Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom? Cause all I ever had - redemption songs?

So "Deke Radio" played Wyclef singing "Redemption Song", the Bob Marley classic. Now here is a song that can be covered by any artist of talent and sound fantastic. Cash did a version. U2 does it live. Stevie Wonder. Alicia Keys.

I find Joe Strummer's version particularly moving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRwmZ2bp_...

What's your "Redemption Song"? A song that frees you. A song of forgiveness; perhaps one that helps you forgive yourself? A song that represents a rebirth in your life. Or quite simply, a song that you relate to personal redemption.

Me? I say "One" by U2. It's ambiguous enough to be read in several ways, but it was originally a dialectic between a gay, HIV positive son pleading with his disapproving dad. I choose "One" by U2, the version with Mary J. Blige. Adding a woman's voice changed the song and personalized it for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlHnHY_xQ...

Gladys Knight and the Pips singing "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"

I do not live near my family these days, and miss them - we're a tight knit bunch. This song always makes me think of so many people, my daughter, my family and friends who have become my family. There've been more than a few times I've put this on the CD player when I was missing "home" and cried tears into my glass of wine. I LOVE MY FAMILY!

I've had my share
Of life's ups and downs
But fate's been kind
The downs have been few
Oh I guess you can say that
I've been lucky
Or I guess you can say that it's all because of you

If anyone should ever write my life story
For whatever reason there might be
You'd be there between each line of pain and glory
Cause you're the best theing that ever happened to me

Oooh there have been times when times were hard
But always somehow i made it through
Cause for every moment that I spent hurting
There was a moment that I spent on just loving you

ps - Once upon a time, I hoped and dreamed that I'd grow up and sashay my way down the aisle to marry the one and only Axl Rose. I LOVE GnR too!

Wow, that's a pretty good question. I like Pacing the Cage by Jimmy Buffett. Also Fire and Rain by James Taylor.

"What do you hear in these sounds" by Dar Williams

Just as I am.

I'm not a huge reggae fan, but I dig that song and have heard some of the great covers of it. Good stuff.

My redemption song is not by a band that's widely known, but Satchel's "Suffering" has gotten me through some rough stuff. And Shawn Smith's voice is like velvet.

I agree about "One". Axl Rose said that the first time he heard the song, he was driving, and had to pull over and park because he began crying.

I'm not a Wyclef fan, but that is a fantastic cover.

If forced to choose, I might say "Another Day" by Dream Theater. Their music has brought ME to tears :

Live another day
Climb a little higher
Find another reason to stay
Ashes in your hands
Mercy in your eyes
If you're searching for a silent
sky...

You won't find it here
Look another way
You won't find it here
So die another day

The coldness of this words
The message in his silence,
"Face the candle to the
wind..."
This distance in my voice
Isn't leaving you a choice
So if you're looking for a time
to run away...

You won't find it here
Look another way
You won't find it here
So try another day

They took pictures of our
dreams
Ran to hide behind the stairs
And said maybe when it's right
for you, they'll fall
But if they don't come down
Resist the need to pull them in
And throw them away
Better to save the mystery
Than surrender to the secret

You won't find it here
Look another way
You won't find it here
So try another day

When I put Marley on, I'm somewhere else... I love him.His words cut right through me.

"Winter" by Tori Amos has that effect on me. It is a song about moving on in life, being strong, and loving ourselves as others do.

live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVxMXQgLD...

lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tori+amos/w...

"Inna Di Red" by Stephen Marley