Study Music Top Ten

If you're new to the blog, every so often, when my playlist turns over enough, I give you the top ten songs I'm listening to while trying to get some studying done. Started listening to music while studying in college (out of necessity in a freshman dorm filled with wanna be DJ's), and never stopped. The music must be interesting enough that it can disappear into the background, but not become so boring that it's distracting.

Oh, and whatever I'm listening to generally is a fairly good indicator of where my head is at. Confused? Well, don't be. Just enjoy.

10) "Thrill of It" by Robert Randolph and The Family: If you watch college football on ABC you've heard this song. Special thanks to Mike Stinson for cluing me in as to how good this band really is. Dude is playing all those licks on a slide guitar.... amazing!



9) "Landed" by Ben Folds: Can't seem to shake this song. Just seems to soothe the soul.



8) "Save Me" by Aimee Mann: Not really the song I want to put here. Aimee Mann just released a Christmas album, and on it she wrote an interesting song called "Calling on Mary". Any song that includes the line "comfort is not possible when / you look past the joy to the end / calling on Mary is voluntary / unless you're alone like me /if there's a star above, then it can look like love / when they light up the Christmas tree" gets my vote as a pretty good original Christmas song... which isn't easy to pull of in this day and age. But this is a pretty good song too.



7) "Choose Life" by Big Tent Revival: Why do I like this band so much? Why do I wish they'd reunite and go on tour so I could see them again? I can't explain it. I just do. Their song "Psalm 72" might be the closest thing to what it must have been to hear David sing to Saul.



6) "We Three Kings" by Reverend Horton Heat: If the wise men had been from Memphis, this would have been the soundtrack.

5) "Must Have Done Something Right" by Reliant K

4) "Alone" by Kings X: Maybe one of the best bands most people have never heard of. Fans have argued for years as to whether or not the band could be classified as a "Christian Band", and the members of the band have been less than helpful in clearing things up. Seems they can't decide if they are either, which sounds kind of strange... but, there you go. As an example, the video for this song featured a few very scantily clad young women dancing to a song about making people feel welcome and included. How is that conveyed using images of blatant sexual exploitation? I think I'd have fired the director. Anyhow, someone re-cut the video to have Chris Farley as the topless Chippendale dancer wanna-be (from the classic sketch on SNL) in place of the females. Seemed to make more sense than the original, so here you go.



3) "A Living Prayer" by Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lyrics that made of deep stuff.



2) "The Christmas Song" by The Dave Matthews Band: Jesus from a unique perspective. "Father up above, why in all this hatred do you fill me up with love?"



1) "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap: Looked up the lyrics, and have no idea what this song means. Just find it interesting, different, and beautiful. A trained classical musician who got turned onto synth-pop, Imogen is becoming a personal favorite. Forget the video, shut your eyes, and listen.