Tag: Greatest Showman
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Come Alive?
Come Alive This song comes early in the film during the get-the-gang-together scene. Barnum knows he needs live acts to make his idea work, so he starts recruiting for “oddities.” (This moment of recruiting the team is a favorite part of leadership for me, and it’s also why Oceans Eleven is one of my favorite movies).…
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Made for Joy
We were made for joy. If you watch children at all, you know that. Laughter, skipping, a silly verve for life are such a part of childhood that even in war-torn countries and refugee camps you can find children playing. Of course, we drive it out of them as soon as we can. In school,…
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A Personal Note
We’ve been listening to this soundtrack in our house a lot. My daughter and I are both pretty fixated on this show (I mean, in case this blog didn’t already give you that impression), and my wife likes it a lot, too, so it plays throughout the house as background in the evenings even as…
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From Now On
From Now On (with a great backstory) This last song on the soundtrack seems, in some ways, the most “gospel-y.” There’s a little flourish in the piano before the first chorus that has a gospel flair, and the sound, once the song gets ramped up, is very reminiscent of contemporary Christian music’s Rend Collective. The theme…
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Tightrope – The Christian Walk
Tightrope There’s a Christian radio station in Florida whose slogan is “Always safe for the little ears.” The opening lines of “Tightrope” reminded me of this: Some people long for a life that is simple and planned Tied with a ribbon Some people won’t sail the sea ’cause they’re safer on land To follow what’s…
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This Is Me – Rallying the Homeboys
This is Me “This is Me” is definitely the anthem and musical centerpiece of Showman, and it’s already shown up in Olympic commercials. It also is the song to which some Christians most object, as it celebrates what they call “expressive individualism” – the you-do-you empowerment philosophy that they fear separates morality and the good…
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Never Enough
Never Enough I’m surprised by how simple this song is lyrically. It’s a powerful piece. I will admit that the first time it came up, the lyrics didn’t sink in; it’s really in the tearful reprise that you realize that what Jenny Lind has been singing is so devastatingly descriptive of the realization Barnum is…
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Selling The Other Side
The Other Side Very few people know the Harry Chapin musical Cotton Patch Gospel, which is really too bad. It’s a great retelling of the Gospel set in 1960’s Georgia, with a flexible and talented chorus of bluegrass musicians that make you actually kinda like bluegrass. I mention this because there is a scene in which…
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Dreams and Their Limits
Songs: A Million Dreams Rewrite the Stars Let’s talk about the dreams. In both “A Million Dreams” and “Rewrite the Stars,” there’s a major theme about the human ability to create our own world. In “A Million Dreams” it looks like this: ‘Cause every night I lie in bed The brightest colors fill…
Reading Francis 