One of the great joys of Direct TV is my season pass for Jools Holland. On this occasion they had a pretty packed lineup, John Legend, Amy Winehouse, The Raconteurs and Muse. Hands down, Raconteurs stole the show, their performance of Broken Boy Soldier was incredible. Enjoy.

I’m a sucker for some R&B, I dig John Legend. But the thing about R&B is the lyrics are usually the most blunt, abrasive ways to communicate a story. Metaphors and poetic phrasing are of no use to the R&B community. They just go to the basest level of language to express themselves, which is certainly efficient if not tactful. How else do you explain “I wanna make love in dis club“? Tell me how you really feel Usher.

John Legend has this song called Number One, which is sung from the perspective of a cheating boyfriend basically telling his girlfriend to stop whining about him cheating, in fact the opening line is:

You can’t say I don’t love you just because I cheat on you

I always found the song grossly comedic and had a fun time singing it with my wife in the car in jest. But as I was singing the chorus I got convicted that I’ve sang this same chorus to God many times, with the same pathetically transparent BS that John sings with. Tell me if you’ve ever sung this to God during worship:

You know that I love You
There’s no one above You
I said it the last time, that this is the last time
Don’t make me over
Cuz I can be faithful
You’re my number one, You’re my number one

We carry on “struggling” in sin, willfully choosing ourselves over God throughout the week, walk in on Sunday and sing this weak love song claiming that “this is the last time.” We should stop making promises to God we have no intention or ability to keep. Matt Chandler addresses this topic of “white knuckle struggling” where in our flesh we just grit our teeth and repeatedly promise to never do it again. Only to fail time and time again. But as Paul said in Romans 9:16

“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

How do I need to continue to rest in the Holy Spirit and to continually place myself in his hands to form me and shape me. I can’t do it on my own no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want it. Religion is a tricky thing, it’s constantly at our heels, presenting itself as some new level of spirituality. Take me back to your heart Jesus, I have no righteousness in myself.

Very often I listen to music I love and think, “I wish I could sing like him” or “I wish I wrote this song”. So today I thought I’d start with the top 5 voices I covet.

1. Jeff Buckley – With this voice the sky is the limit. There’s nothing I couldn’t sing, the pinnacle of flexibility and range. His voice has graced us(no pun intended – his greatest album was called Grace) with some of the most beautiful songs ever written, Everybody Here Wants You, Last Goodbye, Morning Theft to name a few.
2. Ryan Adams – Ryan’s voice has matured a lot since his early stuff. His tone is so perfect, like a warm blanket in front of a fire, sippin on a decaf Cafe Mocha with extra chocolate hold the whip cream. Live his voice is just as good if not better than on record. I have a problem with lust after this man, pray for me.
3. Chris Cornell – When I’m feeling quite masculine I imagine I can sing like Chris Cornell. He is my go to shower voice. This guy just embodies rock star, he sings down and dirty, but yet when he sings softly the raspiness comes across very gently and adds a bit of sincerity to his emotional songs. If I could yell like him I’d be screaming my entire life. Can you imagine how effective a father he’ll be disciplining his children? His yell would strike fear into any grown man much less a child.
4. Elvis Costello – This is a bit more fantasy than anything. He has just the coolest, wacky voice, it would be fun to sing like that. If you are in the camp that says Elvis has a terrible voice, then shame on you. All I can say is you have no idea what you’re talking about. Watch this video and get saved.
5. John Legend – When my inner soul, funk, R&B guy comes out and wants to sing about making babies John Legend is the voice I need. I wrote a song for my wife that I played to her on our wedding and it was very much a white man acoustic, John Mayer type thing. Would have been so much more effective if I could have swung behind a piano, shirt unbuttoned, chest hair poppin out(I don’t have any of that either) and sung some sweet soooouuuuuullllllll.

Who’s voice (or chest hair) do you wish you had?