Natalie Grant's song, "Held" is one of my favorites. So powerful! And I realize this dates me, but I also LOVE Bryan Adams "Everything I Do, I Do It For You". Yes, it is a love song, but it just moves me every time. Maybe it was the video....NAH.

Karise

My favorite 2 recordings of praise songs are "Wonderful Merciful Savior" on the first Praise and Harmony CD and "How Great Is Our God" by the Zoe Group. I personally think "How Great Is Our God" would be a great song to put on the next Praise and Harmony CD.

Keith there is a recording of We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder that moves me to tears almost every time I listen. The artist is Bernice Johnson Reagon. First Time I heard it was on TV during the Ken Burns Civil War Program.

Funny but sometimes it is just a snippet of a song that just pounds my heart. Dale Underwood does this with the lyric "I understand what drove Him to the Tree!" from Love's Anthem

One of the most profoundly power lyrics set to music is the phrase from and old Verne Gosden Song chiseled In Stone "

You don't know about lonely,
Or how long nights can be,
Till you lived through the story
That's still livin' in me,
And you don't know about sadness
'til you faced life alone,
You don't know about lonely
'til it's chiseled in stone.


(Sorry about this) And sad to say Michael Bolton's When I'm Back on My Feet Again, (Right at the key change.

Whitney Houston does this same thing with her key change in "I will always love you."

Of course one cannot even listen to Junior Asparagus' sing the little tag to "I love my Duck" I get a tear just thinking about it.

Alison Kraus and James Taylor really moved me with their rendition of the old Louvin Brother's song "How's the World Treating You".

Got no plans for next Sunday
Got no plans for today
Every day is blue Monday
Every day you're away


Don't forget Johnny Cash "I hurt myself today"

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

I am the kind of guy that buys a CD just for a few measures of a song. God really knew what he was doing when he married music to poetry. There is such profundity in emotion, words, music and artistically putting them together. When it happens it is one of the most powerful things on earth.

Yes, Karise, you are dating yourself. :) Some singers, like the one you mentioned, seem to have a special ability to project emotion through their voice. Jonathan, "How Great" would be a great song to include on a future recording! Your other mention - "Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?" is a great song. I dealt with a special song that touches me here. Joe, I can relate to your idea of being moved by a couple of measures of a song, and viewing them as "defining moments." Thanks for sharing!

There are many songs that touch me and it depends on my mood as to which ones affect me most, but two stand out. Once in my college years, when I was playing country music on the radio in East Texas in the early 80s, Gail Davies did a song called "Someone Is Looking For Someone Like You." It came along at a time when I was feeling lonely... All my close friends had been in High School and I was looking for new friends at school...

Here's a portion of the lyrics...

You've said that nobody cares where you're going
And that your life don't mean nothing at all
You've heard the saying 'you reap what you're sowin'
So plant a good seed and watch it grow tall

Somewhere a man got no woman to turn to
Somewhere a woman is lonely and blue
Somewhere a child's got no momma to hold her
Someone is looking for someone like you

Think of all the time you waste complaining
Think of all the good that could be done
Think of all the friends you could be gaining
If you lift your hand and help someone


I also turn to the Acappella song "Hush" when I'm worrying about this or that and the world is getting to me. Its a good reminder that God is right there with me, standing by...