25 of John DiBiase’s Favorite Songs of All Time

Today, on Easter Sunday, I was thinking about my blog I wrote highlighting my top 10 favorite songs of all time. I thought maybe it’d be time to update it and reshare it. I looked through the JFH blog and found that I’d written it 10 years ago this year. (Crazy!)  So, in 2012, the list was born out of me thinking about which songs still resonate with me over others and which songs just really hit home…which songs never stop connecting with me on some level. I’ve decided to reflect on some of those here – and add 15 more. Again, these are songs that are personal TO ME in some form. I’m not saying they’re the best songs ever written or that you’ll ever hear, but something about these songs just still mean a lot to me. (By the way, if you remember that top 10 list, this one has changed. Some are still on it, but others made this list, moved others around, and even replaced some.)  Here’s the Spotify playlist for these songs (Thanks Nicole!)

1. “Tremble” by Audio Adrenaline… I’m a big critic when it comes to worship music. I’m not proud of this, and I do want everyone to understand that. It’s difficult for me to connect with a lot of the bigger worship songs that have been crafted by mega churches for Sunday morning services. I tend to connect with God on a more intimate level with the more intimate, personal songs. Audio Adrenaline’s “Tremble” may be my all-time favorite song. It’s so much so that I tend not to listen to it much for fear of wearing it out and it maybe losing some of the weight it carries for me. With Mark Stuart’s soft vocals and the almost-trembling in his voice, there’s this sense of reverence… musically, it also captures this and it’s one of the few songs that just really drags me to my knees if my heart’s in the right place when I hear it. It’s not a song you can just have on as background music and expect to really “get.” It’s one of those best heard via headphones/earbuds in a dark room or walking down an empty street at night. It’s you and God. And I love that about it. (read the lyrics)

2. “I Love The Rain” by Rock N Roll Worship Circus/The Listening… This is another song that is way up high on the list. It’s got a personal worship feel from the opening words “Have you ever loved someone so much...” and a guitar solo that sends chills up and down my spine almost every time I hear it. And did I mention it’s amazing live? The imagery of rain being tears falling from our Father’s face out of His love for us is really powerful to me. I just plain LOVE this song. (read the lyrics)

3. “A Million Parachutes” by Sixpence None The Richer… This, among others you’ll see listed here, plays to the sentimentality in me that I’ve found inescapable throughout the years. It’s a melancholy song about solitude and missing friends on a lonely snowy evening. Leigh Nash’s soft vocals evoke all the right emotions while the piano melody hits all the right notes; it’s truly beautiful. (read the lyrics)

4. “Shelter” by Eisley… This one released since the last time I made the list and it says so much to me beyond whatever its real intention is. The chorus sings, “Love, you are my shelter, Love you are my home.” To me, it’s a two-fold song. My heart cries this to the Lord, as well as desiring to have a romantic love that I can truly rest in. One hard lesson I’ve learned since my teen years is that no one person can truly be our so-called “shelter;” only God can fill that role. Still, my empathetic, fragile, wounded, emotional, romantic heart never ceases to desire that. It’s my heart’s desire for Jesus to be my one true shelter. I also just really love how the Eisley girls sing this song. It’s soft, soothing, romantic and sweet. It’s such a beautiful song. The album this is from, Currents, has also become one of my all-time favorite albums. (read the lyrics)

5. “Privately” by Between Thieves… This my friends, about sums up an introverted heart. If you’re an introvert and know what it means to feel alone in a crowd, this song describes exactly what that feels like. If you’re lost and brokenhearted, “Privately” seems to just say all the things you’re feeling but don’t necessarily know how to say. And to those who don’t quite understand us crazy introverts, this is a good song to listen to to try to understand us. Just check out the first verse alone, “Privately, behind dull eyes a soul cries out in pain / Quietly, behind the smile, the tears will fall like rain / Alone is not a number, but a state of mind / Surrounded by my friends, sometimes I’m hard to find.” (read the lyrics)

6. “The Strength to Let Go” by Switchfoot… While, musically, this isn’t top tier Switchfoot for me, it’s a song that means so much to me on a few levels. For starters, Switchfoot is a band that began while I was still in high school, and songs like “Might Have Ben Hur” and “Don’t Be There” were anthems for a teenager who just wanted the girl he liked to love him back, while also just longing to find where he fits in. So when “The Strength to Let Go” released in  2019, the lyrics of this song hit me like a Mack truck. For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with letting go — be it a person who means a lot to me who has moved on in their own life, or past memories, or my own mistakes. I struggle with letting go. So, guys, this chorus… this chorus from a band I’ve listened to throughout my later years in high school, all through college, through courting my wife, marrying, learning what marriage looks like, buying our first house, becoming a father, the ups and downs of running JFH, etc – this chorus was just hugely accurate for me (click here for the full lyrics)

Give me the strength to let go
Give me the strength to surrender
Give me the strength to stop holding on
I’ve been holding on so long
Give me the strength to let go

7. “Work” by Jars of Clay… When my wife and I got married in 2003, I was leaving my family and living with someone else for the first time in my life. That isn’t a bad thing, but her profession as a nurse found her working on nightshift at a local hospital. To make that worse, she did this for almost the entire first three years of our marriage. This gave me several nights out of the week of living completely alone that I never ever had before. “Work” by Jars has a chorus that asks, “Do you know what I mean when I say ‘I don’t want to be alone?’” It’s a song that was born out of loneliness for the band and it’s one that I was definitely feeling when they released it in 2006. It’s still one of my favorite songs by them, or anyone, and it’s just yet another song that gives a voice to those frustrating and stifling feelings of loneliness. And like Between Thieves’ “Privately” says, sometimes we can feel alone in a crowded room, and this song speaks volumes. (read the lyrics)

8. “Vice Verses” by Switchfoot… I’m actually surprised this song, and another that will be forthcoming below, didn’t make my list in 2012, but I suppose these songs were maybe too “new” still. There’s so much about this song that I love. Like “Tremble” by Audio Adrenaline, it’s very intimate. It’s acoustic without sounding too raw, but it also isn’t too produced either. There’s so much emotion in this performance and recording, it adds a lot of weight to Jon Foreman’s words. I think my favorite lyrics are “Where are You in my broken heart / Everything seems to fall apart / Everything feels rusted over / Tell me that You’re there” – I get the chills at this point in the song almost every time I hear it and sing along. I believe it’s okay to have these questions and vulnerable conversations with God — that is, as long as we don’t give up and give in to hopelessness. These kinds of honest dialogs with God are healthy. We can’t always pretend life is rainbows and fluffy bunnies, because Heaven knows it isn’t. Even Jesus wept, and begged God for another solution besides going to the cross — but the key is He went willingly anyway. (read the lyrics)

9. “Where I Belong” by Switchfoot… As kind of an answer to the closing thoughts of “Vice Verses,” “Where I Belong” follows with this beautiful anthem for the hope of life after death. Foreman sings about Heaven being our real home, where we really belong. There’s so much hope in this song – which contrasts the one that precedes it – and it’s just beautiful. Check out these lyrics below. read the full lyrics)

This body’s not my own
This world is not my own
But i can still hear the sound
Of my heart beating out…

On the final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell you that I tried
To live it like a song

10. “Dismantle. Repair.” by Anberlin… While “Hello Alone” is another song that would vie for this list, I think I have to go with “Dismantle. Repair.” as not only my favorite Anberlin song, but one of my all-time favorite songs. This one speaks to the hopeless romantic side of me. I also just really love the emotional and anthemic nature of the song. Anberlin totally nailed a perfect marriage between the words and the music. Some of my favorite lyrics are “Hands, like secrets, are the hardest thing to keep from you / Lines and phrases, like knives, your words can cut me through / Dismantle me down (repair) / You dismantle me / You dismantle me” and “It’s not that I hang on every word / I hang myself on what you repeat / It’s not that I keep hanging on /
I’m never letting go” (There’s that letting go theme again!) Sometimes I feel like a hopeless wreck. Ha! About the song, Anberlin frontman (and church worship leader) Stephen Christian wrote, “This song is written for those who, like me, are greatly affected by others words. When every word spoken is taken to heart, registered, dissected analyzed, and applied to the core of who we really are.” (read the lyrics)

11. “Fight” by PFR… PFR was one of the first groups I really got into as a teen. They always had songs that really spoke a lot to me. “Fight” is a beautiful song about prayer in our lives and as not only a source of hope but our chief way to commune with Jesus. The chorus goes “We fight on our knees but don’t often / See the battles that rage being won / But fight on we will and tarry until / Love comes to carry us on / To kneel with the broken in spirit / And call upon the Son.” I just love it. (read the lyrics)

12. “Will Not Fade,” by Audio Adrenaline… On the original list I made in 2012, I included the band’s song “Glory,” but while working on this – and listening to music while writing – this song came on and it reminded me why it’s one of my favorites. It’s one of the most rocking songs Audio Adrenaline ever made (to the point where it was tough for Mark Stuart to sing live, and so I think I only ever heard it live once), and lyrically it kind of just reinforced how I felt as a person and a believer in Christ. “What I am / And who I am / Is never going to change / The hits will come / But I will not be swayed / I’ve always been / What I want to be / The world can clearly see / That I will not fade.” Ooof! In a world where values seem to be changing – even for believers, with many even abandoning their faith – and morality in our society continues to crumble, I think this song mirrors my feelings and beliefs. (read the lyrics)

13. “I Don’t Understand” by PFR… “I Don’t Understand” is a fantastic reminder that not understanding what’s going on in our life – or what God is doing with us or to us – doesn’t matter, and we need to just trust Him. “I don’t understand / I don’t need to / I know You’ve a plan / You will see through / It is in Your hands / I believe You.” and later they add “I was only wondering / I’ve been trying to understand / I know there is more / So much more than I can see.” It’s such a gentle reminder to trust that God’s got it. (And I really miss these kinds of “Christian life” songs in today’s worship-driven industry.) (read the lyrics)

14. “Hold My Heart (Part 1)” by LetterKills… I can’t believe I almost forgot this one. This list was all done and then this one popped in my head. I love Matt Shelton’s vocal delivery in this song, the contemplative guitar, the sentimental musings in the lyrics. I love everything about this song. And it definitely captures my emo romantic feelings. haha!  (read the full lyrics)

So think of me when you’re dreaming
And know I’m wide awake and thinking of you
Cause, I swear when you’re there alone
Know that I’m wide awake tonight

You could hold my heart
It’s all yours if you want

15. “Too Far” by Bernard… You may notice a trend here. This piano anthem is a powerful one to me. It serves as an anthem for those times in life when we just don’t know what in the world God’s doing and we kind of wish He’d spell it out for us. “Please turn back time / Please, God…” says it all for those moments I wish I could redo or relive. Ultimately, Jesus redeems those times, but sometimes a song helps provide a voice to help us cope with the feelings.

16. “The Forces Of Radio Have Dropped A Viper Into The Rhythm Section” by Project 86… And now for something completely different. I tend to look back on parts of my life a lot — especially in those quite moments. Part of me remembers crummy times with rose-colored glasses and wishes to relive some of those times. That would not be cool. Aside from the fact that this song has one of the craziest drumming I’ve heard, and I just love it for that, I had the pleasure of asking frontman Andrew Schwab about the meaning of the interesting lyrics once. He explained that he likened the unreliable technology of the VHS tape to things we look back on with fonder memories than they really were. Heck, the song even says “Don’t you feel like a trip back to ’96.” I was a sophomore in high school then and had some profoundly affecting friendships at the time…not to mention I started Jesus freak Hideout that summer…and this song just gave me this angry voice for how I feel about erroneously looking back on those times fondly (although starting JFH IS a good thing, other things around that time weren’t all that great). And it’s just a killer song! (read the lyrics)

17. “Lost The Plot” by Newsboys… Say what you will about pop or pop/rock bands for the youth group crowds, but these bands knew how to write GOOD songs, man. “Lost The Plot,” from Newsboys’ 1996 album “Take Me To Your Leader” is a gem. It’s this slowly building, moody rocker about Jesus’ return and the complacency that dogs many Christians. “When you come back again, would you bring me something from the fridge? Heard a rumor you that the end is near. But I just got comfortable here.” (It’s back when Newsboys wrote their own songs, too. Peter Furler and the genius of Steve Taylor were a crazy good match) It’s an edgy song and an embarrassing reminder of how comfortable we can get here and how lazy we can be. “Are you still listenin’, ‘Cause we’re obviously not. We’ve forgotten our first love. We have lost the plot.” For some of us — even if it’s just for a short time — it’s true, and it hurts. But it’s great reminder to be careful not to get too comfortable here. (read the lyrics)

18. “Worlds Apart” by Jars of Clay… This song has been a powerful one to me since I first heard it around the age of fifteen in 1995 (Please don’t do the math. Thank you). As a pretty young Christian at the time, it was a wonderful voice for those times I felt like I fell short. And while I may feel like I fall even shorter now than I did then, it was somewhat comforting to hear a voice speak words I was feeling to remind me I wasn’t alone. And, on top of that, there was vocalist Dan Haseltine’s ad-lib at the end that summed it all up for me too… I get a bit emotional just reading them even now. (read the full song lyrics)

“I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need you now
I owe you more each passing hour
The battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
And wash the feet and cleanse my pride
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
The sin-soaked heart and make it yours
Take my world all apart
Take it now, take it now
And serve the ones that I despise
Speak the words i can’t deny
Watch the world i used to love
Fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
So wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nails that still remain
So steal my heart and take the pain
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things i cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
Take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
Take my world apart“

19. “Need You Now (How Many Times)” by Plumb… Like Switchfoot, Audio A, Newsboys, DC Talk, PFR, etc… I’ve been listening to Plumb since my teen years, and like Switchfoot, they were a band I’d gotten into in the band’s infancy. While Plumb is just a moniker for Tiffany these days (and not a “band”), her music still continues to strike a chord with me. “Need You Now (How Many Times)” was birthed out of Tiffany’s own struggle with panic attacks and anxiety. I can relate to the latter in recent years, but also the song just really captures my feelings of desperation for God in my life. The chorus says it all, “How many times have you heard me cry out / God please take this / How many times have you given me strength / To just keep breathing / Oh I need you / God I need you now.” (read the lyrics)

20. “Ships in the Night” by Mat Kearney… Remember when I mentioned my wife used to be on nightshift? This song definitely captured that feeling of us not being able to connect with each other. Also, since 2008, she was diagnosed with a sleep disorder called “narcolepsy,” so it was another complication for us. Aside from that melancholy theme, I also just really love the music in this song. It’s definitely my favorite Mat Kearney track all-around. “like ships in the night / you keep passing me by … and if it all goes crashing into the sea / if it’s just you and me trying to find the light / like ships in the night / you keep passing me by” (read the lyrics)

21. “Keep Your Eyes Open” by NEEDTOBREATHE… On that same note, we have this song. 🙂 I also just love it musically, too. “Open up your eyes / Keep your eyes open / Don’t let the night become the day” (read the lyrics)

22. “When Was The Last Time” by Switchfoot… I’m a little mad at Switchfoot for leaving this song off Where The Light Shines Through in 2016. This was a deluxe edition bonus track (which DID make it onto the vinyl release at least), but it’s easily one of my favorite Switchfoot songs. It’s stupidly underrated. It’s really fun and catchy, and has some great lyrics about just letting go of life’s stress and having fun. “When was the last time that you felt alive? / Singing, when was the last time that you tried / Something for the first time?” and then there’s this part, “When was the last time you did / Something that made you feel like a kid / Laughing just like we did / When we were just the little ones / It’s been so long” I love the idea of embracing simpler times and the more joyful moments of our youth (is this why my generation refuses to grow up?? haha)  (read the lyrics)

23. “Great Love” by Flyleaf… I’ve really come to adore Lacey-era Flyleaf through the years. Their albums Memento Mori and New Horizons are ones I still really enjoy. But “Great Love” has one of the most moving and powerful choruses to me, “Great love setting the world on fire / I am in awe of who You are / And it’s Your love I’m living for / Great love filling me up inside / You are the one I’m looking for / And I am Yours forevermore.” Amen! Can we have more worshipful songs like this, please? (read the lyrics)

24. “It’s Harder to Make It Below Third” by Off Road Minivan… I’ll be honest; it wasn’t until I wanted to add this song to my list that I really saw the full lyrics for the song. I actually didn’t realize (since it’s hard to make the words out clearly as they’re sung) that it seems to literally be about life on the streets or in a certain town. BUT it’s always been that killer chorus that’s hooked me with Off Road Minivan’s album opener from Swan Dive. The words “Don’t go breaking my heart unless you let me go. / Can’t keep changing the rules we already broke.” really resonate with this guy’s hopeless romantic heart… (read the lyrics)

25. “Retrace” by Anberlin… Although it released when I was much older, the lyrics take me back to being a teenager. I’ll just say that. 🙂  “Retrace the steps we took on that lost summer night / 
I’m back there by your side / Retrace the steps we took when we met, / Worlds away, counting backwards while the stars are falling” (read the lyrics)

Bonus: “Stressed Out” by twenty one pilots… It was tough to pick a 20th one for this list, so I wrote this one in, left to go visit family for Easter, remembered a handful of more songs, and returned to the list when I got back home. So I pushed this one to the end. There are so many songs I could put on this list (and I’m trying not to repeat too many artists). But this one came at a time in my life when it just really clicked. When JFH alum Josh Taylor shared “local band” twenty one pilots with me when they were making the rounds at colleges before making it big… I hated it. I could stand Tyler’s voice, and the music was just way too quirky for me. After they made it big, I still didn’t give them a fair shake. However, one day, I was sitting on a bench at Dorney Park amusement park and “Stressed Out” came on the in-park radio. The beat and the chorus finally clicked with me at a time I was really struggling with adulthood (and feelings of failure). Stress had really been rocking my nervous system at the time and this song just captured how I felt pretty well. The chorus goes, “Wish we could turn back time / To the good old days / When our momma sang us to sleep / But now we’re stressed out”  Ha. Me too, Tyler. Me too.

 

Honorable Mentions: While some of my favorites are more musical or sentimental than deep thematic or lyrical meanings, I’d also have to say some other favorites include “Alive,” “Wind An’ Sea,” “Grey Clouds,” “Ocean Seems” and “Need A Love” by Dakoda Motor Co.; “There Might Be a Light,” “Love Song for a Savior” by Jars of Clay; “One Like You,” “Glory,” “We’re a Band” and “Underdog” by Audio Adrenaline; “Set Apart This Dream,” “Chasm,” and “Broken Wings” by Flyleaf; “Sincerely Ichabod,” “Stein’s Theme,” “Spy Hunter” by Project 86; “Glorious Unfolding,” “Take Another Step,” “All Things New” and “Broken” by Steven Curtis Chapman; “A Day Late” and “Hello Alone” by Anberlin; “From Where You Are” by Lifehouse; “Please” and “The Valley” by Eisley; “Endless” by Eric Champion… and so many more.

I don’t really listen to mainstream / secular music outside of instrumental movie soundtracks (and some 80’s pop classics), but if I had to include favorites across the board for music, the song “LAX” from the soundtrack for the show “Lost” by Michael Giacchino, and the “Ghostbusters” theme by Ray Parker Jr. (since the original Ghostbusters is my favorite movie) would definitely be on there. haha (Oh! And Bobby Brown’s “On Our Own” from Ghostbusters II — I still remember shopping with my grandparents as a kid and them buying me the cassette single for that song. Love it!)

Anyway, take the order here with a grain of salt; it’s more the meaningfulness of the songs for me. Thanks for reading!

~ John