You ought to read this book: Keep Your Head Up: America’s New Black Christian Leaders, Social Consciousness, and the Cosby Conversation (Crossway, 2012).

Anthony Bradley: Cosby and Poussaint catalyzed a needed conversation within the black community between those of the civil-rights generation and those of us born after 1970. For those who suffered under Jim Crow era discrimination, fought through the civil-rights movement, suffered to become the first generation of African Americans to hold many positions in this country, and so on, it has been very painful to look back at the pathologies of many black communities and ask, “Where did we go wrong?” or “What happened?”

Today, many blacks are now asking, “Where’s the church in all this?” That is, “Is the black church dead, and what is her response to these new realities?” This is one reason we wrote the book. We are making the case that as long as God’s church has a presence in broken communities, there is hope because the church is where people discover the gospel.

Anthony Bradley: Since slavery, the black church has served as a primary place for moral and social formation in the black community. The black church provided a refuge from suffering and a place to hear the hope of God’s plan to redeem all things because of what was finalized at the cross. We believe that her role is still important as the Scriptures teach us about the cosmic scope of redemption (Rom. 8; Col. 1).

If we want black families restored, virtues developed, and so on, that comes through the preaching and teaching of the work and person of Christ and the applications of redemption accomplished on the cross in our communities as God’s people seek first the Kingdom. This is what union with Christ is all about.

God intends to use His people, formed by the means of grace in His church, to be His agents of doing His will in the world wherever the curse is found (Matt. 5:13-20). As Reformed theologians, like Abraham Kuyper, remind us, the church is to continue preaching against sin in the lives of individuals and the errors in social institutions that do not reflect God’s intention for human life.

Anthony Bradley: Sadly, the prosperity gospel has taken the already individualistic, consumeristic American understanding of what it means to follow Christ to a new destructive level. This is why we included a chapter on this movement. Its theologically poisonous tentacles have found their way into many black churches, and it is now a major force in the black expression of Christianity in America, Latin America, and Africa.

Black pastors who are faithful to the Bible’s theology and faithful to the gospel of Christ are burdened to regularly preach against the prosperity gospel because of its presence in so many black churches as well as its emergence in contemporary gospel music. Prosperity theology is so bad that even black liberation theologians attack it.

Trevin Wax: Is gangsta rap a reflection of problematic issues within the black community or a cause of many social ills?

Anthony Bradley: It’s actually both. I am no fan of behavioral determinism because people who listen to gangsta rap still make their own moral choices. Gangsta rap is a complicated medium because it is primarily purchased by white suburban pre-teens and teens. The market drives so much of the content these days that some rappers are told what to rap about by producers because of what is known to sell. If there were a causal relationship between the music and moral action, middle-class culture would have similar outward pathologies in multiple areas.

In fact, gangsta rap serves as a signal and an enabler. You can think of gangsta rap as a reflection of the ways in which some people reflect on the narratives they encounter in their lived experiences. It serves as a signal to alert those in ministry to discern the “why” behind the music and to apply the gospel to it. It also serves to enable the mal-formed morals of those who already have certain presuppositions about the nature of the world.

The root cause of social ills in the black community is not gangsta rap but that men and women suffer from loving the wrong things in the wrong way. The music reflects that reality and, in some cases, encourages disordered love. This is why preachers need to preach the gospel to those who love gangsta rap because those men and women need to be transformed and liberated to love God and love neighbor (Matt. 22:36-40). This is what the gospel does—it frees us to love in the way God created people to love.

Sadly, the market will respond to the demands of consumers. When consumers are loving as God desires, it will be reflected in the music people want to hear—for those in the suburbs and inner-cities alike. As long as people are not loving the things that God loves, we will have music that does not reflect virtue (Phil. 4:8).

Anthony Bradley: The best way for a white church to serve alongside black pastors is to first think of themselves in a subordinate role—to first listen to what black pastors say the needs are and then to submit to black pastoral leadership. Far too often white churches approach black pastors assuming they know what is best for communities in which they do not live and for people they do not know. It is the same posture that is needed in international missions: Americans go to other countries and follow the lead of people who are there on the ground. Cross-cultural relationships in America are not different. This posture of humility will yield amazing dividends for the Kingdom.

Second, one of the reasons I wanted to do this book with Crossway was to give resources to white evangelicals, for them to use the book as a point of contact with black churches with whom they would like to serve and partner in order to say, “Here’s a book we picked up and would like to discuss with you all for the purposes of you telling us how we can help further the cause of Christ with your church in your community.”

Keep Your Head Up is a wonderful opportunity for white churches to begin new relationships with black churches to begin a fruitful dialogue. Sometimes in new relationships, you don’t know what to talk about. We want this book to serve as a national conversation starter not only within the black community but among white and urban pastors. We simply wanted to provide content for needed conversations. The truth is that we are all in this together as God’s people, and seeking the Kingdom calls for greater unity and solidarity. We wrote the book to help bridge the gap between the urban and the suburban (John 17).

This Changes Everything

Matt Papa: Yes! I believe we are beginning to see a revival of music with rich content for the church. The two primary places this is happening is within the Christian hip-hop culture (Lecrae, Trip Lee, Shai Linne, etc.) and in the modern worship pastor culture. Worship leaders are beginning to see themselves as worship pastors – caring deeply about song-theology and writing new songs of worship that feed the church. We’ve still got a long way to go, as much of the dominant and persuasive CCM industry is money driven rather than ministry driven, but I believe God is moving, and songs are being written that both perpetuate and memorialize this current season of gospel-renewal. And I say, “Go Jesus.”

Trevin Wax: Guys like you and me can come across somewhat critical of CCM, and sometimes rightly so. But I was recently revisiting some old Steven Curtis Chapman albums and noticed a heavy focus on grace, the gospel, etc. There are bright spots in CCM. What in CCM do you like?

Matt Papa: Some of the artists I like in Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) include Matt Redman, Phil Wickham, Matt Maher, Switchfoot, and Tim Hughes, although some would say (and I would say) these I have listed here aren’t quite “CCM.” They are contemporary artists and they are “doing Christian music,” but “CCM” has taken on a new meaning entirely in my opinion (I will explain in a moment).

The acronym “CCM,” in my opinion, no longer simply means contemporary Christian music. It has come to mean that style of Christian music that is heard on mainstream Christian radio, which can be characterized by words like poppy, chipper, and feminine in a musical sense…and words like shallow, safe, and imbalanced in a lyrical/spiritual/theological sense.

Trevin Wax: I hear you, and I share many of the same concerns. Do you think Christian radio is a lost cause? Is there hope for biblically rich, substantive lyrics on the radio? Or should we be thinking beyond radio anyway, as technology is offering lots of ways to hear music?

Matt Papa: I’ll answer your question in two parts. The first answer is regarding philosophy, and the second, strategy.

I think as Christians we must always live in the tension of knowing that the gospel will never be “popular” and yet always hoping that it will be. Jesus said the world would hate us, but Paul also said that we are to be all things to all people (i.e., be winsome). I think as Christians we have to hold to the truth that as long as we are living, there is no area of this world that is a “lost cause” because Jesus is alive and is strong enough to redeem anything and anyone. That said, I absolutely do think there is hope for Christian radio…and want to fight for that and pray for that. As it is underneath God’s sovereignty (like everything else), I should not be surprised if God moves and people repent and things begin to change…but as it is an element of “popular” culture, I should also not be surprised when the gospel is not explicit and Jesus is misrepresented. The Jesus of the Bible is not “popular.”

With respect to the second part of your question…should we be thinking beyond radio. I’ll answer that question with another question: Should movie-makers forget about the movie theatre since everyone is watching movies on their computers via Netflix and Hulu? I would say no. People may be going to the theatre less and less, but that’s where a movie gets major awareness and momentum. The metaphor may not be perfect, but it’s almost perfect.

Trevin Wax: So what’s the takeaway for those of us who are not involved in the music side of things? How can we encourage artists and musicians to compose great songs for the church? And how might we play a part in extending the influence of those artists and musicians into radio for increased exposure? We want to encourage and support musicians (like yourself) who are doing great work. Tell us how.

I’ll be doing a blog post on this topic in the days to come, but my short answer, at the risk of sounding vain and biased, is buy their music.

Artists/musicians, historically, have been modest, hard-working, blue-collar people who were mostly supported by patrons. In the middle ages, baroque, classical, and romantic periods, composers like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn (many of whom were worship leaders in churches) were financially supported by wealthy landowners or people of royalty. Patrons would give these composers financial support so that they could write music and do what they were called to do. Creating good art takes time. (On a side note: J. S. Bach, who had patron support, had 20 children and was a worship leader in 4 churches simultaneously!)

All that said, when you add Jesus and ministry to this mix, it can become extremely difficult to make ends meet. Art is already often pushed to the fringes of society in its importance, but when you add Jesus and the gospel, your possible “fan-base” immediately decreases by 70 percent because the gospel is by nature offensive.

For the church: the power of “song” is hard to exaggerate. Someone has said, “Let me make a nation’s (popular) songs, and I care not who make their laws.” Luther counted hymnody just under preaching in terms of theological formation. I say it this way: A song is a sermon people remember. People forget a sermon in a couple of weeks. They remember a song forever. That means if we as worship leaders and Christian artists are leading people astray with our lyrics, I believe we’ve got a lot of heavy millstones waiting for us. Songs and art have power, permanence, and influence, especially in the realm of theology. And it probably goes without saying but that which influences theology influences everything. ”What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” - A. W. Tozer.

For the artist: I think it will forever be a struggle for those in ministry – whose “market” is the church – to discern whether God is using them or they are using God. Pray for us Christian artists that we would be servants, not rock-stars. That we would be ministers, not icons. That we would wash feet. That it would become our ambition to build the kingdom of God, and that God would bless us to the extent that we embrace His mission in the world and not our own. Pray for us that we would become increasingly biblical…unafraid to say things that should be said…unafraid to sing things that should be sung. And pray that we would be focused…we will have all eternity to write music…we must win souls.

Do you notice a pattern? Whether it’s the bluesy voice of Elvis Presley (dead at 42), silky smooth alto of Karen Carpenter (dead at 32), tortured genius of Kurt Cobain or soulful voice of Amy Winehouse (both dead at 27), the pattern is the same. Amazing talent brings fame and fortune which then swallows up these artists in a whirlpool of sin, addiction, and death.

Just a Cautionary Tale?

Whenever we watch these stories unfold, we are inclined to view them all as cautionary tales. Fame and fortune do not bring happiness. They had the world and lost their souls. Don’t set your heart on money or you could end up the same way. 

There is indeed something to be learned from these tragedies and the horrible consequences of sin and idolatry displayed before our eyes. But considering how thousands line up for days to audition for American Idol, it seems clear that American society is not heeding the warnings. Despite the obvious unhappiness of so many celebrities, throngs of aspiring singers still clamor for the world’s accolades and for the chance to be gossiped about in sensationalist magazines.

So yes, the early death of so many talented individuals does expose the emptiness of riches and success. But there is another lesson to be learned here, and it has to do with common grace. You see, the Evil One is not content with keeping people from hearing of God’s saving grace; he also wants to steal from the world those unusual gifts of common grace.

Common Grace

Consider how people talk about Whitney Houston. They speak of her voice as being “a gift.” Her voice was a gift from God (she was born with the talent), and her voice was a gift to the world (she shared it with us).

Notice also how people use terms like “awe” and “wonder” when describing her vocal prowess. “I was in awe of her.” “Her voice was magnificent.” “She was one-of-a-kind.” These are the kinds of descriptions we attach to majestic landscapes we see in creation.

People found a certain level of joy in Houston’s talent, which is why thousands of people who never knew her personally are devastated at her demise. And once you trace back the path of joy, you wind up moving from the gift to the Giver. The language of awe points us back to a God who is truly awesome and majestic.

It’s easy to follow the path from being awed at Houston’s talent to being awed at the God who grants talent in the first place. Whenever we see people in this world whose gifts inspire wonder, we are seeing signposts that point us to the God who loves the world enough to shower us with gifts of common grace, even as His greatest expression of love is demonstrated through the blood-drenched cross of His Son.

Robbing the World of Common Grace

So why do so many of these gifted individuals perish tragically? Certainly the perils of idolatry – money, fame, power – play a role.

But there’s more. The Evil One not only hates it when people find joy in God. He also hates it when people find joy in God’s gifts. So if he can snuff out the brightest lights of common grace, he will try. And that’s one reason we see a pattern of sinful squandering, self-destructive behavior that leads to the silencing of golden voices.

Don’t get me wrong. The superstars are always complicit in their own demise. In fact, in Houston’s case, she confessed that her sinful struggle with drugs was caused by her own heart. In a candid interview in 2002, Diane Sawyer listed a number of drugs and asked Houston which one was “the biggest devil” for her. Houston’s response?

“That would be me. It’s my deciding. It’s my heart. It’s what I want and what I don’t want. Nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to do. It’s my decision. The biggest devil is me.”

It’s an honest confession, and one that reminds us how intertwined are the causes of temptation (Satan and self). Houston’s story also reminds us that – just like in the story of the prodigal son – sin leads to the squandering of the Father’s good gifts. The Evil One is not content merely to hold people in spiritual bondage and lead them to hell. He wants to diminish even the contributions they make to the common grace we benefit from in society.

The Takeaway

So remember, sin always affects more than the individual who commits the offense. And that’s true for you and me too. Whenever we sin, we are consciously or unconsciously affecting those around us.

A pastor who fails morally is stealing more than another man’s wife. He is also robbing those around him of the opportunity to benefit from the particular gifts God has given to him. Satan loves for people – Christian and non-Christian alike – to squander good gifts from above and deprive the world of the joy of common grace.

That’s why the bright lights of common grace go dark before their time. It’s also why Satan wants to render ineffective in the church the gifts of those who have tasted God’s saving grace. Beauty is anathema to the Evil One, because all goodness and beauty finds its source in God.

Hope

The good news, of course, is that for the Christian, “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” There’s no need for any Christian to serve as a cautionary tale. Nor do we need to be an example of Satan’s thievery of the gifts we contribute to Christ’s church. We hope in the One who has conquered sin and death and lavished His grace and gifts upon His children.

Here is a link to the segment(which features the music, not just my talking about these songs), a downloadable mp3, and below is the transcript.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

Over the years, the Christmas song that continues to move me is one of the oldest Christmas songs that we still sing in our churches today, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” I believe it goes all the way back to the 12th century. It has a very mournful melody. But then there is that lyrical command of the chorus to “Rejoice!”

The song is sort of a bridge between Advent and Christmas. Advent being the time of anticipation as we are mourning in the exile, knowing that God’s full promises have not been completely fulfilled, and yet we also know that because of the birth and life and death and resurrection of Christ that God has already accomplished our salvation and we are awaiting Christ’s return and we are waiting for the time when joy really will flood the world as other Christmas songs remind us.

I also enjoy the second verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which is not as often sung… the verse that says, ‘O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight!” I love the fact that Jesus did not only defeat sin and evil… He also conquered the greatest enemy to God’s good creation, which is death itself. And so, this is a Christmas song that for me is a bridge to all the rest of the story that the Gospels give us, where we go from the wooden manger to the wooden cross and then the empty tomb and then Christ’s ascension and the anticipation of His return.

One of the reasons I enjoy this song so much is because it not only allows us to go back and put ourselves in the shoes of the first-century Jews, so to speak, who were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah as they mourned in lonely exile as the song says, but it also allows us to take that quality of anticipation from the first-century Jews and to have that again even now as we look over the evil in our world, as we see the evidence and the effects of the curse that still lingers and know that even though Christ has come and that the world is being made new, we are like the first-century Jews, still in a sort of exile as we await Christ’s return and await for Him to make good on all the promises that God has made in His covenant.

“Christ Is Born”

Another favorite Christmas song of mine is one that is a bit more obscure. It is a song called “Christ Is Born.” Like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” it was originally written in Latin by the choir director at the Sistine Chapel, Father Domenico Bartolucci. And Ray Charles of the Ray Charles singers talks about how he went to see Father Bartolucci in his apartment, and he says that he had a big Ampex tape machine and a box of tapes. He brought out a tape of a gorgeous piece he had written and he played it for the singers and the words were in Latin.

Later Perry Como decided that he wanted to record it. So there was an English adaptation of the song that was produced called, “Christ Is born” and Perry Como used it on various Christmas shows that he did.

The version that I have really grown to love is one done by The Carpenters in 1978. There is a very understated majesty to this song. I really like the line that says, “Hear him crying in the manger,” and then that is juxtaposed by the line “King of heaven, Son of God,” which then leads to the worshipful response “Alleluia.” And you really have the mystery of the incarnation there in a nutshell. You’ve got it described so beautifully with a crying baby in a manger and yet this is the King of heaven, this is God in the flesh, this is the Son of God.

Trevin Wax: How do you go about choosing songs for a Christmas album? You probably have so many favorites.

Kristyn Getty: It’s a long, long process. Was it two years ago when we first started thinking about a Christmas album?

Keith Getty: Yes. Judson Baptist in Nashville asked us to do a Christmas show. And we didn’t have one.

Kristyn: That’s right. So we had to put some songs together for it, and that was the beginning of the sorting process. Then we developed the Irish theme with an Irish friend of ours who is fantastic at arranging music with an Irish side to it. Then, for the album, we brought out a few songs we wrote many years ago for a project that we did at home in the UK called Incarnation.

Keith: So it was basically a mixture of those three things: the older carols we’d written, the new carols we’d written, and carols that we loved that other people had written.

Kristyn: It was quite refreshing, actually, because for all our other albums, we have tried to write everything. It worked out well that in the year we were having our first child for us to take on a project where we didn’t have to write as much.

Trevin: Do either of you have a personal favorite Christmas song on the album?

Keith: My favorite Christmas song isn’t on the album because it didn’t fit the style of where we were going – “Once in Royal David’s City.” I love the melody, but it really doesn’t fit an Irish approach.

Kristyn: I enjoy singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Our arrangement with the band has a lot of energy.

Trevin: How has having a baby changed Christmas for you?

Keith: Well, we have a song called “How Suddenly a Baby Cries,” and it’s true that things are forever changed.

Trevin: Your song “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven” has some lines about the glory of the incarnation. When I first heard that song, it reminded me of when we had our first child. He was six months old at Christmas, and I remember thinking about how helpless a baby is. And the glorious mystery of the incarnation hit me like never before…

Kristyn: You taste it in a new way. You know, you understand it before, but life experience helps you understand it differently. You view childbirth differently too. In one of our songs, we had a line that described Mary as “frail.” And after I’d given birth, I thought, Frailty has nothing to do with the process! So we changed the word to “young.” The song “Magnificat” has been meaningful to us because we’ve sung that song through the journey of the struggle to conceive, waiting for her to come and then now that she’s arrived.

Trevin: Whenever I hear “Magnificat,” I think of SBTS professor Chip Stam. There’s a YouTube video of you all at the hospital singing the song for him.

Keith: Chip was a good friend of ours who died this year of cancer. Track 9 on the album, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” is dedicated to him. That hymn melody is actually called “Stam.”

Trevin: Thinking about Chip and other men like him, are there some particular authors or worship leaders you turn to when you are looking for inspiration in the hymn-writing process?

Keith: The Bible is the primary inspiration. We read the whole Bible every year systematically. Likewise, our church focuses on expositional Bible teaching. In the last two years, I’ve been inspired by the whole history of Christian verse, especially poetry in English language. So I enjoy that. Authors? Tim Keller and Don Carson are two of the people who we’re closest to in terms of understanding theology. They’ve got a broad vision of understanding the gospel but in a sense that’s culturally relevant and artistically fulfilling.

Kristyn: Also, my uncle, Dr. John Lennox.

Keith: Yes, Professor Lennox introduced us. I had sort of a skeptic phase, and he helped me.

Kristyn: He’s one of those people whose strong faith makes you stronger. Whenever I’m with him, within a few minutes, either in conversation with myself or other people, he’s talking about the Lord and trying to find a way of communicating the gospel. He’s a phenomenal evangelist and a great Bible teacher.

Another person who has inspired me is Joni Eareckson Tada because of the contagious joy that she has, her unbelievable cheerfulness, and her deep faith that has been tested and shines brightly. Regarding some of the gentler songs that we’ve done – perhaps not an individual line – but the thought of her sometimes informs my singing.

Trevin: Does the fact that churches immediately grab on to certain hymns surprise you? Do you ever expect a hymn to take root quickly and then find it didn’t become as popular as expected?

Kristyn: Well, everybody’s different. And different denominations, different groups, link on to different things.

Keith: But I think different songs have different value. The last song we wrote is always the one we’re most excited about. Take two songs on the Christmas album: “O Savior of Our Fallen Race” and “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven.” The second one, a children’s hymn, is useful and timeless, but has a sense of immediacy. The first one, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” is probably one of our best melodies ever, but it will be a gradual build, as it’s not in the style for the popular evangelical church. So different songs find different homes.

Trevin: One of my favorites is “Jesus Is Lord,” but it’s not on any of your American albums.

Keith: It was the closing hymn at Chip’s funeral, actually. He wanted his funeral to finish up with the theme of Jesus as Lord.

Kristyn: I like that one too, but it’s not one we do with the band very often.

Trevin: Looking beyond to other singers, bands, and artists… are there any particular songwriters or people you look up to or respect?

Kristyn: There’s Stuart Townend and then everybody else! After him, I loved Vikki Cook’s melody to “Before the Throne of God Above.”

Keith: Graham Kendrick pioneered the way. “The Servant King” is pretty unsurpassed.

Kristyn: Our worship music diet growing up was Graham Kendrick…

Keith: And deserved to be because it was head and shoulders above everything else.

Trevin: What’s your impression of the other side of the modern hymn movement – the practice of taking old, obscure, forgotten hymns and giving them new music with a band and things like that? Sojourn, Red Mountain Church, etc.

Kristyn: I think it can be very, very good. The only thing I would say is that if the original melody was greatly loved, I’m usually disappointed unless the new melody is incredible. But the way these groups are taking more obscure texts that people don’t sing anymore and composing a beautiful melody for them is fantastic.

Trevin: How do you recommend people approach this Christmas album?

Kristyn: Carols are a further opportunity to help tell the gospel story. It’s incredible that you can be in supermarkets and malls and street corners and hear songs like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” We pray that the songs that are old will be heard in fresh ways and that the new songs will be an avenue for the gospel to reach into people’s lives.

Keith: Christmas in our culture is our biggest chance. Once a year, the culture determines that it’s okay to bring your friends to church, to have the gospel presented in songs and sermons and on television. This opportunity probably won’t be around forever, not to the degree that it is now. So it’s a huge opportunity. You’ve got captive audiences every time. We’ve got to be strategic about these things.

Kristyn: If a little bit of Irishness might draw some more people in, that’s exciting. Christmastime is also an incredibly difficult time for people. Our culture creates a sentiment, and the expectation is that we all have to tap into it somehow. Yet many people feel outside of that sentiment because that’s not where they are. That’s an opportunity for us to present the gospel story that gives people answers to their deepest longings.

Trevin: Thank you both. That is good counsel for church leaders and church members who want to reach out during Christmastime. And thank you for your service to the Church through your hymn writing.

Check out one audio version of Jesus Is Lord here.

Meditate on the richness of truth presented in these lyrics:

Jesus is Lord, the cry that echoes through creation
Resplendent power, eternal word, our rock
The Son of God, the King whose glory fills the heavens
Yet bids us come to taste this living bread

Jesus is Lord, whose voice sustains the stars and planets
Yet in His wisdom laid aside His crown
Jesus the Man, who washed our feet, who bore our suffering
Became a curse to bring salvation’s plan

Jesus is Lord, the tomb is gloriously empty
Not even death could crush this King of love
The price is paid, the chains are loosed, and we’re forgiven
And we can run into the arms of God

Jesus is Lord, a shout of joy, a cry of anguish
As He returns and every knee bows low
Then every eye and every heart will see His glory
The Judge of all will take His children home

If I enjoy a movie’s music, I sometimes download the score. Occasionally, I download scores to movies I haven’t even seen, simply because I enjoy the music from a specific composer.

There are not many movie scores that I can listen to straight through. Suspenseful movies often have music that matches the action, which means it’s a little much to have music playing softly in the background that sounds like a car chase or a shoot-out. There are, however, certain tracks in the scores from action movies that I enjoy.

Below, I’ve listed ten of my favorite movie scores. (Please note: I am not endorsing these movies, only recommending the music!) Some of these CDs have tracks that I rarely listen to (for the reasons listed above), so I am putting in parentheses the best tracks from each one. If you click over to the Amazon page, you can listen to some of the samples and download a few mp3s.

1. Forrest Gump (best tracks: “Suite from Forrest Gump,” “I’m Forrest… Forrest Gump”, “You’re No Different”)

2. Life Is Beautiful (La Vita E Bella) (best tracks: “Buon Giorno Principessa”, “La Vita e Bella,” “Abbiamo Vinto”)

3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (best tracks: “Evacuating London,” “The Wardrobe” and “Only the Beginning of the Adventure”)

4. Pearl Harbor (best tracks: “Tennessee,” “Brothers,” “And Then I Kissed Him”)

5. The Village (best tracks: “Noah Visits,” “What are You Asking Me?” and “The Gravel Road”)

6. Wall-E (best tracks: “Define Dancing,” “2815 AD,” “72 Degrees and Sunny”)

7. Titanic (best tracks: “Distant Memories,” “Southhampton,” and “Rose”)

8. Peter Pan (best tracks: “Flying,” “Main Title,” “Fairy Dance”)

9. Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (best tracks: “Concerning Hobbits”, “The Fellowship,” “Hope and Memory”)

10. While You Were Sleeping (best tracks: “Riverside Walk,” “Opening,” “An Untimely Accident”)

These are ten of my favorites. What about you? What movie scores do you enjoy? I’m always open to building my music library.

1. The song’s subject matter must be light-hearted and fun. Absolutely NO taking itself too seriously.
2. The melody must be catchy and have some sort of hook that sticks in your head.
3. The song must have a touch of the “annoying” factor (meaning that if you listen to it too many times, it gives you a headache, just as too much cotton candy bothers your stomach).
4. People either love the song or hate the song. There’s very little in-between for most people.

So here are my ten picks (in no particular order). Feel free to weigh in with your own “pop perfection” recommendations:

1. “Fireflies” – Owl City (2009)

This is the most recent addition to my playlist. Adam Young’s “Fireflies” is a family favorite around our house, especially when we’re watching lightning bugs fire up our backyard.

2. “Kokomo” – Beach Boys (1988)

The perfect song to listen to as you pull out of your driveway on your way to a vacation at the beach. Even if you’re not going to all the islands mentioned here, you’ll still get in the mood for rest and relaxation.

3. “Baby Baby” – Amy Grant (1991)

Admit it… just seeing the title has already got this song going off in the soundtrack of your mind. Apparently, Grant wrote this for her little baby, not the guy she danced with in the music video.

4. “Kiss Me” – Sixpence None the Richer (1999)

This song was very popular the week I graduated high school, which (for me at least) brings back the summer of ’99. It’s been called “the perfect pop song”, a description well-deserved in my opinion.

5. “ABC” – Jackson Five (1970)

I can’t listen to this song even once without it staying in my head for days. It’s not my favorite from the Jackson Five (“Never Can Say Goodbye” would be my pick), but it’s very popular with our kids.

6. “Mmmbop” – Hanson (1996)

The song (and band) everyone loves to hate. But you’ve got to give the homeschool boys their props. They took an incomprehensible song (yeah, you try to figure out the lyrics) to the top of Billboard.

7. “Please Mr. Postman” – Carpenters (1975)

This song has been a hit three different times. The Marvelettes took it to #1 in 1961. The Beatles covered it a few years later. Then, the Carpenters took it to #1 in 1975. We like all three versions of this song, but I think the Carpenters’ version best meets the criteria for this list.

8. “There She Goes” – Sixpence None the Richer (1999)

The follow-up to “Kiss Me”, this song was originally recorded by The La’s in the 1980′s. I have no idea what this song is all about, but the melody is light and easy.

9.  “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” - Whitney Houston (1995)

This song came out when Whitney could still sing. Apparently, it’s about leaning on friends when going through a hard time. All I remember is the chorus “shoop shoop shooby-doo”, which sounds like it’s right out of the 1960′s.

10. “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” - Toploader (1999)

This song is from the 1970′s, but I’ve always liked Toploader’s version the best. This version was included in the popular film, A Walk to Remember. Out of all the songs on my playlist, this is the one that I can listen to most before getting annoyed.

So, what songs did I miss? Which songs would you say meet all the criteria?