My time as a permanent Lexington resident ends tomorrow. From August 18th, 2005 to June 1, 2010, I have enjoyed a lifetime full of memories, the vast majority of them being amazing and a small sliver being terrible but we don’t talk about that here. In any case, I would not trade my first (perhaps there will be a second someday) tenure in Lexington for anything else in the world. I have grown exponentially — mentally, emotionally, and spiritually (by all means not physically) — since coming to Lexington, and I leave thankful for those experiences.
But of course, what would it be without the music? From the beginning to the very end, my Vintage CDs have done their job in framing the memories in my mind…just like Five For Fighting says in the song “Slice” – “our melodies are memories.” That’s what the Vintage CDs are all about, and from CDs 22 to 58, the melodies are the memories of Lexington.
And here are the ten best…
10) “Hello” – Sugarbomb (23.18)
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qer498uC0jc
Well in the great scheme of things, my music from my freshman year failed to stack up against the other four years in Lexington. However, we have an exception here with this selection from Sugarbomb, which perfectly captures the difficult first months of my UK experience. There weren’t many days that passed which I didn’t wish for a one-way ticket back to Scottsville and my comfortable bubble, but I survived in the end. This song, perhaps more than any other, reminds me of a time when I faced incredible adversity and overcame it to create some wonderful memories. That situation may indeed play itself out once more, but I’m ready for the challenge.
9) “My Life Would S**K Without You” – Kelly Clarkson (50.20)
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRM70Jw7F4M
In a pick that Squire would approve wholeheartedly, Kelly Clarkson marks the first of two American Idol veterans to make my final countdown. Already a fan of Kelly, the inaugural American Idol made a splash around the turn of my senior year with this fast-paced, fun song which allows us all to realize how appreciative we are of the folks who make up our lives. For me, this came at a time when I decided to give Lexington another year rather than going forward with Teach For America (which ultimately said no to me, but I said no first…hah!), and I am very happy I did so. So when you find yourself mad at your best friend, or frustrated with your family, remember the wise words of Kelly Clarkson, who would say that my life would s**k without you, or him, or them, or whoever.
8) “Until You” – Dave Barnes (37.15)
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNB_McG-1mA
Well then there’s Dave Barnes, who exploded onto the scene with perhaps the greatest concert I’ve ever attended. It came late in the glory days of my sophomore year with the company of Chris Hughes and Amanda Tyree (Masthay), and it was for Dave Barnes, Matt Wertz, and a little-known piano wizard named Jon McLaughlin (my how things change). In any case, when old Dave began playing this selection, I knew immediately that I had myself a Vintage song and one of my favorite songs of all time. It is this song that best represents the halfway point of my undergraduate career, and it is for that reason, along with the fact it’s a beautiful song, that we place “Until You” in the final countdown of Lexington Vintage songs.
7) “Home” – Daughtry (38.20)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bnX-6sJZBw
Now I know what you think about Daughtry, and I know that I want to tell you how wrong you are about his musical genius, but consider that for a guy who loves the concept of “home” and the journey getting thereto, this song was just a incredible slice of musical genius. Add the fact that this song appeared during my time at PassportKids!, which represented a time that I yearned to return to my friends and campus ministry more than anything in the world, and you can start to see how much magic this song can create. But of course, it still holds a special place in my heart, thanks to the now well-known phrase around Lexington and surrounding areas – “Pulling a Daughtry.” Sometimes, it’s just time to go home.
6) “In Your City” – Phil Wickham (58.20)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWvZELmlMyE
It was not my expectation that a song from this past semester, the semester of student teaching, would make such a huge impact on my life and in the rankings. And yet, Phil Wickham was not listening to my expectations, as he rolls in without what I consider the most beautiful song I have ever heard in my life. The combination of the lyrics and the music itself form an absolutely incredible song that attempts to capture the magnificence of Christ, much better than any other song I can recall. Please, if you listen to one song here on this countdown, listen to this one. It is nearly perfect, but in this countdown itself, there are five better.
5) “Pull Me Out” – Bebo Norman (48.18)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3YwDjbVq9Q
And in the pits of despair that became my first semester of my senior year, I latched on to Bebo Norman’s single which asked the Lord to “pull me out” of the dark and difficult situations. And while it reminds me distinctly of observing at Bryan Station High School (a dark place in its own right), I appreciate this song for reminding me of a semester where a combination of terrible accidents and my mistakes did not break me because of my faith in Christ. And then I got to see Bebo in concert at the end of the semester, a fitting end I do believe. This song, along with the previous Phil Wickham selection, is a must-listen…as are the remaining for in the countdown…
4) “By Your Side” – Tenth Avenue North (51.19)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95rAr0gOFU
Before it was a slightly overplayed worship song, it was (and still is my friends) a dynamic and powerful reminder of how Christ will never leave our side, despite our failures and faults. And yes, it was out of the darkness that was the fall of 2008 that we saw songs such as these come to such a position in the spring of 2009 in the twilight of my undergraduate days. And of course, any song that reminds me of Thursday morning Bible study with the adjoining trips to Chick-Fil-A will always hold a special place in my heart. Tenth Avenue North had three songs which captured my imagination during my trip to Senegal, so expect to see the North represented in strong fashion for some time to come.
3) “Welcome Home” – Brian Littrell (36.18)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqywOCc_MM
Well we have several things going on here that helped make this song one of my favorites ever. First of all, we’ve got the whole “going home” theme. Next, we’ve got Brian Littrell who, as you well know, is a Backstreet Boy. From that, we’ve got a Backstreet Boy singing about Jesus. And finally, we have a Spring Break mission trip to New Orleans, which marked the first mission trip I experienced and forever captured moments like stickers, KCJ and the “coming of the glory of the Lord,” Robin Prichard on Bourbon Street, and “it’s about damn time.” All of that comes together to make this song one of my favorite songs from my sophomore year, and it’s strong ties to good memories helped it survive the test of time.
2) “Sea Of Faces” – Kutless (43.17)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpKxToWWErY&feature=related
About one year later, for my mission trip with the freshies on the first BCM Road Rules experience, there came the song by Kutless which exploded into a beautiful and moving expression about the personal nature of our faith amidst the anonymity of the world, as we can become lost in the “sea of faces.” But this song best captured the second semester of my junior year. Honestly, there’s not much more to say about the song – most of the beauty from this selection cannot be translated into words. It’s just in the sounds of the song. But then, it could be a lack of words to save some for the greatest song of my time in Lexington…
1) “Marvelous Light” – Charlie Hall (35.21)
Check It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAQJKZJB-kE&a=22CluDRx2jk&playnext_from=ML
Really, there shouldn’t have been any drama here at all. If you couldn’t have guessed this one, then there’s something seriously wrong with your knowledge of what I love in this world (don’t worry, we all have faults). This is probably the only song on ALL of the CDs I have created in which I cannot specifically point to one time period or event…which of course is failure because that’s what the Vintage CDs are all about. But let’s be honest – this song is too great to be confined in a single compartmentalized time period. Around the turn of my sophomore year, at 608, the worship band played two songs back to back – Mighty To Save and Marvelous Light. I recognized at that point the glory of both of those songs, and while I still appreciate the former song, ML exploded to become not only my favorite worship song, but my favorite song in general. I absolutely love the concept of God as light. John 1: 4-5 says that “in Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” The light does indeed shine in the darkness, and throughout the toughest times of my life in Lexington, God gave me this song to fall back into His hands and His glory. I challenge you to listen to this song and imagine yourself running, or even better, falling through a vortex of light toward the unimaginable glory of Christ on His throne. By doing so, we run out of darkness and out of shame. It’s been a wonderful image, and it has carried me for five years and surely beyond. There have been countless of times when ML popped up in a worship service much to my surprise, for when those drums get rolling to signify the coming of the Marvelous Light, my heart does indeed skip a few beats. What a wonderful feeling it is. I hope and pray that you indeed have a song or a place or a moment that allows you to feel God so close to you, as He always is. Perhaps you also can have your own Marvelous Light. It’s quite the rush.
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