Sometimes I just can't get over some lyrics. Two songs in particular have been especially impressed on my mind lately (and basically all of today I've had Hey Jude by the Beatles stuck in my head, but that's a different story).

The first song is by Chris Rice. I've always loved Chris Rice. I remember when I was about 8, he came out with a song called Deep Enough to Dream, and it was my favorite. I still know all the lyrics, though they don't play it on the radio very often. We were heading to a the Christian book store because my sister and I had amassed enough "music money" (incentive for playing our musical instruments provided by my ingenious mother) to buy a couple tapes each. My two favorite songs were Deep Enough to Dream and He Walked a Mile by Clay Crosse, which were number one and two on the countdown magazine thing 105.3 puts on. I was never good with names, and I thought they might be the same artist -- Chris Crosse. I'm so very glad that's not the case. Anyway, the song that has my attention right now has been out a while. It's called Smell the Color 9. I believe I was in 9th grade when he wrote it, so it's about six or seven years old.

I would take 'no' for an answer
Just to know I heard you speak
And I'm wondering why I've never
Seen the signs they claim they've seen
A lot of special revelations
Meant for everybody but me
Maybe I don't truly know you
Maybe I just second believe

'Cause I can sniff, I can see
I can count up pretty high
But these faculties aren't getting me
Any closer to the sky
But my heart and faith keep pounding
So I know I'm doing fine
But sometimes finding you
Is just like trying to
Smell the color 9, smell the color 9

Now I've never felt the presence
But I know you're always near
And I've never heard the calling
But somehow you've led me right here
So I'm not looking for burning bushes
Or some divine graffiti to appear
I'm just begging you for your wisdom
And I believe you're putting some here

'Cause I can sniff, I can see
And I can count up pretty high
But these faculties aren't getting me
Any closer to the sky
But my heart and faith keep pounding
So I know I'm doing fine
But sometimes finding you
Is just like trying to--

I can sniff, I can see
And I can count up pretty high
But these faculties aren't getting me
Any closer to the sky
But my heart and faith keep pounding
So I know I'm doing fine
But sometimes finding you
Is just like trying to
Smell the color 9

Smell the color 9...
But 9's not a color
And even if it were you can't smell a color, no
That's my point exactly

The other song just hits me as resolute. I love hymns. They're beautiful. They're simple enough that nonmusically-minded people can appreciate them and sing them, but with a strong melody, not like the mundane, two-pitch songs that are being mass produced today. Hymns are creative. They hit at a point, a cornerstone or centerpiece, a key phrase, and every verse is a different way of getting there, a different reason why that point is true, why it needs to be reiterated. My Jesus, I Love Thee:

My Jesus, I love thee
I know thou art mine
For thee, all the follies
Of sin I resign
My gracious redeemer
My savior art thou
If ever I loved thee
My Jesus, 'tis now

I love thee because thou
Has first loved me
And purchased my pardon
On Calvary's tree
I love thee for wearing
The thorns on thy brow
If ever I loved thee
My Jesus, 'tis now

I'll love thee in life
I will love thee in death
And praise thee as long as thou
Lendest me breath
And say when the death dew
Lies cold on my brow
If ever I loved thee
My Jesus, 'tis now

In mansions of glory
And endless delight
I'll ever adore thee
In heaven so bright
I'll sing with the glittering
Crown on my brow
If ever I loved thee
My Jesus, 'tis now

I just love when songs come back like that, flow right into the same line from a completely different direction. All roads lead to "If ever I loved thee, my Jesus 'tis now."