Suites for the Feasts of All Saints/All Souls

I have created pop music mixes for nearly every liturgical season. While I had intended to revise the one for All Saints/All Souls, I seem to have run out of time. No matter; as it stands, it’s one of my favorites. And maybe I’ll brush it up for 2011.

Yes, these recordings are under copyright, but the way I have mixed them into suites is original to me. If you hear something you like, please go buy it.

The six suites are called:

-          The Souls of the Saints

-          Denial

-          Anger

-          Bargaining

-          Depression

-          Acceptance

(Right-click each link to download the mp3.)

All told, it’s about two hours and twenty minutes of music. Enjoy this pop music festival of death and redemption.

Suite 1: The Souls of the Saints

Ya Kid K – Life
Yael Naim – New Soul
Simon & Garfunkel – Blessed
Sufjan Stevens – The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies
U2 & Green Day – The Saints Are Coming
XTC – In Loving Memory of a Name
Sarah McLachlan – Prayer of St. Francis

Suite 2: Denial

Tori Amos – Happy Phantom
They Might Be Giants – Turn Around
Radiohead – Airbag
Coldplay – 42
XTC – Dying
Howard Jones – Hunger for the Flesh
They Might Be Giants – Road Movie to Berlin

Suite 3: Anger

The Police – Spirits in the Material World
Modest Mouse – Ocean Breathes Salty
Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell
XTC – No Language in Our Lungs
Metallica – Fade to Black
Queen – The Show Must Go On

Suite 4: Bargaining

Ralph Stanley – O Death
Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) the Reaper
They Might Be Giants – Dead
XTC – Rook
Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes
Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You into the Dark

Suite 5: Depression

Bob Dylan – Knocking on Heaven’s Door
R.E.M. – Daysleeper
Toad the Wet Sprocket – Begin
Queen – Who Wants to Live Forever
XTC – The Last Balloon
Howard Jones – Elegy

Suite 6: Acceptance

Flaming Lips – Do You Realize?
Sufjan Stevens – We Won’t Need Legs to Stand
Seal – Prayer for the Dying
Semisonic – Closing Time
Pink Floyd – The Great Gig in the Sky
Byron Hawkins & J.L. Hosler – Crossing the Bar
Beatles – Let It Be

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #1, at long last!

OK, I've kept you all waiting long enough. Congrats to Paul Dec, who guessed correctly! The #1 song of the past 38 years (at least, by my extremely painstaking calculations) is ...

(drum roll, please) ...

"Smooth" by Santana featuring Rob Thomas.

It was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 weeks, straddling the years 1999-2000. It spent 58 weeks on the chart. It was huge. And I'm happy to say it's a song I actually love.

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #2

This countdown has taken so darn long to get through that I hope someone's still paying attention! The #2 hit in the U.S. in the past 38 years is by Los Del Rio: "Macarena."

So what's #1? Any guesses, anyone? Post on the blog or on Facebook. I may give clues if people guess first.

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #4 & #3

On the list of the top pop hits of the past 38 years, #4 and #3 are by the same recording act: BOYZ II MEN!

#4: "I'll Make Love to You" (spent 14 weeks at #1 in 1994)

#3: "End of the Road" (spent 13 weeks at #1 in 1992)

Only two hits left. Up next, a song that had a dance to go with it. I first tried to dance to it at a wedding. Come to think of it, a wedding is one place you may still dance to it today. And the band that recorded the song hails from Spain. What's the song?

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #5

"Yeah!" Usher, with help from Ludacris and Lil Jon, has the #5 hit overall since 1972.

What's at #4? Well, think about #3 as well. Because they're both by the same group. What group could possibly be so popular as to have two of the top five hits of the past 38 years? Hmmm ...

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #6

At #6: What band will give you change for your dollar? Nickelback, of course.

Up next at #5, another song from the 2000s -- a one-word title with an important punctuation mark. Sounds great in a club at a high volume. And the lead artist could be someone who works in a theater or volunteers in a church. Can you guess?

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #7

Nobody guessed this one correctly. The #7 song of my particular lifetime so far is "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone. With 10 weeks at #1, it was the biggest hit of the 1970s.

Up next at #6, a band many people love to hate -- a rock-pop band from the 2000s. Give 'em a dollar, and they'll give you change. Who are they, and which song?

The Top 1000 of my lifetime ... #8

At #8, the most recent hit among the top 10 hits of my lifetime comes from rapper Flo Rida: "Low." It's the biggest hit of the past five years, with Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" running a close second. (That one landed at #12 on the top 1000.)

Up next: the oldest song in the top 10 is pre-MTV, pre-new wave, contemporary with disco, but definitely not disco. It was the biggest pop hit of the 1970s, but it was also a huge contemporary Christian hit. What is it?