Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
The familiar voice of Willie Nelson is the soundtrack for the Kohl’s ad called “Give With All Your Heart.” Take a look at the heartwarming commercial:
The song is from The Muppet Movie way back in 1979. It’s called “Rainbow Connection” and was covered by Willie Nelson in 2001. The Kohl’s ad was directed by Rodrigo Garcia Saiz and produced by ad agency Yard NYC.
Here are a few things from the commercial you can find at Kohl’s in store or online. Links for each will take you to that item on the Kohl’s website, and no I don’t get anything from Kohl’s for this, I wish I did!!
If you’re married or have decided not to date, be so, so, so, so thankful that you don’t have to deal with stuff like this! Check out the profiles below for a good chuckle.
“Never” is a relative term.
2. The town of Brentwood, perhaps?
3. Used? No thanks.
This was from “missed connections” on Craigslist, so I filed it under dating 🙂
4. You have a 14% chance of guessing which one she is.
Ladies, never include photos of yourself with your prettier friends
5. How is this guy still single?
6. If you mention drinking this much, you drink too much.
7. It could be worse, no matter how much trouble urine.
8. The mind games of this one.
9. My guess is this voter is still in the booth, confused.
I’ve been inspired by listening to U2’s SiriusXM station the past few months. In fact, a lot of new songs I save in Spotify have come from listening to what their channel plays. Often times, they’ll have fans play their top 5 favorite U2 songs, so I thought I’d make a list of my favorites. Because this is my blog and I make the rules, I don’t have to keep it at 5 though 🙂 Here is the first set of my favorite U2 songs, and then check out part 2 here.
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – I was an elementary-aged child when I first heard this song… sometime in the mid-80s. I didn’t know who the band was. In fact, I didn’t even think to wonder about them. I just knew I liked this song. A lot. Like, A LOT a lot. It would be years and years later that I would discover it was a band called U2, and the world of music for me changed forever. This song is more spiritually authentic than so much of Christian music.
Favorite line: “You broke the bones and you loosed the chains. Carried the cross and all my shame, all my shame. You know I believe it.”
“With or Without You” – Just like another song on this list (“So Cruel”), the back and forth notes of the piano going through the whole song is one of my favorite things. When this happens in a song, it just mesmerizes me. This song is about that person you can’t stand, but can’t stand to live without. Some people can relate to the struggle, unfortunately. Similar to the well-known phrase, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” the singer is in a position where it’s a lose/lose situation. When he gets to the line, “…and you give yourself away,” he’s reached a point where he just doesn’t care anymore. The best one got away so what else is there to hope for?
Favorite Line: “…and you give yourself away.”
“Where the Streets Have No Name” – This song was already amazing, but it rooted deeper into my soul after watching the 2002 Super Bowl halftime performance. Note that this was just a few months after the tragedy of 9/11. Amazing song. ONCE IN A LIFETIME PERFORMANCE.
Favorite Line: “Where the streets have no name!”
“So Cruel” – The repeating piano throughout the song is everything. This song might be the only one on this list that stopped me in my tracks. You know the kind of song that you are SURE it was written about you? In this case, and in my life, this song wouldn’t be one I wrote for a lost love but one a lost love wrote about me. I’ve been cruel before. To stay with me, she would’ve been a fool.
Favorite line: “Oh, Love, to stay with you, I’d be a fool.”
“Pride (In the Name of Love)” – I like this one for the references to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jesus, all without even needing to say their names. Great songwriting right there!
Favorite Line: “Early morning, April 4, shot rings out in a Memphis sky. Free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride.”
“Numb” – I was 41 when I heard this song for the first time in 2020. I think it’s amazing how a song can exist for decades (“Numb” released in 1993) without a person ever hearing it. Especially when it’s from a well-known band like U2. For me this song is so memorable not because of the lyrics per se, but how the song is put together with the crunchy razor-like guitar notes and the heavy drum beat. I loved it the first time I heard it on U2’s SiriusXM station and it quickly became a top favorite.
Thanks for making it this far! These are only 6 of my favorite U2 songs. Check out the rest in part 2.
I was working on a different post (my favorite U2 songs) and started writing about “Where the Streets Have No Name.” As I wrote, and then watched U2’s Super Bowl halftime performance I was flooded with thoughts. I’m trying to write them down now but mostly I can’t shake the thought that no politician, no man, no woman, no Republican or Democrat, nor any government in the world can save us. It seems like (at least in an election year), we cast all our hopes and dreams on the person running for office… as if our future depends solely on him or her. Well, guess what? It doesn’t. No matter who gets elected, they can’t save you. They can’t save me.
The place where “the streets have no name” is Heaven, just to get that out there. To me, the song is about dropping our differences and longing to be in Heaven… with God… where being with Him is all that matters. But while we’re on earth we have differences with people. We disagree. We fight. We tweet. I’m guilty of all of it.
The current of division in America right now is strong because so many people think they are right and the other side is wrong. Having a media that plays up the division just for ratings doesn’t help, either. So often I just have to turn the news off and voilá, I’m calm. Take a look at the next newscast in your city… what colors are on the screen when they talk about the news? Coronavirus, voting issues, politics, these topics are often scripted in red or have red backgrounds. This is very much on purpose to remind us of fear, being scared, and ultimately maintaining unrest. OK, that’s a little bit of a side rant!
As I watched the U2 performance, I sighed because I miss the America we were in the weeks and months after the 9/11 tragedy. We were united. Surely on September 12th we still had political, faith, race, ethnicty, many differences but I don’t remember any of those mattering. In the weeks that followed the tragedy, people from all over were going to New York City to help clean up. People were donating blood. The heartbreaking events of that evil day out of us brought the best, and to the back burner we shuffled the rest.
I sincerely hope we can be there again but this time by choice. We don’t need evil people to remind us that we are all born with a desire to find good in the world. It’s in our broken nature to care for one another however we see that working. But I don’t really see that much right now, probably because it’s an election year. Politics seem to bring out the worst in us. A tweet from a woman I follow on Twitter said it so well:
If anything, watching the U2 performance and reflecting on the state of the union, I was also reminded of the lyrics of a song by The Avett Brothers:
Life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected…
“Head Full of Doubt/ Road Full of Promise” The Avett Brothers
Sure some things go this way and other things go that way but like I said at first, no one can make you happy about your life. A Democrat gets elected? So what. A Republican gets elected? So what. How is my heart? How is your heart? If we’re waiting for a savior to come and preside over our great country, it’s not going to happen. People are flawed. We are messed up. But the good news is there IS a place we can go to fill the void we often try to fill with celebrities or politicians or protests or riots or boycotts or whatever. It’s not church. But the answer is often there. I’m talking about God. He’s been the answer for thousands (or millions, for all you evolutionists out there 😉 ) of years for all people in all circumstances.
I have placed my faith in Him and the One declared to be His son, Jesus. No matter what happens in politics, the ups and downs and the victories and heartaches, I’m SO glad my hope isn’t in the man or woman elected. My challenge to you today is to think beyond the differences you have with people. Think beyond the person we elect to lead our community, city, state, country. Ask yourself, and I will ask myself, too: What is it I’m hoping this person will fix in my life? And if the answer is anything besides taxes and better roads, let’s pray to God for that and give Him a chance to come through.
Out of the Wilderness 