What music is spiritual to you?

Question

Here's the trick, though. I'm not looking for songs that directly mention any god. I want to know what music makes you FEEL spiritual, no matter what religion you are. Why, do you think, does this music affect you so?

John Lennon's Imagine is very spiritual to me. I just love the message of living for the moment, loving everyone, without borders or factions to devide us.

Across the Universe, also by John and the Beatles, is similar. "Nothing's going to change my world..." it's such a content song.

Wet Sand by the Red Hot Chili Peppers has something spiritual about it, but I'm not sure what it is. Something about it just gets me, though. "You don't form in the wet sand, you don't form at all. You don't form in the wet sand. I do." The ending gives me goosebumps.

Of course, the entire Dark Side of the Moon album by Pink Floyd. That album takes your mind places. :D

Your turn!

Ok, a definition of spiritual... something that makes you feel closer to your god (if you have one) or closer to the earth, or closer to the collective concience of the universe. For me, spiritual music makes me feel like I'm floating, like energies are coursing through my body. That's as well as I can define it.

Answer 1

Some ( very few ) church hymns. Then, Bach, Handel, Telemann, Boyce, Purcell, Albinoni, Pergolesi, and Vivaldi. And even here ... veerrry selectively.

Answer 2

Lots of Dead Can Dance, especially those with vocals by Lisa Gerrard. "Song of the Sybil" is a great example.

JS Bach - his Toccatta and Fugue in Gm "the Little" makes me feel both spiritual and very smart. Hard to describe why. I know everyone loves the Dminor but the Gm is so compact, so gorgeous.

Peter Gabriel - "Solsbury Hill:" "You can keep my things, they're gonna take me home" That line brings me close to tears. His "San Jacinto" is also great that way. "Don't Give Up" gets me, too. Talks about how important it is not to give in to despair.

Beethoven's 9th, of course. It opens with the words "No, no, not THESE WORDS." It is saying that what you are hearing is not what he intends. So amazing.

Drumming by Hossam Ramsy - probably the best doumbek player alive today. Incredible what this man can do with two hands and an accoustic skin drum. I get tranced out.

Libana - Wiccan music. A must have for an Goddess circle. They sing both traditional and neotraditional stuff. Very spiritual without being schmaltzy. If your grove or coven doesn't sing, buy an album and teach them some songs

Probably more but I should leave some room for others.

Answer 3

Donovan, British folk-rocker, had a great acoustic album in 1997 called Sutrus, also check out his songs: There Is An Ocean, Sunny Goodge Street. George Harrison had a lot of great songs like that: Life Itself, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth), etc.
David Byrne had some on his solo albums: You Don't Know Me, Amesia, The Revolution, The Great Intoxication, Astronaut, Why.

Answer 4

John Lennon's song does the opposite for me. His song is politically correct and lies about the afterlife with wishful thinking that will not change reality.

Songs that move me are those that speak the truth. Of course, a good melody is a must. However, there are some tunes that Andrea Bocelli sings in Italian that moves me to tears. I do not understand the words, but they really move me. One of them is Panis Angelicus, which brings a tear to my eye every time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0000041OA001006/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_006/104-7495323-7264728

However, one must realize that true worship is based on an action of the will based on truth. So give me a good praise song or hymn any day.

Answer 5

That John Lennon (Imagine) song also talks about having no religion, which I completely agree with.

That song speaks to me on so many levels.

I often wonder to myself why people get so tied up in trying to convert this person or that person. Or why they hate others for believing something differently. Or forcing their views on someone else. One would figure we learn from our past. This is obviously not the case. Why we cannot get past petty differences like what we believe and just live our own lives I will never understand. I guess the human race WANTS to die for a god or number of gods. Those who choose to not believe in that are taken along for the ride and called every word you can think of.

The truth of the matter is that religion preaches love, when in fact, they have hated and repressed for thousands of years.

In the famous words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just, get along?"

Answer 6

I would agree with all those, except the Red Hot Chili Peppers song (haven't heard it).

But one of mine is one my brother wrote:

http://www.myspace.com/faithfromether

"Save Them"

I also Like Jars of Clay, "Love Song for a Savior" and "Faith Like a Child", and Third Day: "Don't You Know I've Always Loved You"

Answer 7

"Days Go By" by Keith Urban:

Out on the roof just the other night, I watched the world flash by.
Headlights, tail-lights runnin' through a river of neon signs.
But somewhere in the rush I felt,
We're losing ourselves...

It makes us question our lives and opens me to a larger perspective. That makes it spiritual to me. And it also, I think, fulfills your definition as well.

Answer 8

Loreena McKinnett

Answer 9

Electric Blues.

Answer 10

Too many to mention. Music is in my soul, been listening to it, writing and playing it forever. I've had a thousand times more spiritual experiences with music than I ever did in a church.