What are some inspiring songs, besides "Let the River Run"?

[tjdee]

I'm songriffic today--now I'm listening to "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon (that was in Working Girl and won a Grammy, Golden Globe, and Oscar). Even though it gets all 80s in the middle, it is soooo hopeful and so ....

"Let the river run, let all the dreamers wake the nation
Come the New Jerusalem

Silver cities rise
the morning lights, the streets that greet them
and sirens call them on with a song

It's asking for the taking
Trembling, shaking
Oh, my heart is aching
We're coming to the edge, running on the water
Coming through the fog, your sons and daughters

We the great and small
stand on a star
and blaze a trail of desire
through the darkening dawn...."

Plus, it reminds me of the Twin Towers. I think I teared up when the USPS used it after the anthrax scare, too.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

1. I put inspirational songs on my iPod to pace to during the bar exam

Like Gloria Estefan's "Reach" and "Get On Your Feet" and Wilson Phillips's "It's Only Life."

[tjdee]

2. Gloria's "Coming Out of the Dark" is a nice one too.

I remember when she performed that on the American Music Awards, her first time performing after her accident I believe.
Is Reach the one she did for the Olympics?

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

3. Yes on both counts

[WCGreen]

4. Jesus Jones, Right Here Right Now

Watchin the World Wake up From History

One of the best inspirational words ever sung in a pop song

[musette_sf]

5. Democracy by Leonard Cohen

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

:patriot:

[politicat]

6. Mine: On the Turning Away and Perpetual

Pink Floyd and VNV Nation.... go figure. I loved Let The River Run since Working Girl, though -- what a feminist anthem that could have been....

It's definitely the second verses that get me in OTTA....

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away?

Perpetual has recently become my new "prayer to myself"; the previous holder of that honor was Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland.

Perpetual by VNV Nation (Album: Matter+Form)

Find it in you, raise your eyes
Look beyond the place you stand
Towards the furthest reaches
And to the smallest of things
The sound you are hearing
Is the symphony of what we are
Revelation will not come
With heart and mind closed and divided

No need of sun to light the way
Across the ages, we have reigned as we endured
Through the storm fronts we will ever surely pass
To stand as never ending light

Throw away the mantle
Awake from your uncertain hesitation
No way to describe or equate the feeling
No end to what is at your command
A million thoughts run through you
Concentric circles, ever greater
But you have always known
That this is not who you are
To your questions there'll be answers

Let there be, let there always be
Never ending light

[ET Awful]

7. A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

I was born by the river in a little tent
And just like the river, I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me "Don't hang around"
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

Then I go to my brother and I say, "Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me back down on my knees

There've been times that I've thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come