Song #50 - Grammatrain - "Jonah"

Inducted Jan. 19, 2016

Wow.. #50. By the end of this year (2021), I will have 170 songs (17 songs for 10 years) inducted. So I am not even a third of the way in blogging these songs. I hope I get there. 

Jonah was released again in my high school years (July 1997). I forget if I mentioned this already, but I listened to a radio show that came out on Saturday nights(? or maybe fridays) called Z-JAM. It was a syndicated show that played on our Christian Station, 99.3 WJQ, in west michigan. It played music that I was definitely more interested - harder, rockier, more alternative songs than the traditional CCM that WJQ played. That's how I got exposed to a lot of the bands that 90's Christian Teens enjoyed. Grammatrain was awesome. Most Christian Bands were essentially copies of secular acts that were popular at the time. I don't know enough to know what Grammatrain's secular equivalent was, but they come from the Seattle scene and it's equivalent didn't matter to me.. their FLYING album was AWESOME. I LOVED it. And this was my favorite song by far. Again, the whole idea of "think I'm drowning and the ocean's raging" really made sense to adolescent Josh. This song/album came out as I started my senior year of high school, which was such a weird time for me. I was a kid who didn't fit in very well. All of us in Grand Haven High School were in a brand new school building that was less than a mile and a half from my house, and I got my first taste of a leadership role after being elected vice president of the First Priority Christian Club in September of that year. I think I shared that story already of how I was elected, but I felt it was a pity vote. Anyway.. i could write so much about that particular year.  

I love Pete Stewart's voice, and followed Grammatrain's progression through the years. I've followed Pete Stewart's journey away from faith. I'm so curious about people's individual's stories, and Stewart's fascinates me. Side Note: Grammatrain wrote a song for the Seattle Sounders MLS team before MLS really became super popular this decade. You should hunt it down.      

Elements I like: 

The guitar and opening riff.. 

The violin (cello?) at the end of the song.. 

Frantic Drumming here.. love it!!

How the song ends..