We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sound Theology

by Jonathan Rundman

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    This downloadable 20th Anniversary reissue of the album features 48 selections from the original 52-song double-CD, including remixed versions of "Church Directory," "Workin' My Committee," "Four Candles," "Let Me Be Yours," "Local Road," "Find Your Way To Prague," "Ashes," "My Apology," "Forgiveness Waltz," "I Love You With All Of My Mind," "Carol Of The Bells," "Are You Speaking Through The Radio," and "The Glasses Song."

    The only way to hear "A Farm In Minnesota," "My Broken Heart Is Miss You," "Dumb Summer," and "A Better Place" is to order the original physical CD!
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Critically acclaimed two-CD 52-song concept album, complete with extensive liner notes and study guide. Jewel box packaging.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Sound Theology via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    3 remaining

      $40 USD or more 

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
you got something you think you need you look at me like i cannot afford this but every morning and every evening i got something right outside my door i'm cold, but i don't mind yeah i'm cold, but i'll be fine cold, but it's alright i'm cold, but i don't mind you send me postcards of sunny weather you tend your flowers on new year's day i leave my gloves on the radiator thank you for asking, but i'm gonna stay cold i don't mind yeah i'm cold, but i'll be fine cold, but it's alright i'm cold, but i don't mind
7.
8.
9.
just me and God inside the car beneath the tollway overpass out in nowhere illinois sheets of rain on window glass and when it all passed before me it looked so good it was the prophetstown tornado the newsman on the FM dial signed off and ran for cover my car received the final broadcast as the twister crossed above her and when it all passed before me it looked so good it was the prophetstown tornado there was pure electric heat when the lightning struck the land i wondered 'bout that tall blonde girl who put the ring upon my hand and when my lifetime passed before me it looked so good it was the prophetstown tornado 88's my favorite number
10.
people love to hear you sing the blues they want to be there for you when you lose they understand it when you pay your dues but when the world goes right your way no, they don't want to hear about your day they're quickly running out of things to say you get the loneliness of happiness yeah it's the loneliness of happiness i'm so lonely 'cause i'm happy i'm so happy but i'm so lonely you're feeling low and they get in deep 'cause the Bible says to weep with those who weep well yeah, that's a promise anyone could keep didn't it also tell us to rejoice with those who do and with one voice? well, people rarely ever make that choice you get the loneliness of happiness yeah it's the loneliness of happiness i'm so lonely 'cause i'm happy i'm so happy but i'm so lonely people love to hear you sing the blues
11.
12.
13.
14.
someday all my money will be guaranteed someday all my money will be sure someday all my money will come back to me and there will be no more of these cautious springtime blues someday my sweet baby will be guaranteed someday my sweet baby will be sure someday my sweet baby will come back to me and there will be no more of these cautious springtime blues someday all my daydreams will be guaranteed someday all my daydreams will be sure someday all my daydreams will come back to me and there will be no more of these cautious springtime blues
15.
they want an overhead projector and a las vegas chorus video collage and a bad guitarist there is nothing here you would need that hymnal for children leave your brains at the sanctuary door so we dumb this down dumb this down we're creating monsters creed and kyrie they don't know how to say take it over sixty minutes you can't make 'em stay we have an opportunity to rise to the occasion but we'd rather have capacity than a congregation so we dumb this down dumb this down we're creating monsters
16.
17.
i'm so tired of songs about drinking i don't care to ever hear it again i'm so bored by your self-pity call me when you got something new to sing 'cause i'm tired tired tired and i've had it up to here tired tired tired you got me covering my ears i'm tired tired tired i've had just about enough of you i'm so tired of teenaged smokers standing on the corner going nowhere slow passing 'round a lighter cussing and complaining i don't wanna hear it i don't wanna know 'cause i'm tired tired tired and i've had it up to here tired tired tired you got me covering my ears i'm tired tired tired i've had just about enough of you i'm so tired of idiot parents tearing their children down every day it's no wonder they grow up smoking and singing about drinking their lives away i'm tired tired tired and i've had it up to here tired tired tired you got me covering my ears i'm tired tired tired i've had just about enough of you
18.
19.
20.
21.
at the xian bookstore there is product to be sold so over there in China there's some little 8-year-old working in a factory and rarely going home she's assembling plastic pencil cases with the words to that "Footprints" poem well, i wonder if the kids who buy those Bible action playsets ever stage a "cleansing of the temple" re-enactment? now no one knows for sure but i think it's safe to say if Jesus hadn't risen he'd be rolling in his grave
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
i don't want to go to hell ain't no singin' in hell i don't want to go to hell ain't no preachin' in hell i don't want to go to hell
27.
28.
29.
Wide Awake 02:45
i'm wide awake i feel the cold i see the star i see the child i'm wide awake i see the men who traveled far across the miles i see the gifts they bring i hear the songs they sing and i open up my eyes and i'm wide awake i'm wide awake i see the weak i see the sad i see the lame i'm wide awake i see the broken people crying out his name and now the sick are clean and now the blind can see and i can't believe my eyes and i'm wide awake i'm wide awake i see the nails i see the blood i see the thorns i'm wide awake i cry the tears i feel the pain i hear the scorn but i wipe my tears away when Sunday morning came and i saw the empty grave i'm wide awake
30.
Easier 03:29
some people strongly believe that they should not have strong beliefs some people have formed a group of people who refuse to form groups yeah, it would be so much easier to leave this faith behind but easy's often stupid and rarely wise yeah, it would be so much easier to go out on my own but easy ain't no good when you're alone i've heard opposing arguments and as far as i can tell some people go gay to heaven and some go straight to hell yeah, it would be so much easier to leave this faith behind but easy's often stupid and rarely wise yeah, it would be so much easier to go out on my own but easy ain't no good when you're alone i've never been bad at badness so the good king came down from the castle yeah grace is free but it ain't cheap and it proves that faith is worth the hassle it feels like a hassle but it's worth it yeah, it would be so much easier to leave this faith behind but easy's often stupid and rarely wise yeah, it would be so much easier to go out on my own but easy ain't no good when you're alone
31.
Minneapolis 00:19
yeah it's fine we all got friends there the men are polite the women have blonde hair but when people move there they never leave there minneapolis
32.
i got a long way to go, i'm on a narrow road but i ain't looking for some fountain of youth no i ain't scared of growing old no i ain't afraid of the divine truth and if i ever get there i'll let you know send you my address from my new home and if i ever get there i'm gonna settle in and watch the rest of my life begin if i ever get there yeah, they ask me if i'm ready for the long long ride yeah, i got all i'm gonna need i got a beautiful girl here at my side i got the love of God and a book to read and if i ever get there i'll let you know send you my address from my new home and if i ever get there i'm gonna settle in and watch the rest of my life begin if i ever get there now, way way way up in the sky or deep down under the ocean wherever i am when i walk towards the light i guess i'll have what i need to cross the Jordan if i ever get there i'm gonna climb up into that noisy old bus they'll shut the door and away we'll go yeah, they got enough seats for all of us me and CS Lewis and EA Poe and if i ever get there i'll let you know send you my address from my new home and if i ever get there i'm gonna settle in and watch the rest of my life begin if i ever get there
33.
some call it vast others a waste hide your face when the winds begin to blow see what you want keep your eye on the sky turn the dirt and call it home but don't you question why we're not alone? you got silos up above, silos down below, silos caught between heaven and hell when is the harvest? no one can tell we're still waiting for the rain what you build or grow is what you call your own but you're not looking deep beneath your yield we all see behind that "do not enter" sign and there you sit pretending it's not real but we cannot till what's planted in that field you got silos up above, silos down below, silos caught between heaven and hell when is the harvest? no one can tell we're still waiting for the rain we tend the land, tend the land and it changes hands we tend the land you got silos up above, silos down below, silos caught between heaven and hell when is the harvest? no one can tell we're still waiting for the rain we're still waiting
34.
35.
Deadly Life 02:39
there's a holy miracle every single night when we lie down in our beds and turn out all the lights we breathed ourselves another day we beat all the odds we survived this deadly life and gave it back to God we didn't starve or thirst to death or fall to some disease we weren't lost or all alone or left outside to freeze there was no freeway accident or collapse of the sun we didn't die the victim of some punk kid with a gun there was no right-wing terrorist or killer flash flood we weren't sent to fight no war we got no tainted blood we weren't in the path of some drunk man at the wheel the day was rough but we got through so every night we kneel because there's a holy miracle every single night when we lie down in our beds and turn out all the lights we breathed ourselves another day we beat all the odds we survived this deadly life and gave it back to God i was at that city church where they circle around to pray an old man with an african face had a simple prayer to say he said "thank you lord for giving me every breath i take and thank you lord for giving me this new day" there's a holy miracle every single night when we lie down in our beds and turn out the lights we breathed ourselves another day we beat all the odds we survived this deadly life and gave it back to God
36.
Oswiecim 03:17
when you're drowning in the water you long to breathe the air you know the truth of goodness when you're deep down in despair you only see injustice when you know what's right and fair the more of something you can't have the more you're sure it's there every day, every day i remember every day i remember oswiecim you're only sure of hatred for it's contrast to true love you only know you're down below in relation to above you only fear the vulture because you've seen the dove whatever is beyond your reach that's what you're certain of every day, every day i remember every day i remember oswiecim they say "how can you believe in anything when there's so much evil in the world?" ah, but did they not just answer their own question? they know of goodness and it's definition every day, every day i remember every day i remember oswiecim every day, every day i remember every day i remember oswiecim
37.
38.
Sunday morning Indiana at the church where i was a guest they had hymnals and a steeple and the letters LCMS yeah I guess i saw it coming you could call me a pessimist but i walked up to the altar for to share in the eucharist and the pastor passed me by he would not let me take the bread and wine and my heart froze and tears came to my eyes closed out of close communion people stepped down in the quiet i was shaking i was out of breath he said "may this body and this blood bless you and keep you in the one true faith" so i sat there like a stranger with nothing it was all i had yeah, i knew that we were different but i didn't know it would hurt so bad and the pastor passed me by he would not let me take the bread and wine and my heart froze and tears came to my eyes closed out of close communion closed out of close communion
39.
yeah, when you speak for me you don't speak for me yeah, when you speak for me you don't speak for me my faith is not erotic my faith is not narcotic not at all psychotic nor is it robotic i've been given a brain and so i'm gonna use it i've been given my freedom i don't wanna abuse it i've been given a gift and i won't refuse it
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
Godforsaken 02:15
i was young i held the world in my hands i walked the narrow way for all to see when the rain crashed down and washed away my dreams i overlooked the love you have for me godforsaken why do i feel this way your promise is right before my eyes godforsaken it's all very plain to see that i will never be godforsaken i'm still young but i'm not the boy i used to be no no no no the world no longer turns for me alone but it's for freedom that i have been set free and in your love i know i've found a home godforsaken why do i feel this way your promise is right before my eyes godforsaken it's all very plain to see that i will never be godforsaken
47.
Texas Kyrie 01:56
48.

about

Perspectives on faith and rock & roll from a Finnish-American Midwestern Generation X Lutheran at the turn of the millennium.

credits

released October 31, 2000

ALL 52 SONGS AVAILABLE ON PHYSICAL 2-CD SET:

DISC ONE

Church Directory
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Workin' my Committee
Four Candles
Out Behind the Old Hotel
Cold, But I Don't Mind
Let Me Be Yours
Local Road
The Prophetstown Tornado
The Loneliness of Happiness
In Thee is Gladness
Find Your Way to Prague
Ashes
Cautious Springtime Blues
We're Creating Monsters
My Apology
Tired Tired Tired
Ah, Holy Jesus
A Farm in Minnesota
Forgiveness Waltz
Chopin's Heart
Xian Bookstore
A Little More Than Me
My Broken Heart is Miss (sic)You
Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Your Word

DISC TWO

I Love You With All of My Mind
Carol of the Bells
I Don't Want To Go To Hell
Failing Rockstar Attempt
Arise, My Soul, Arise!
Wide Awake
A Better Place
Easier
Dumb Summer
Minneapolis
If I Ever Get There
Waiting for the Rain
No Time To Breathe
Deadly Life
Oswiecim
I Want Jesus to Walk With Me
Closed Out...
You Don't Speak For Me
Are You Speaking Through the Radio?
The Glasses Song
The Stars Start to Take On That Same Old Shine
Row Out the Boat
Dance of the Confirmands
Bright Funeral
Godforsaken
Texas Kyrie
What Wondrous Love is This

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jonathan Rundman Minneapolis, Minnesota

"bright, catchy indie pop" NEW YORK TIMES
“clever, intelligent songwriting” PASTE MAGAZINE
“clever phrasing and fresh rhymes" PERFORMING SONGWRITER
“literate…excellent…a record for anyone who hasn't given up on the idea that good songs, electric/acoustic guitars, and a great drummer are the key to all sorts of epiphanies” CITY PAGES
... more

contact / help

Contact Jonathan Rundman

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Jonathan Rundman, you may also like: