Hidden Gems on My iPod

Do you ever feel like you aren’t getting the full value from your music collection? I do. I get hung up on one or two albums and I listen to them over and over and that causes me to forget some of the great music I have stored on my iPod. One day last week, I read something on an online bulletin board that sounded like a great idea: create a playlist in iTunes of all of the songs you haven’t listened to on your iPod and then hit shuffle. I did just that before hitting the road this weekend.

Here are a few of the gems that popped up on my trip:

“I Would Have Loved You Anyway,” by Trisha Yearwood: I bought this CD when in first came out in 2001 for the song “Inside Out,” which I have listened to many, many times, but I forgot that this CD has a few other good songs as well, this one being one of them. The lyrics in the first verse have such a sad resolve to them, but I’m sure nearly everybody can relate when she sings:

If I’d have known the way that this would end
If I’d have read the last page first
If I’d have had the strength to walk away
If I’d have known how this would hurt
I would’ve loved you anyway

“Coward of the County” by Kenny Rogers: This song always reminds me of my dad. I don’t know why exactly, probably because Tommy, the subject of the song, gets advice from his father and he has to figure out when to use it and when to tweak it. I can’t tell you how often bits of advice from my dad run through my head during difficult circumstances. And dad was a Kenny Rogers fan too, so I’ll always think of him when I hear this song.

“The Heart of Worship” by Matt Redman: This one came from a worship CD that was released in 1999. I bought the CD for another song I heard during a worship service in 1998 or 1999. I don’t listen to enough praise and worship music. Listening to this song again for the first time in few years reminded me of that. I love this verse:

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

“Lay it Down” by Jennifer Knapp: It’s been ions since I listened to the Lay it Down CD that came out in 2000. I loved Knapp’s first release, Kansas. Lay it Down was her second effort and I don’t think it was as strong musically as her first CD, but her songs always prompt me to think and do a little soul searching. The title track from Lay it Down contains this verse:

Pride can break a man right down from iron
Twist him ‘round ‘round and tatter up a soul
Handprint of God on the small of my back
My second chance, my second chance
I'll bend a knee my friend, I'll bend a knee

I love the visual of God placing his hand on the small of her back. It’s such a holy and intimate thought.

I’m enjoying this so much that I’m going to continue . . . I have another 3,000 or so songs to work my way through and I expect to find many more gems I haven’t listened to in a long time.