Snow Angels

I've built up a collection of Christmas music by buying one Christmas CD a year for the last 20 years (a post about my Christmas music here). This year I've been listening to Over the Rhine's Snow Angels for free here and finally bought it as my annual Christmas CD--well, as an iTunes download. I already have their Trumpet Child project from 2007 and will feature at least one of the songs from it on future Song-of-the-Week posts.

The husband-wife team known as Over the Rhine intrigues me. What lyrics--and what a voice to carry them to the ear! Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist write lines of Christian hope in the midst of heartbreak, of (*ahem*) steamy passion for each other, of cynical disappointment in those with influence, and of the hard work to forgive and accept.

For example, on "Here it Is," Detweiler writes of continuing commitment to a relationship that hasn't always been perfect (their own?). Wow--

Somewhere down the road
We’ll lift up our glass
And toast the moment
And moments past
The heartbreak and laughter
The joy and the tears
The scary beauty
Of what’s right here

You can read all the lyrics here while you listen to the music here. Pay special attention to the lullaby, "White Horse," as well as the pacifist wish of "Little Town," the prayer called "New Redemption Song," and the romantic torch-song "Snowed in with You." Well, okay, just listen to 'em all and I bet you've found your next Christmas CD, too.