With my headphones on

I am buried in a few other writing projects at the moment, but the same time I am thrashing The Long Fall Back to Earth, the latest album by Jars of Clay. At first listening I wasn't all that fussed, but now I am really loving it. I confess, I like Jars of Clay mainly for their music, and they are the only Christian group I go out of my way to listen to (but am a big fan of some solo artists). I once had some muso friends in Brisbane who reckoned there was no such thing as good Christian music (because it was all so amateur and "daggy") but then one day they all got in my car and Something Beautiful (a song with a great sound - and still one of my favourites) was playing and the chief Christian-music-hater said "what's this music? this is pretty cruisy" - and it was then that he had to acknowledge that good Christian music occasionally existed. (A couple of the songs on this latest album remind me of what was best about 80s music, eg Don't Stop and Scenic Route, because it's more "pop".) I am sure you could dismantle some of their songs for lack of theological soundness, however, they also have some stand-out lyrics.

But anyway, after all that qualification and all those brackets, here is a song for a Wednesday in Sydney (the parts in brackets here are sung by a teenage girl, who joins in for the last verse). I'll come back later with my favourite song:

Headphones

I don't have to hear it, if I don't want to

I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you

It's a heavy world, it's too much for me to care

If I close my eyes, it's not there

With my headphones on, with my headphones on

With my headphones on, with my headphones on

We watch television ... but the sound is something else

Just a song played against the drama, so the hurt is never felt

I take in the war-fires, and I'm chilled by the current events

It's so hopeless, but there's a pop song in my

Headphones on, in my headphones on

With my headphones on, with my headphones on

At the Tube Stop, you sit down across from me

(I can see you looking back at me)

I think I know you

By the sad eyes that I see

I want to tell you (It's a heavy world)

Everything will be okay

You wouldn't hear it (I don't want to have to hear it)

So we go our separate ways ...

With our headphones on, with our headphones on

With our headphones on, with our headphones on

I don't wanna be the one who tries to figure it out

I don't need another reason I should care about you

You don't want to know my story

You don't want to own my pain

Living in a heavy, heavy world

And there's a pop song in my head

I don't want to have to hear it

Photo from allie_claire at flickr.com