Filed under: Psalms
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
Filed under: Psalms
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.
Filed under: Psalms
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
Filed under: Philippians
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.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’ve decided to start keeping a track of songs I’m currently working on. I’ll try to make notes about ideas or themes, and where possible I’ll upload demos.
These songs are generally written to be sung by our church, as part of our worship of God. I try to make them based on Scripture, so as to encourage the church with the truth of God’s Word. I believe that (for better or for worse) with the current trend of shorter attention spans and simplified education systems, many people walk out of the average church worship service having already forgotten most of what the sermon was about. The wonderful thing about music is that we might find ourselves humming the words of a song we’ve heard hours (or even days) later. If we can fill songs with good theological truths, then we’re giving people an extra chance to be edified (as long as the words and melody are memorable enough to be ‘hummable’).
These songs are written about God, to communicate truth to each other, but they are also written to Him. We know that God is awesomely (in the fullest sense of the word)powerful, but that He is also deeply caring, and desires an intimate relationship with each of us. To reflect this, I try to include an aspect of personal response in the songs that I write. They may be written entirely from a personal perspective, or it may be that the chorus of a song is a response to the truth that has been proclaimed during the verse(s).
Some people seem to have decided that to include any sense of emotion in our times of corporate worship might be manipulative or shallow. Although I’m sure this has been the case in some times / places, I think that to suggest that God prefers us to be ‘cold and clinical’ at all times when we’re thinking about Him would be a fairly long bow to draw. I believe that He has given us music (and emotion) as a wonderful gift, and that we should consider carefully how we use it, but that we should definitely not ‘bury it’ for fear that it might be used wrongly (see Matthew 25). It makes me very sad that because of the sin that is so evident in the world, people sometimes feel the need to react by fleeing from an idea so far that they ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’ in this way.
Hopefully this sheds some light on some of the factors I’m trying to consider when I write songs. I often write with friends, so some of their songs may end up featuring here also. At the end of the day, our goal is not to create a ‘legacy’ or ‘career’, but to honour God with the abilities that He has given us, and to live our lives as ‘living sacrifices’ (Romans 12).
-peter
