sparrow's songs

a song a day from the eclectic range of music i love

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hi, i'm sparrow and this is my place to share the music i love. posts will be once a day* with a youtube video of one song and a little note about why i love it or something specific i love about it

*ish. I'm not awesome at remembering to do a thing once a day apparently

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O Come and Mourn With Me a While // Jars of Clay

This album is a long time favourite, and one I often return to when I'm feeling stressed. The combination of music that is bone-deep familiar and that I can sing along to almost without thinking, plus worship and lamentation, is one that I find deeply calming.

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Streetlight // Changbin

Entry on the shortlist of "songs that made me cry the first time I heard them"

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Radioactive (Imagine Dragons cover) // Pentatonix ft. Lindsey Stirling

High school nostaligia music 😅

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Adoni Ro'i (Psalm 23) // MIQEDEM

I stumbled across this group entirely by chance in the middle of Covid and subsequently fell in love with their music. While this isn't the first of their songs I heard, it is probably the one that has stuck with me the most. There's just something special to me about being able to relax into worship music when I can choose whether or not to consciously follow the lyrics via the subtitles, and when the musical style is.......not entirely the same as what I am generally surrounded by.

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Look Away // Thousand Foot Krutch

TFk is one of my all time favourite bands for many reasons, but this song is a particular favourite of mine because it resonates on an emotional level for reasons I can't quite pinpoint.

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Second Wind // Petra

This song—or more accurately, the memory of the chorus, because I didn't have a portable music device at that point—got me through many high school gym classes where we had to do distance runs.

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Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" (Largo) // Anton Dvorak arr. by Waldo de los Rios

....and a huge part of the reason I love Dvorak's New World symphony so much. Waldo de los Rios' music, particularly the Sinfonias and Mozartmania albums, were a beloved part of my childhood. I remember many hours in the car where my dad put on those CDs and my sister and I made art inspired by the music.

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From The Wonderland // Ateez

Excellent title track from a band I love and have been following since their debut, plus expertly incorporated mashup with a classical work I also love? Count me in!

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When You Call // Jung Dae Hyun

This song really caught my attention while walking my parents' dog one winter night—the instrumental backing reminds me of the feeling of looking up at a clear sky full of stars, especially the first few seconds in the intro.

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Belly Of The Whale // Newsboys

Ah, nostalgia.....I love this song because of the many delightful wordplays in it's lyrics, plus it's just so fun to sing - as many of Newsboys' songs are

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Hot Summer Nights // Miami Sound Machine

Perfect for belting out in the car (even better if it's summer an you can roll the windows down)

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Pavane // Lim Hyung Joo

Comfort music

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Gabriel's Oboe // Ennio Morricone

I saw this movie for the first (and only) time almost a decade ago, and it is one of the few movies that has ever made me cry. This theme plays during some of the most emotional moments and it stuck with me, even though I hadn't actually heard it again until this year.* So when I saw it on a CD of orchestral music from movies, I knew it was going to hit me like a punch to the gut—and I was right. To borrow a phrase from @queenlucythevaliant, this is a melody that reminds me what music is for.

Bonus video with this theme as part of a longer piece from the soundtrack, which is also very beautiful

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Mr. Bailey's Daughter // Bryan Duncan

This is a song I have loved for a long time—I first heard it as a child when my dad would play one of his live albums—and it is an absolute blast to sing along to, even if I don't quite have the verses word-perfect.

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Adagio lamentoso (Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique") // Tchaikovsky

This is one of my favourite pieces of orchestral music—I love the range of emotion it captures. This particular recording is the last track on one of the cds I listen to before going to sleep and I really love it as a way to end my day.

PS. Alas, I can't find this particular recording with video of the orchestra, but here's another recording with video and a slightly different interpretation of the music

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Nillili Mambo // Block B

An absolute bop with a very sing-along-able chorus plus easy to approximate choreo for said chorus (specifically the arm....swoops?....at about the 2:00 mark)