Songs for God
A blog spammer got to this one so I had to delete it and republish it under a later date.
Wow, what a week! We got back from Nashville on Fri. I've been out of touch mostly because the hotel wanted money for an internet connection. Think of that. My mistake, should have checked.
We started down the road Sunday to Nashville. Halfway there, the air conditioning bearing seized up and we heard the thud when the belt snapped. Thankfully the we were following a storm on the way there and one had just gone through when we headed back home. It was a very pleasant drive with the windows open. It reminded me of old times in the 58 ford station wagon, the cool California night air blowing in my hair. I loved to fall asleep on the way home and hated to wake up to leave the car for my bed in the house.
Sue and I wrote that morning. We worked through an idea we had e-mailed about before. Sometime big ideas are really hard to get down into little songs. But that is what needs to happen so after a while, Sue began to rattle off some lyrics she had been tapping into her notebook as we talked and the song began. I have noticed that often, one person talks about the idea while the other is typing away. And then it sort of switches around. I didn't feel very useful that day because I wasn't generating much lyrically. I did manage to pull together a melody for the song and we made a work tape. Writing all starts with a great conversation about a cool idea.
After a day of writing Jodie and Jubi and I went to the Opryland Hotel just to walk around and eat. We were able to catch the Peking Acrobats and the fountain display in the beautiful atrium. It was such a wonderful time. So often I have felt like the Lord goes before us in the details to bless not just our ministry but our fun days together. I kept thinking “dad would love this place” Then again, I'm sure the Lord's garden is a little bit nicer. We played and laughed and Jubi crashed as soon as we got to the hotel.
Wrote with Marty on Tues. We went back to an idea we had rejected before and worked through it only to find out we were right about it. We started on another idea and finished most of a lyric before quitting. Chad and I played songs for each other and talked about worship. That moved us to work on a simple worship chorus. Writing that song was truly an act of worship. That's what we were doing, trying to express our deepest praise to God in a song. There is a spiritual dimension to all writing, but when you use a song to address the Lord directly it is always somehow different...holy. Ericka was there on Thurs and I had a cancellation so we ended up writing together. This time I was tapping in lyrics as she talked about the idea.
Lessons of the week. 1. Besides being great writers, these people have an amazing sense of what is appropriate to write and pitch. I have to admit, this one of the biggest challenges in writing...how to target a genre or particular artist. It's not enough to know what they did on the last album but where they are headed with the next. 2. Phil has off days in the writing room (surprise). 3. Songs sometimes sound better after a day or so...sometimes worse. 4. The Calypso Café is still one of my favorite places. 5. Chinese acrobats are made of rubber. 6. Writing songs for God is one of the coolest things in the world. 7...What could beat number 6?
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