon - 1986)
• I've actually written an entire deeply theological post based on this song… which I fully admit is not what Paul Simon intended when he wrote and recorded it.
• #49: If the House Burns Down Tonight (Switchfoot - 2016)
• A great rocker of a song - with a lyric about what really matters.
• "And all those lies that mattered most to me / Were draining me dry making a ghost of me / And if the house burns down tonight / I got everything I need, everything I need / There’s a fire coming that we all will go through / You possess your possessions or they possess you / And if the house burns down tonight / I got everything I need when I got you by my side / And let the rest burn"
• #48: Hard to Get (Rich Mullins - 1998)
• I have always appreciated Rich's honesty and faith, his humor mixed with seriousness. This is the guy who walked into the Christian bookstore I worked at looking for Frederick Buechner books... and then told me that he "punished" bad audiences by refusing to play my favorite song of his, "Elijah".
• The week before he died in a car accident (in September of 1997), Rich Mullins sat down in an abandoned church with a cassette recorder to make a demo of the nine songs that would eventually become The Jesus Record. "Hard to Get" is a plaintive psalm both questioning God and leaning on faith in Him.
• "What I really need to know / Is if You who live in eternity / Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time / We can't see what's ahead / And we cannot get free from what we've left behind..."
• There are two versions of this song:
• the Rick Elias & the Ragamuffins cover recorded after Rich's death...
• And the demo version recorded by Rich... which I can't listen to without weeping like a baby...
• #47: I Will Be Here (Steven Curtis Chapman - 1989)
• Shari & I got married in 1990… and we had this very new song sung at our wedding. It was the first time we'd heard it used as part of a ceremony - it would not be the last. It still does an amazing job of saying what we feel and believe about our relationship.
• #46: Wasted Time (The Eagles - 1977)
• Probably my favorite Eagles song… possibly because it sounds like it could easily be on one of Don Henley's solo albums.
• #45: This Is The Way Love Is (The 77s - 1990)
• This should have been a hit single - of course, seeing as it centers around a weird metaphor for the love of God, maybe that was unlikely. But, man, what a song.
• #44: You Don't Belong Here (Tonio K - 1986)
• There are four songs from a single album on this list - this moody rocker has the best 2nd verse lyrics ever.
• "She said / It's like walking through fire / It's like shedding your skin / You throw your clothes out the window / You face the person within / It's like dying in public / It's like learning to fly / Leaving the world behind you / It's like being born twice"
• #43: I Will Not Go Quietly (Don Henley - 1989)
• This is "speak the truth even if your voice shakes" in pure late 80s rock form. It's been an anthem for me at different points in my life.
• #42: Is He Worthy? (Andrew Peterson - 2018)
• Andrew Peterson has recorded three thematic albums around the death & resurection of Christ - this worship song from "Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1" brings me to tears every time I sing it in church or hear it playing…
• #41: MT (The 77s - 1990)
• "More Than" (MT) is the opening salvo of The 77s "Sticks & Stones" album - they've recorded the song since then but I like this version the best.