Glory | 5ive Songs

On the 56^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with GLORY in some form or fashion.

Welcome to 5ive Songs, where we keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff! There’s a theme/topic, five songs, and a short blurb.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 56^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with GLORY in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

1. Jake Giles, “Glory Hole”

🎵 “Glory Hole” • 🏷 OctoLimbs Music • 🗓 2022

“I threw down my glass, I told them I’m staying in / Salvation from a stranger to help me begin again.” Oh my! From there, 🎙 Jake Giles follows up assertively singing, “Glory hole! / Glory hole!” Wow! If you’re unfamiliar with what a glory hole is, Urban Dictionary provides an awesome definition. Just be careful Googling it – you might come up with some NSFW results.  That said, maybe, just maybe, Giles’ 🎵 “Glory Hole” isn’t, um, appropriate to partake of in many 9-5 jobs! Honestly, this handsome, up-and-coming musician sets the free, risqué, and unapologetic tone of this 2022 single early on. “A moment of release and then it’s back to the war / I put my faith in the hands of somebody else…” Jesus!

happened upon this glorious, steamy LGBTQ+ gem on an unapologetic Spotify playlist titled, Gay Sex (👀). Woo! Jake Giles, expectedly, milks the glory hole for every last drop… Um, yeah, that didn’t sound right! Anyways, although the lyrics are sexual, they are clever too.  “I push myself in / To the other side / Grip the walls and / Just enjoy the ride” certainly shouldn’t be played in front of the kids, and perhaps the narrow-minded, but it fits the title and narrative perfectly.  Giles also treats this experience as an escape that’s ultimately meaningless but seems like a necessity: “Tonight, I’m going south / ‘Step to the circle,’ he said / I take a look around – I’m getting galaxy head / It’s just another wall / Another moment of glory.” To that, Mr. Giles, I say, day-um!

Appears in 🔻:

• Jake Giles, “Glory Hole”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 28 (2022)

2. Portishead, “Glory Box”

💿 Dummy • 🏷 Go! Discs Ltd • 📅 1994

“I’m so tired of playing / Playing with this bow and arrow / Gonna give my heart away / Leave it to the other girls to play / For I’ve been a temptress too long.” The most important album from British alternative, trip-hop collective 🎙 Portishead is their debut, 💿 Dummy, which was released in 1994.  Two songs particularly shine from Dummy: 🎵 “Sour Times”, the second track, and the glorious song at hand, 🎵 “Glory Box”, the closing cut.  🎙 Beth Gibbons shines with her expressive vocals on this epic, five-minute-plus gem.

“Glory Box” samples 🎵 “Medley: Ike’s Rap II / Help Me Love” (💿 Black Moses) by late soul legend 🎙 Isaac Hayes.  Specifically, it’s the “Ike’s Rap II” portion that helps fuel “Glory Box.” While the sample is vital to the record’s success, there’s also some great added music specifically 🎙 Adrian Utley’s use of Hammond Organ and truly superb guitar playing and soloing. The lyrics are awesome, memorable, and telling. Basically, Gibbons is done with games when it comes to love and men.  She is tired of bending over backward to please and try to attain love – she’s evolving and becoming much more mature.  She desires the same of a man, whom she addresses in the stellar chorus: “Give me a reason to love you / Give me a reason to be a woman / I just wanna be a woman.” 

Appears in 🔻:

• Don’t BOX Yourself in With These 13 Songs

3. Raphael Saadiq, “Glory to the Veins” (Ft. Ernest Turner)

💿 Jimmy Lee • 🏷 Columbia • 📅 2019

Eight years.  That’s how long it had been since 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B musician 🎙 Raphael Saadiq released a new studio album.  In 2019 Saadiq returned with a contemporary masterpiece – a very personal, socially-changed, fifth studio album, 💿 Jimmy Lee. Among the best moments from Jimmy Lee is the brief, but potent 🎵 “Glory to the Veins”. 

Raphael Saadiq mentions AIDS hitting close to home on the powerful record, featuring pianist 🎙 Ernest Turner.  “Glory to the Veins” is set in a minor key, instantly giving it a darker vibe.  Once Saadiq begins singing, it’s clear where he’s going with the song:  “It’s a world epidemic / And the whole world is in it / I lost a brother to AIDS / Still, he laughed every day.” Following those key lyrics, Saadiq gets a bit more abstract and poetic lyrically, leading to a simple, two-word chorus, “Oh well.” The second verse remains poetic and troublesome; there’s an unsettling vibe. Once more, it’s clear that Saadiq – and/or the character he plays – needs the guidance of a higher power.  He sings:

“…There’s too many people walking behind me

I need you beside me, please come and find me

It’s been so cold, the light could blind me

God help me to find me.”

Appears in 🔻:

• 15 G Songs: No Rhyme or Reason

4. Kehlani, “Morning Glory”

💿 While We Wait • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 2019

“I wanna take my wig off / I wanna lay it on the nightstand / I wanna take my make-up off / I wanna rip these nails off my hands…” Okay! 🏆 Grammy-nominated R&B artist 🎙 Kehlani dropped a respectable, well-rounded, mixtape, 💿 While We Wait, in 2019. The 31-minute mixtape has its fair share of satisfying moments including 🎵 “Morning Glory,” which thrives off a throwback, old-school, soulful groove.

“Morning Glory” features killer vocals by Kehlani – we’d expect no less, of course! Furthermore, in the context of the tape, ‘Lani delivers another awesome chorus.

“And if you don’t want me at my goodnight

Then you can’t have me at my morning glory

At my morning glory

And if you don’t want me at my goodnight

Then it’s gon’ be goodbye (Gonna be, gonna be)

Gon’ be goodbye.” 

Appears in 🔻:

• 10 Songs Perfect for the Morning

5. Common & John Legend, “Glory”

🎵 “Glory” • 🏷 ARTium / Def Jam / UMG Recordings / Getting Out Our Dreams / Columbia / Sony • 📅 2014 

“One day, when the glory comes / It will be ours, it will be ours,” 🎙 John Legend sings in the chorus of the spirited, uplifting 🏆 Academy-award-winning song, 🎵 “Glory”. He and 🎙 Common have a truly special record which appeared in the 2014 🏆 Academy Award-nominated film, 🎦 Selma.  Legend continues singing with incredible resolve in the chorus, “One day, when the war is won / We will be sure, we will be sure / Oh glory.

Beyond Legend’s incredibly soulful pipes during the chorus, and later, the bridge,   Common nails it during the verses with potent, prudent rhymes.  His flow is amazing, and his wordplay is incredibly savvy.  In the first verse, he spits, “Freedom is like religion to us / Justice is juxtapositionin’ us / Justice for all just ain’t specific enough / One son died, his spirit is revisiting us…” Woo! The inspiration continues in the second verse, with Common proclaiming, “Selma is now for every man, woman, and child / Even Jesus got his crown in front of a crowd,” and “No one can win the war individually / It takes the wisdom of the elders and young people’s energy / Welcome to the story we call victory / The comin’ of the Lord, my eyes have seen the glory.”

The poetic nature of the lyrics, as well as the sincerity, is tremendous!  Highlighting Legend once again,  vocally, he slaughters, spoiling us with his masterful falsetto. Not only does he pierce with his grit, but he also hypnotizes us with his subtleties and nuance.  The bridge that is where his bread is buttered:

“Now the war is not over, victory isn’t won

And we’ll fight on to the finish, then when it’s all done

We’ll cry glory, oh glory.”

Appears in 🔻:

• Oscar Winners for Best Original Song, 2005 – 2015
• 10 Songs That Exhibit Spirit
• Common & John Legend: Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 11 (2022)

Glory: 5ive Songs No. 56 (2022) [📷: Allan Mas, ARTium, Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, Columbia, Def Jam, Getting Out Our Dreams, Go! Discs Ltd, The Musical Hype, OctoLimbs Music, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Sony, UMG Recordings]