music journal

this one is inspired by the recent(?) phenomenon of churches moving into old grocery stores and such:

Supermarket

Is this a church, is this a store?
Can’t tell the difference anymore.
Used to come for milk and bread
Now they serve grape juice instead

Come on in, it’s on the self
Get you want, come help yourself
Come sit back, it’s what you know:
Big screen, dim lights, enjoy the show

(chorus)
What do you want? Why are you here?
To give yourself a little cheer?
If you came here for some help
You better look beyond yourself
 
Jesus cleared the house of prayer
Threw the salesmen out
We’re selling in the market’s place
Convinced that we’re devout

(chorus)

I’m inspired by the songs of Derek Webb who has a whole album of songs about and to the church, most of which is pretty hard-hitting.

this one is obviously a little more heavy-handed than other stuff I’ve done. I dont like the consumerism that’s creeping in the church, and in some cases it seems to dominate. I know it’s deeply ingrained in our culture and in myself. I dearly love the church and long to see it more and more lovely.

anyway, considering such things, I kinda get a kick out of the irony of moving a church into an old supermarket, even while I lament our consumer attitude.

Yesterday in church Cal preached on Palm Sunday, and he referenced Revelation 21. So as we read some of that, verse 5 caught my eye, as it read like a little song lyric. So I started there and found that I couldnt stop, so “Everything’s New” is the result so far: 

Everything’s New
Capo 4

1. (G) Write this down, it’s (C) tried and it’s (G) true
(G) Jesus is making (D) everything new
 
2. New (G) heaven and earth, and (C) no more (G) sea
(G) God sends down His (D) holy (G) city
 
3. (C) He’s coming again, this (G) time to (D) stay
(C) Death is dead, (A7) tears wiped (D) away
4. (G) Everything’s done, the (C) last and (G) first
(G) Come to the well, (D) quench your (G) thirst
 
5. (G) No temple, just the (C) Lord and (G) Lamb, no
(G) sun nor moon, his (D) glory’s the lamp
 
6. (G) Gates are open, (C) never a (G) night
(G) Bring your praises, (D) dance in the (G) light
 
7. (C) No room for sins, or (G) those who (D) deceive
(C) Just the Lamb’s, are (A7) His (D) eternally
 
8. (G) Are you the Lamb’s, His (C) beautiful (G) wife?
(G) Is your name in the (D) book of (G) life?

Repeat 1, 3, 8

a couple thoughts on this one: I had a bit of a blues riff in my head while working on this one, but we’ll see what tune comes out of this when I get the chance. I tried to stick with the text pretty closely, but some of it is rearranged. it’s mostly Rev 21:1-6;22-27. I was trying to find a chorus for it, but perhaps it’ll work without one? we’ll see as I keep working on it.

update: here’s a rough version of the tune. I’ve been messing with this guitar bit for a while and I like the progress I’m making, but this recording is definitely a rough draft.

here’s a very short lyric based on Romans 8:26.

I am weary
I am weak
Dont know what to pray
Or how to speak

Come Holy Spirit
Intercede
Without words
Groan for me

a couple random thoughts on this:

perhaps it could be in the genre of that I call the “campfire songs” (like “As the Deer” and such), or perhaps something like John Michael Talbot would do (I really like a bunch of his scripture songs and aspire to that kind of Bible-based songwriting). perhaps I can expand it by including 8:27 as well. 

I feel like a lot of the times I write stuff it’s too wordy. clearly this one isnt. I like that it’s pretty close to the actual Bible verse. hopefully I can write a little tune for it that is appropriate and yet “catchy” enough to stick in my head, because I often need to pray this. Michelle has recently learned about contemplative prayer and this seems to fit with a lot of what that’s about.

besides my new song, we’ve been playing a lot of Christmas music this year. Michelle and I played for church today with our friend Mark. we did a simple medly of “Hark the Herald” and “O Come All Ye”. you can hear a rough recording of our practice here. we also played a bunch of songs as people were coming in. we dont play together too often, but I’m hoping this inspires more and more. I really love making music together. 

also, the other night I went down and played at the walking bridge. it was a relatively warm evening and it was great to get out. I brought my octave mandolin and sat and played some Christmas favorites, including “Angels We Have Heard” which you can check out here.

Jim and I played my little song in church, but with a wonderful twist: Jim figured out that he could weave the melody for “All Creatures of Our God and King” through my picking. it took us a little while to figure it out, and it could actually use a little more polishing, but I think the result was very nice. some folks in church had nice things to say about it too, which is always good to hear. I give full credit to Jim for coming up with the melding and turning this rather simple progression into something much more. playing it during the services I was pretty nervous, so I messed it up a little, but probably not enough that anyone besides Michelle and Jim would notice. so I’m glad and thankful that it went pretty well. I’m still not very confident in my songwriting and solo playing abilities, especially in the context of church, but I think experience is helping. as my good friend Lynn reminds us, when you’re serving God with what He’s given you, you cant give into fear.

so here’s a rough version from our practice session. it’s not quite right here, but then again I dont think we ever got it quite right…

this Sunday will be a first: we’re going to play one of my songs in church. it’s the instrumental song I’ve been working on lately that I’ve been calling “Solitude“. I’ve actually never really liked this title, so I’ve renamed it to “Be Still” — partly because it’s silly to call a song “Solitude” if there’s more than one person playing, partly in reference to the “Be still and know that I am God” passage, and partly in reference to Katie’s awesome painting of the same title.

so Jim is going to back me up on bass (or perhaps mandolin) and I’ll be on my octave with my little tune. I’m more nervous than usual, since the last time I tried something similar almost exactly a year ago it didnt go too well (see the last paragraph). but the difference is this is my song, so it’s pretty well ingrained in me.

since it’s essentially a one chord song, we’re keeping it short. I’m looking forward to what Jim will come up with, and hoping and praying that it will be a help to our worship service.

the song we’re doing for church this week is Chris Tomlin’s How Great is our God, with a little bit of “How Great Thou Art” thrown in. we’ve got a new addition to the group in Chris C, who introduced me to the song. she and Megan harmonize very well together.  so here’s our version. Jim will also be joining us on bass for the service, but he’s not on this recording.

we don’t often do “praise song” type songs, but this one works well I think. we reduced some of the repetition to shorten the length of the song, as we tend to favor shorter stuff for our intro-to-worship slot. we may try to teach the congregation this one soon, and I imagine it’s somewhat familiar already since it apparently gets a lot of radio play.

a while ago I issued a plea for non-annoying kids music, and got a lot of good suggestions from folks. yes, “Here come the ABCs” is pretty cool.

I havent actively searched in a little while, but I havent yet found kids Bible songs that I would consider non-annoying. so I’m thinking I’ll take the matter into my own hands and do it myself. with some help, of course.

I’ve already made some simple recordings of the kids favorites — just me and the guitar, playing “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy” and such pretty straightforwardly. Caleb thought it was pretty cool to hear daddy singing through the car stereo, and there was a time where he insisted on me and only me in the car. cute, but I think mama got tired of me. I dont blame her.

so I’ve been thinking of getting the folks from the church band to lay down a track or 2 each time we get together, so after a while we’d have a pretty good collection. I’m hoping to end up with a somewhat folksy and fun style that kids would like and parents would hopefully be OK with too. we’ll see how it goes. any suggestions for songs or other ideas would be great.

after a few years of playing a song for church every-other-week, we’ve settled into a bit of a formula (not that I think it’s a bad thing). something like so:

short instrumental intro (usually ½ verse)

first verse starts relatively laid back, usually just 1 voice and guitar. usually halfway through 1st verse the other instruments (and voice(s), if available) join in. sometimes the others wait until the 2nd verse or chorus.

middle verses pretty much straightforward. sometimes voices alternate taking melody and harmony. sometimes instruments will alter styles a little for verses (for example, I’ll strum on the mandolin on one, and then pick out some notes on another).

often we’ll have an instrumental break after the 3rd verse or so, usually ½ verse or chorus.

for the last verse it goes back to relatively laid back like the first verse. then at the end, either halfway through the verse or for the final chorus, back to full strength to finish with a flourish. sometimes repeat the chorus again, but not often.

the end is usually a small touch of instrumental outro.

of course it all depends on the song at hand, but that’s usually about it.

for most of this year I’ve been doing simple recordings of our church band practices. some of them turn out better than others, but overall I think they give a good idea of what we’ve been up to. so I’ve compiled 11 tracks into an album called Crude Home Recordings, Volume 1. if you’d like to take a listen, you can download it here. there’s also a bonus track of the SEPC string quintet.

Tracks are as follows:

01 Stricken, Smitten
02 In the Sweet By and By
03 For All The Saints
04 Jesus Cast a Look
05 Jesus Lover of my Soul
06 Poor Sinner
07 Thou Lovely Source
08 Grace Upon Grace
09 Take My Life
10 Hallowed
11 On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
99 Rhosymedre (bonus track from our church’s string quintet)

(cross posted at the family blog)