I am very happy to provide links to these psalm based playlists on both Spotify and Amazon (I plan to add links to Apple Music playlists in the near future).
A few notes on how I decided which songs to include:
The songs are not confined to only the music genres I enjoy. For example, I’m not particularly fond of rap or choral music, but both of those genres are represented on these playlists.
If I can’t understand the lyrics when I listen, a song is not included (by the way, this happens for me not only with genres such as rock but more often than you might think with choral music).
If the “song” is basically someone screaming into the microphone, it’s not included. Technically, my first point above about music genres I enjoy is probably relevant, but in the end, I just couldn’t include screaming “songs.”
I am not comfortable with worship music which originates with labels such as Bethel, Jesus Culture, Hillsong, Elevation, etc. (primarily because I don’t feel those labels/organizations hold to solid theologies).
While I don’t agree with much of Catholic theology, if the lyrics of a song are mostly or entirely word-for-word from the Psalms, I have included it. You might think that this is a disconnect with the immediately previous point. Perhaps, but it’s where I’ve landed for the moment.
A note about Psalm numbering: some Bible readers may not realize that there are differing numbering systems that are used for the Book of Psalms. Wikipedia has a good explanation:
Numbering of the Psalms differs—mostly by one—between the Hebrew (Masoretic) and Greek (Septuagint) manuscripts. Protestant translations (Lutheran, Anglican, Calvinist) use the Hebrew numbering, but other Christian traditions vary:
This explains why there are some songs which don’t seem to be on the correct playlist. There are also cases where a song was simply titled incorrectly.
I have tried to be careful to not include duplicates, but may have missed some instances.
If you find any issues with the playlists - duplicates, miscategorized songs, songs which you don’t believe should be included for doctrinal reasons, etc. - please don’t hesitate to contact me with your concerns. Also, I would welcome suggestions for songs to include.
With that long introduction, here are links to Spotify and Amazon playlists for each psalm.
