Worth the $.99

After receiving a hilarious e-mail from my friend that looked at the top ten worst album art, I decided to try to come up with my top ten favorite iTunes songs. This has been a lot harder process than I had imagined. Right now I have 2.8 days worth of songs (or 917 of them), and narrowed them down to my top thirty. Then after much reflection the top ten emerged. So below are my 10 favorite songs, in order, and it should go without saying that they are definitely worth the $.99.

#10:
“Shiver” – Coldplay – Parachutes: I was really reluctant to get on the Coldplay bandwagon, but after getting their album that didn’t have “Clocks” on it by accident, they have really grown on me. This song shows their great talent at playing as band, their unique sound, and meter.
#9:
“Awakening” – Sara Groves – Past the Wishing: This song is off her first album (which iTunes doesn’t have) and it shows her great skill at song writing and deft touch at dealing with spiritual doubt. There is a little transubstantiation theology in it, but it’s still a really powerful song.
#8
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – George Michael – Songs from the Last Century: GM performance of this song is absolutely amazing. It surpasses the original version done by Roberta Flack in the 1970’s and that’s saying a lot. I cannot help but tear up thinking about my wife whenever I hear it, and it will be impossible for you not think of the person you are in love with as well, that is if you have a heart.
#7
"Bad"– U2 – Wide Awake in America: Written in honor of his friend who died of a heroine overdose at 21 this live version of the song is fantastic. Bono once commented in a concert (in the UK) about people laying in gutters with “needles hangin' outta there f****’n arms while the rich live indifferently to the suffering of the less fortunate.” You can definitely feel that emotion coming out in this version.
#6
“Free Bird” – Lynyrd Skynyrd – 20th Century Master’s ‘Lynyrd Skynyrd’: Lyrics are dumb, the beginning is cheesy, but the guitar solos are genius. This was a tough one with excellent songs by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmi Hendrix competing. In the end it’s the guitars playing in harmony and the frenetic pace of the fretwork that put this song over the top. You can’t help but think “wow that’s awesome” around the 7 minute mark and the guitar’s sound even better than they did earlier.
#5
"You Are My King"– Passion – One Day Live: This is probably the best single worship song performance that I have. The best worship set is the one from Shane Barnard off of his “Rocks Won’t Cry” album but it’s five songs in one continuous arrangement and it didn’t count as a single song. “You Are My King” has it all, great performance, gender inclusive scripture reading, cultural diversity, and powerful testimony. At the end of the song there is this prayer that I always skip over, but it shouldn’t be penalized for that.
#4
“Living for the City” – Stevie Wonder – At the Close of a Century: You either get it or you don’t. The sad part is that people who don’t get it should really hear the song the most. Maybe you have to live in NYC to really feel it, but it’s full of pride, calls for justice, reality, and anger….AWESOME!
#3
“Hosanna” – Kirk Franklin – The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin: I have literally listened to this song over 200 times and it still gets me. The power, arrangement, music, and that tight ‘wow’ or ‘pop’ is unlike any other song I have. If you only have one gospel or Christian song, please make this the one.
#2
“MLK and Where the Streets have no Name" – U2 – Superbowl 2002: The absolute best song to walk out on stage to. This was the first big National event after September 11th. Who did the Superbowl trust to give the right performance the for state of the Country…U2! They delivered and then some. The power, passion, energy, and healing that happened with this song and the performance visuals is something I will always remember. You have to search the net for this one it’s not on iTunes. This song brings tears to my eyes and hope to my heart. You are going to have to BearShare or Kazzaa this one to get the live Superbowl version.
#1
“Heaven Help Us All” – Stevie Wonder – At the Close of a Century: The absolute best song I own, or will probably ever own. It sums up who I want to be. Stand for justice and plead for mercy in the same breath. If you ignore all of the other songs on this list don’t ignore this one, it is truly greatness.

So that’s my list, I think I will revisit it in about six months, but these songs are all definite must have’s in my book. If you are a blogger and post your must have lists let me know I might incorporate them into my collection. By the way this blog does not support Realplayer or Real networks. Although I will give them props for making it easy to get the streaming file addresses, but iTunes is still a superior product.

JI