Do you remember the movie Deep Impact? Maybe not, but I bet you remember Armageddon. What about Dante’s Peak and Volcano? Those aren’t the only examples of very similar movies being released around the same time. Prestige/The Illusionist, White House Down/Olympus has Fallen, The Jungle Book/Jungle Book, and so on. It turns out this is actually relatively common. I was surprised by the list I found on wikipedia for the “Two Film Theory”.
What is more strange though is when this happens with music, call it the “Two Song Theory”. Contemporary Christian Music isn’t immune to this phenomenon either. ‘Grace Wins’ by Matthew West and ‘Flawless’ by Mercy Me were both released around the same time, ‘Move’ by Toby Mac and ‘It’s Not Over Yet’ by For King and Country is another example with one finding favor on some stations and the other on others (seriously, I think I’ve only ever heard ‘Move” once on Air1 which is surprising for a Toby Mac song).
But what is jarring is hearing these songs back to back, especially when they are so similar. A week ago, Air1 was doing their pledge drive and I have to admit I didn’t want to listen to them ask for money so I was switching between them and their sister station, K-LOVE. I’ve heard these songs before, but I never listened that closely to the lyrics. But when I heard them back to back, one on Air1 and the other on K-LOVE, the lyrics jumped out at me. Now I can’t listen to one without thinking of the other. What is remarkable is that these are essentially the same songs, just from different perspectives. One, “I have this hope… you’re with me and you won’t let go”. The other, “If you could only let go your doubts… I swear that I won’t let you go.”
Maybe it’s a double-punch to my heart, but I can’t listen to either of these songs now without being moved. Consider it two for the price of one.