Heaven Playlist 9, and complete Playlist
[Editor's note: This is the last in the series of Melody's Heaven Playlists. Melody died on 13 December 2021. Her complete playlist, including many songs she did not get a chance to write about can be found at the bottom of this post. She chose That Glad Reunion Day for her memorial service and to remain as the header image for this blog.]
I’m not so sure about the falling asleep part, but as “Jesus walks beside me,” why would I mind trodding my last mile.
The last song I want to include from Hillary’s CD (I recommend the entire CD, but these three are the ones that fit my Heaven Playlist) is called Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus) which I really love. This song was written by Chris Rice, another contemporary Christian artist, and sung by Hillary on this CD. I read a fabulous comment in a YouTube comment section where the commenter says not to put “Rest in Peace” on her tombstone, but rather, “Sing to Jesus.” If I was having a grave marker, I’d follow this directive! (It’s a natural burial for me, so no tomb markers are allowed.) However, I will already be laughing on Glory’s side, so it won’t matter to me!
And it appears that this time it is really true, soon I’ll fly to Jesus and SING! I’ve written in other posts about the rare blood cancer that has been a part of my life for forty years. Well, now it is really doing it to me and I will be entering hospice care soon; getting out of the hospital and eating really, really good food plays a large part in this, but seeing all of my children was a huge pick-me-up so now all this is more unclear. Possibly I am really having the typical “rally” a dying person has, or possibly I really am doing enough better to not enter hospice quite yet.
[Editor's note: Melody enjoyed a great few weeks with her children, and continued eating "really, really good food" until she entered hospice three weeks after writing this post.]
Heaven Playlist 9—Hillary Scott and friends
It was our lucky day when Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum), the hugely popular country trio, took a hiatus and worked on their own projects. From Hillary Scott, the woman in the trio, came a wonderful CD of Christian songs. The online site of the Tennessean published a story titled, “Hillary Scott channels grief into gospel,” writing that she suffered a miscarriage and her sadness led her to her roots in Christianity. She had already started a CD with her family and had gotten the incomparable bluegrass artist and producer Ricky Skaggs to produce and sing on the CD. Several have some connection for me with my Heaven Playlist and I’ve added them and want to write a bit about these, plus a couple of other songs where I have chosen Ricky Skaggs versions.
In my post Heaven Playlist 1, I wrote that I liked “the down-home effect of a normal family singing together; though how awesome would it be for normal to mean Ricky Skaggs plays mandolin and other strings with you?” Well, in this case, you have the Scott family singing together in Ain’t No Grave. Confusingly, there are a couple of songs with the same title, Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold Me Down). One was written in the 1920s by Claude Ely and famously recorded by Johnny Cash, for which he received a Grammy award. This version we hear on Hillary’s CD is written by the contemporary Christian musician, David Crowder, but with a different start that is completely down-homey. Another anthemic version is from Bethel Music, the current darling of Christian worship music, though nothing like much of the syrupy music sung in a lot of evangelical churches today (lead singer on this version is Molly Skaggs, Ricky’s daughter). The Crowder version, sung by the Scotts, has all the same down-home feel as the Skaggs family CD, and is it any wonder as Ricky Skaggs produced and sings and plays on Hillary Scott’s CD.
The second song I’ve selected from Hillary Scott’s CD is Sheltered in the Arms. I didn’t used to like this song; it was a “special” sung by a woman at the church where I grew up and I just didn’t like it. Then I heard the deep country twang of Linda Davis, Hillary Scott’s mom, sing it (she sings it on this CD) and it changed for me. I think this provides us a lesson—before we make up our mind about a song, perhaps we should listen to several versions (now that we so often can do so simply by using YouTube or some music app). Anyway, Sheltered in the Arms, (another lesson, lyrics on lyric websites are often wrong, sometimes nonsensical; one website I saw had “Soon I shall feel the cold from heaven’s portals.” Well, that certainly sounds welcoming?!).
It was our lucky day when Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum), the hugely popular country trio, took a hiatus and worked on their own projects. From Hillary Scott, the woman in the trio, came a wonderful CD of Christian songs. The online site of the Tennessean published a story titled, “Hillary Scott channels grief into gospel,” writing that she suffered a miscarriage and her sadness led her to her roots in Christianity. She had already started a CD with her family and had gotten the incomparable bluegrass artist and producer Ricky Skaggs to produce and sing on the CD. Several have some connection for me with my Heaven Playlist and I’ve added them and want to write a bit about these, plus a couple of other songs where I have chosen Ricky Skaggs versions.
In my post Heaven Playlist 1, I wrote that I liked “the down-home effect of a normal family singing together; though how awesome would it be for normal to mean Ricky Skaggs plays mandolin and other strings with you?” Well, in this case, you have the Scott family singing together in Ain’t No Grave. Confusingly, there are a couple of songs with the same title, Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold Me Down). One was written in the 1920s by Claude Ely and famously recorded by Johnny Cash, for which he received a Grammy award. This version we hear on Hillary’s CD is written by the contemporary Christian musician, David Crowder, but with a different start that is completely down-homey. Another anthemic version is from Bethel Music, the current darling of Christian worship music, though nothing like much of the syrupy music sung in a lot of evangelical churches today (lead singer on this version is Molly Skaggs, Ricky’s daughter). The Crowder version, sung by the Scotts, has all the same down-home feel as the Skaggs family CD, and is it any wonder as Ricky Skaggs produced and sings and plays on Hillary Scott’s CD.
The second song I’ve selected from Hillary Scott’s CD is Sheltered in the Arms. I didn’t used to like this song; it was a “special” sung by a woman at the church where I grew up and I just didn’t like it. Then I heard the deep country twang of Linda Davis, Hillary Scott’s mom, sing it (she sings it on this CD) and it changed for me. I think this provides us a lesson—before we make up our mind about a song, perhaps we should listen to several versions (now that we so often can do so simply by using YouTube or some music app). Anyway, Sheltered in the Arms, (another lesson, lyrics on lyric websites are often wrong, sometimes nonsensical; one website I saw had “Soon I shall feel the cold from heaven’s portals.” Well, that certainly sounds welcoming?!).
Soon I shall hear the call from heaven's portals‘Come home my child, it's the last mile you must trod’I'll fall asleep and wake in God's sweet heavenFor I'm sheltered safe in the arms of God.
I’m not so sure about the falling asleep part, but as “Jesus walks beside me,” why would I mind trodding my last mile.
The last song I want to include from Hillary’s CD (I recommend the entire CD, but these three are the ones that fit my Heaven Playlist) is called Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus) which I really love. This song was written by Chris Rice, another contemporary Christian artist, and sung by Hillary on this CD. I read a fabulous comment in a YouTube comment section where the commenter says not to put “Rest in Peace” on her tombstone, but rather, “Sing to Jesus.” If I was having a grave marker, I’d follow this directive! (It’s a natural burial for me, so no tomb markers are allowed.) However, I will already be laughing on Glory’s side, so it won’t matter to me!
And with your final heartbeatKiss the world goodbyeThen go in peace,and laugh on Glory's side,and Fly to Jesus and live!
And it appears that this time it is really true, soon I’ll fly to Jesus and SING! I’ve written in other posts about the rare blood cancer that has been a part of my life for forty years. Well, now it is really doing it to me and I will be entering hospice care soon; getting out of the hospital and eating really, really good food plays a large part in this, but seeing all of my children was a huge pick-me-up so now all this is more unclear. Possibly I am really having the typical “rally” a dying person has, or possibly I really am doing enough better to not enter hospice quite yet.
[Editor's note: Melody enjoyed a great few weeks with her children, and continued eating "really, really good food" until she entered hospice three weeks after writing this post.]
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