March 2025 Theme Mix Tape (Side A)
The I’ve Been Wondering If You’re Listening for Quite a While: March 2025 Theme Mix Tape (Side A) can be found on Spotify. Listen in-blog below for a more rich experience, or on Spotify for uninterrupted music. Please note below each song is a link to song lyrics for accessibility. Check out more details on how to best enjoy mix tapes.
Good day!
You’re listening to KMTJ-DB – Your Mix Tape Journey – Denver, Colorado.
I’m your host, DJ Ponyboy, welcoming you to Side A of my March 2024 Theme Mix Tape: I’ve Been Wondering If You’re Listening for Quite a While.
And I have! Are you out there listening?! If so, consider dropping a post on the Mix Tape Journeyers Facebook group to let me know you hear me!
Not knowing if you’re getting through can be frustrating, demoralizing, and make you begin to question if what you thought was true actually is . . .
This month’s tapes are themed around religious deconstruction, and Side A is all about the first step of such a journey – admitting that you have questions, concerns, or doubts about your existing beliefs. Keep coming back throughout this month to continue the journey with Side B: Flying Saucers Inside Our Hollow Moon, and Side C: A Few Things That Were Spared.
While my focus will be on Christianity, many of the points made in the music we will be enjoying apply to any religious belief system.
Those who subscribe to my weekly email will receive more details around this, but I believe critically questioning what you believe and why is imperative to being a complete and moral person.
There are many different catalysts that might trigger one to wonder if what they think is true actually makes sense. Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23 of the New International Version (NIV) Bible translation states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law”.
One thing that bothered me as I grew older and met more people was realizing a much, much larger percentage of non-Christians demonstrate the “fruits of the spirit” than Christians do. Even the “nice” Christians are bigoted and hateful and not nice – simply polite – perfectly willing to engage in backbiting, lying, stealing, gossip, slander, and outright hate, while using their religion to justify it all.
In my life I can count on one hand the number of people who even remotely attempt to live like Christ – the more “important” they are, the more this seems to be true. This trend has gotten significantly worse in the last ten years.
If the fruits of the tree are poison, doesn’t that indicate the tree is poison also?
Prolific Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Bruce Cockburn has written over 350 songs in his more than fifty-year career, with lyrics reflecting themes of spirituality, human rights, environmental issues, and relationships. Our next tune does a great job of capturing the lazy apathy of the church, content to sit around going through the motions and waiting for a miracle instead of doing the hard work Jesus called them to do – that of loving others.
Here is Bruce Cockburn with 1987’s “Waiting for a Miracle”.
The music contained on this month’s mix tapes is very lyric-dependent. Below every song on this page there is a link to the lyrics for that track. I encourage you to follow these links and read them for yourself instead of only listening, as there is a lot of depth in the words.
Noah Gundersen is an American indie folk singer-songwriter from Seattle who, like me, grew up home schooled in a conservative Christian household. Also like I did, he asks Jesus the hard questions, and in the absence of an answer receives one.
Noah Gunderson and “Jesus, Jesus” on KMTJ-DB – Your Mix Tape Journey – Denver, Colorado.
“I wanted to feel as saved as they do, but the more I live, the harder to believe that their god above knows the first thing about love or goes along with every rule they make up”.
American rock band Quiet Company, fronted by Taylor Muse and active since 2000, hails from Austin, Texas. That was their 2011 track “The Confessor”. Noah Gunderson before that with “Jesus, Jesus”.
Iris DeMent is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Arkansas whose music includes elements of folk, country, and gospel; she shares her own catalyst for changing beliefs, telling the story of “The Night [She] Learned How Not to Pray”.
The Night I Learned How Not to Pray Lyrics
If you are beginning to question your beliefs, you might find this tape extremely depressing. Don’t fear, dear listener, for this is only Side A!
The journey continues all month long and I promise we will hear songs of hope as well. 🥰 Additionally, questioning your beliefs does not always result in a loss of faith – it can actually strengthen it.
Another side effect of questioning your beliefs is worry. There is no greater strength than that required when confronting the possibility that literally everything you have ever known to be true in your entire existence might not be. It’s perfectly natural to be concerned.
In the words of the character Jeff in the 1982 film Tootsie, “I’m just afraid that you’re going to burn in hell for all this”.
Max McNown shares similar reservations with his parents in 2024’s “Worry ‘Bout My Wandering” on KMTJ-DB, Denver.
Worry ‘Bout My Wandering Lyrics
The son of a pastor, David Bazan is best known as the frontman for the 1990’s Seattle-based indie rock group Pedro the Lion; in 2006 he dissolved the group to focus on a solo career. His first solo album Curse Your Branches is absolutely chock-full of fantastic tracks exploring faith and belief. If you are questioning, I highly recommend listening to this entire album.
First, enjoy his final track from the release, “In Stitches”
American contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Leanna Crawford asks god the musical question, “Can I Be Honest?” on KMTJ-DB – Denver, Colorado.
I’m DJ Ponyboy, and if my mix tapes touch you, please consider supporting me and Mix Tape Journey by signing up for my email newsletter, purchasing a product, supporting me on Patreon, engaging with the Mix Tape Journeyers Facebook group, or simply sharing your favourite mix tape with someone special. Thank you for your contribution; I appreciate you!
Peter Bradley Adams is a folk-pop Americana singer-songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama who was a founding member of the folk pop duo eastmountainsouth prior to launching his solo career in 2006.
In “Waltz of the Faithless” he reminds us that rarely (if ever) does someone begin deconstructing their religion wishing to no longer believe, singing, “Don’t get me wrong – I don’t wanna go back to the place where I never believed; but I’m looking and tired and I’ve lost everything. Is this all my faith’s gonna bring?”.
“I can no longer carry the ark if it’s causing the death of my friends”.
North Carolina-based alternative band The Collection, fronted by singer-songwriter David Wimbish reminds us that, for a religion ostensibly focused on love, there is rarely evidence of actual love being demonstrated.
Peter Bradley Adams before that with “Waltz of the Faithless” on KMTJ-DB – Your Mix Tape Journey – Denver, Colorado.
I’m DJ Ponyboy and I am so so grateful you have decided to join me today, and even more so that you are still listening this far into this week’s mix tape.
One of the last straws for me on my way out of religious belief was the complete and utter lack of response from the magic man in the sky. The more I asked questions, the more I read my Bible, and the more I prayed, the quieter he became.
New York musical duo A Great Big World does a fantastic job of capturing the pain of losing someone you love deeply, but who doesn’t reciprocate your feelings – nay, doesn’t even care enough about you to even pretend to care or make an effort to even respond to your pain. Callous indifference can cause far greater sorrow than even outright animosity.
“Anywhere, I would’ve followed you. Say something; I’m giving up on you”.
Thank you for joining me today and every week to explore music together! Make sure to keep coming back throughout the month to hear my monthly connections mix tape and Sides B and C of this month’s theme mix tape.
You have been listening to Side A of my March 2024 Theme Mix Tape: I’ve Been Wondering If You’re Listening for Quite a While on KMTJ-DB – Your Mix Tape Journey – Denver, Colorado.
I’m your host, DJ Ponyboy; until next time, stay gold.