I'm like a Mockingbird

Derek Webb, Mockingbird

Best album to close 2005 with? Probably.
Best lyrics ever? Most likely.
Most convicting artist to hit the Christian Music scene since Keith Green? Oh, definitely.

Trying to tackle God, love, and politics in 40 minutes is insane, but Derek pulls it off. Best lyrical snippets:

don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice

don’t teach me about loving my enemies

don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law
(from "A New Law")

there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him
(from "A King & A Kingdom")

peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution
...
when justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
the ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor
(from "My Enemies are Men like Me")

i’m in love
oh i love what i can convince you of
‘cause i’m a prophet by trade
and a salesman by blood
now i’m dying just to be
a filtered, sub-cultural version of me
(from "Zeros & Ones")

like an addict to his fix
so am i to your sweet lips
the wife of my youth, my drug of choice
(from "Please, Before I Go")

Anyway, you should own this album.