Songs of Sabljak

A couple of months ago I had the privilege of attending a retreat for lead worshippers and songwriters from Australian Vineyard churches, which was held just outside of Melbourne. After the retreat a couple of us were asked to be interviewed for a podcast recorded by Casey Corum and Robbie Reider (also featuring Diane Thiel).

The podcast is available (for free) here: www.insideworship.com and includes an acoustic version of ‘Hallelu(Jah)’ which was recorded in their hotel room (the wonderful room 808).

A friend recently contacted me out of the blue with an offer of help, which was quite lovely, and incredibly timely. They mentioned that they had been challenged by James 2 and thought that they’d practice on me.

I was very grateful, and it got me thinking not only about the faithfulness of God to look after our every need, but also the response that I’m called to live out every day. This song came from that process.

I’ve played a simple little riff on the E and A strings, mainly through the notes B, G and F#. This goes all through the verse, and then in the chorus I use a very similar descending chord pattern. The tag is musically the same as the chorus, but lyrically it’s a cry to God to equip us as we try to live in the way that He’s called us to.

if-we-have-not-love-g

I tried to record a demo, but I’ve managed to forget how to get my recording gear to work properly. Waiting on my non-tard friend to help me out (again).

I got up early this morning to watch a Champions League game on SBS, and while I was sitting there enjoying some great football, I started thinking about how I was prepared to sacrifice sleep to watch a game of sport on TV, but always used the excuse of ‘not being a morning person’ to avoid getting up and spending time with God.

I started to pray about how I’d fallen short yet again, and found myself humming a line about God being ‘the same, faithful One’. After a while I grabbed a guitar and found the chords, and wrote down this song.

It begins with creation (I thought that was a good place to start!), and tracks God’s plan of salvation through to Jesus’ ascension. I’ve put the verses in past tense (”You started”), while the chorus is in present tense (”You’re the same”), which I hope gives the feeling of continuity and eternity that I wanted to convey.  The whole song is addressed directly to God - declaring His works - until I get to the bridge, which is a personal, awe filled, response to His wonder. I’ve managed to cover a fairly wide stretch of theological ground, and I also get to use the phrase ‘Father, Son, and Spirit, three’, which I particularly like.

I’ve got a capo on the third fret, and most all of the song uses various C; F; Am7; and G shapes. I particularly like the F chord that moves into the bridge, where I throw my thumb over onto the low E string to really give a ‘big, anticipatory’ feel.

god-of-history-c

MP3 DEMO to COME

After relying on Smiley’s equipment for the past year or so, I decided that it would be a good idea to get my little recording setup running again, so that I can make simple demos.

 I got everything working in terms of lights being on, and hardware detected etc, but can’t get the microphone to actually pick anything up and put it into Cubase.

I’ll probably have to read the instructions, then ask for help. That’s a real blow to my masculine pride.

Last night I picked up the guitar, was messing around with some simple chords, and just started singing out a bit of a ’sorry’ prayer to God, for some of the things I had (and should have) done during the day. After a while, I realised that I was repeating some of the lines, and that they sounded familiar…

 I soon realised that I was paraphrasing one of my ‘most prayed’ Psalms, 51.

My first instinct is always to just write down the whole passage, and try to make that fit into the song, but I decided to keep it simple, repeating a few lines, and allowing the song to flow. 

I’m using a basic G chord, then moving into a C shape, 2 frets down, to make a D.

From there I slide back up to a normal C, hammering on/off the B string (1st fret).

Those are basically the chords for the whole song, except towards the end when I build it up, and for the C I slide a G shape up to the 8th fret, which gives the song a real lift.

have-mercy-on-me-psalm-51.doc

MP3 demo

I’m currently studying Isaiah, and am being constantly challenged at how I view the world around me. There are so many references to God not really appreciating the worship of those who don’t love His justice, and pursue it in their lives, so I’m trying to ensure that I keep this as a ‘mirror’ for me (something I can reflect upon on a regular basis).

I love the songs that speak about these themes, and I don’t think I’ve written (m)any on this topic, so I’m going to have to dedicate some time very soon.

I was reading Psalm 116 recently and it struck me that this would be a particularly good song to sing in church. I love the boldness of the cries for deliverance, but also the intense emotion of the writer’s response. It is written from a personal perspective, and although some of the specifics (e.g. verse 19) might not apply directly to me, the overall theme is certainly quite easy to apply.

I had been listening to a few records by bands that have a great ability to build a song from a very minimalist start to a huge crescendo (e.g. Sigur Ros and Snow Patrol), and I was inspired by this Psalm to apply that principle here. I had noticed a footnote in my bible that translated the phrase ‘praise the LORD’ to ‘hallelu Jah’, and it just stood out to me as particularly significant, especially as it concludes the Psalm so finally, and almost defiantly (as if no matter what else happens, the writer will praise God once all else is said and done). A chorus was born.

The first verse was quite easy to write, as I just took the first few lines of the Psalm and made them fit with the 4/4 beat I was envisaging. The pre-chorus also came quite easily, as the words were right there in front of me (I love that plagiarism in this sense is actually encouraged here!).

The second verse took a little bit more ‘fiddling’ to make the lines work, but in the end I think I’ve captured the essence of the Psalm, and allowed a transition into the pre-chorus.

I had written a bridge that asked how I could possibly respond to all of this wonderful mercy from God (looking at verse 12), but then realised (after someone pointed it out to me) that I had already responded with the chorus. Musically it was a bit cliched also, so I’ve decided to drop it altogether until I can come up with something a bit more interesting, and I think that for now the song is actually working in this ‘abbreviated’ form. I know that I often fall into the trap of thinking that a song has to have certain elements like ‘two verses, a chorus, a bridge and a tag’, but I am trying to be less linear and allow myself more flexibility with structure, so that the songs can have an added element of ‘freshness’.

Although the song is fairly generic in its lyrical content, I think that it’s got a strong enough melody to ’stand up’ musically. It’s simple, (almost) straight from Scripture, and expresses a real sense of celebration, while maintaining an intimate feel.

‘G’ chord shapes, played with capo at 4th fret (key of B), or 3rd fret (key of Bb). halleluyah-psalm-116-draft-2-g.doc

MP3 DEMO

I was reading this Psalm in the Message, and loved the phrase ‘the place of worship’ when it was referring to the sanctuary (v2). It was one of those songs that just came out all at once in about 5 minutes after sitting down with the guitar and scribbling some notes. I quite like the ‘cruisy’ groove that’s going on throughout the song, even if it is a bit ‘hippy’ for my taste normally…

 (I love the treeeeees!) 

I got together with a couple of friends to work on it and we took out some unecessary words to help it flow a bit better. I’ve found that it’s best to be as concise as possible, especially in songs you want people to sing along to, so my lyric editing ability is something I’m always trying to improve.

The song works reasonably well in G, but taking it up to A was helpful for some people.

psalm-63-g.doc

MP3 demo

This song came about because I was looking over some old songwriting notes I’d made, especially concentrating on the songs that had never really worked very well. I found one that was based on Psalm 91, and remembered that I had loved the idea of God as our refuge. I’d been watching some films about the plight of refugees around the world, and was a bit depressed at how they often tend to get a rough run even after they’ve escaped whatever it is that they’re fleeing from, often ending up in horrible camps with dreadful conditions.

I pretty much threw out the old song, but kept messing around with this idea of God being the ultimate resting place, where we don’t have to run away any longer. I then found another old song that focussed on the word ‘hosanna’, which means ’save us’ or ’save now’ in Hebrew. Because we often associate the word with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (just before he was arrested and crucified!), we sometimes forget what it means, and just use it as a general word of praise, when I think it’s actually a desperate cry for help.

I started to put together the chorus, just based on this cry, so I wanted to use a chord pattern that would hopefully evoke a feeling of desperation, yet also a glimpse of hope.

That turned out to be a bit beyond my limited musical ability, so I just used the chords that I ended up with.

The first verse is based around the second verse of Psalm 91, while the rest of the song is more the ‘vibe’, rather than straight Scriptural references. I used the bridge section of the song to really build on the ‘hope’ theme, giving a positive response to God’s goodness, “shouting His praise aloud”, backed with an ascending chord pattern, which always makes me pretty happy.

Here’s a chord chart in G, I usually play it with a capo on 4th fret (key of B) which tends to work quite well: hosanna-psalm-91-g.pdf

MP3 Demo

 This is a song I wrote quite some time ago. I’d been reading through Philippians and noticed that the section in chapter 2 (from verse 5 to verse 11) just looks like a poem or song. After reading some commentaries that noted it probably was something that the early church would have recited (as a creed or song), I thought that it might be good to try to remember. Seeing as I usually remember things better if they’re put to music, I got to work…

I originally had it all as one verse, with the chorus at the end, but after an editing session decided that it would work better as two shorter verses with a chorus in the middle (repeated at the end). I’m still not certain about the first line “…my attitude should be the same…”, as it does sound quite ‘creed-ish’ (as in something we all say together, not the annoying Pearl Jam wannabees), but seeing as that was how I originally imagined this song, perhaps that’s not all bad.

The chorus is again quite simple, but that’s what I wanted it to be.

MP3 demo.

philippians-2.doc