Song update

It's 3:05 p.m. We're leaving at 4:30 for the Mission.

I just wrote the third verse for the song.

I really hope it's done now.....

Taking Dictation

So here's my praise report of the week. I'm helping with a service tonight at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A. Our friends the Fousha's go once a quarter and conduct a service, and asked us to fill out their worship band, so I play keyboards and sing, my son Ian plays guitar, my daughter Emily sings and my husband plays guitar and sings. They also asked me to do two special songs.

As of Monday, I still couldn't decide which two of my songs to do. I couldn't even remember whether I had sung "Eyes of Compassion" last time - I knew it was a toss up between that and "No Perfect Road." Fortunately Emily reminded me that a woman wearing combat pants had stalked out of the room when I got to the line "fragile and crying," last time, so at least I knew I had sung Eyes of Compassion and chose No Perfect Road for this time. But the other song was still a mystery. I picked one, changed my mind, picked another, changed my mind, and by Tuesday night I was getting nervous...

So I flipped through my book of songs, asking the Lord to tell me what He wanted me to sing. I stopped at a song I wrote a year ago that I never liked. Recently I looked it over and decided to throw half of it out, keeping the only parts I still liked, so all that was left was two verses. That's the song the Lord told me to play. "Okay, Lord," I said. "You are aware that there are only two verses and it's Tuesday night?" (I'm so helpful that way, pointing out the obvious to the Creator of the Universe).

In faith, I started practicing my two measly verses. All of a sudden I found myself singing a very simple chorus to go with them. "Okay, this might work, " I thought. Then later that night, after everyone was in bed and I couldn't play my keyboard, the rest of the chorus started flooding into my mind. I had to sit at my desk and try to write the melody down in music notation (something that makes me shudder almost as much as crafts and science experiments). The next morning my efforts paid off, though, because I was able to remember it.

Then later that day, I sat down to practice and wrote the bridge.

Songs just don't usually come that easily; I'm even remembering the melody instantly when I make small changes to it, which simply NEVER happens. It's a case of Holy Spirit intervention because, honestly, I'm not THAT good a musician. :-) It's more like God is writing the song and I'm just taking dictation.

So I'm expecting great things tonight. This audience is one of my favorites - these ladies are so precious. It's not like singing for a quiet church crowd where everyone's on their best behavior, so you get instant feedback. If they like you, they let you know right away. If they don't like you... well, they stalk out of the room. Last time I went I left feeling like I gave so little and received so much.

Incomprehensible

I just wrote a song that has absolutely no meaning. I mean, I wasn't trying to give it one. I was actually trying to write utter nonsense. The trouble is, it's kinda catchy and everyone I play it for says they got some meaning out of it. My daughter even said the music pulls her emotionally and makes her think the words are deep, even though she knows they aren't.

So this must be what makes a hit song - not careful crafting of lyrics, but enough vagueness that the song becomes everything to everyone. One person said the song was about leaving behind a lost love. Someone else said it was uplifting and encouraging to be strong no matter what life brings you. So, not to say that this actually will become a hit song, but I'm beginning to understand why I sometimes have such a hard time figuring out what hit songs are about. Maybe they're not about anything!

It all started when I was reviewing lyrics of some songs my son wanted to put on his iPod. (He hates the review process. My husband and I are apparently overprotective and stifling and are ruining his social life, which somehow revolves around a device that only one person can listen to at a time. Oh well, that's our job.) There was one song that's really good musically, but when I sat down and read the lyrics... well, three weeks later, I STILL haven't figured out what it's about. It ticked me off, so I thought, "I could write a song that doesn't mean anything."

So I did. I wrote down every catch phrase that came to me without bothering to tie it in to the line before it. The whole thing took me five minutes, because I wouldn't let myself stop and think. I actually did manage to tie some lines together in spite of myself, but it did come out delightfully vague.

I will be really upset if out of all my songs, this one is the one that makes it to the radio. Well, no, I can't say I'll be upset, actually. But still...

Then again, I don't just write songs to write them, and certainly not (fortunately enough) to make money. So this was an interesting experiment, but I don't think I'll be repeating it. I'll continue to wait until I have something worthwhile to sing about before I put it to music. Music is too important a tool to be used to stir up emotions for emotions' sake. The race is too short and the battle too important for me to waste my best gift on entertainment.

Stepping off my soap box now... it so annoying when I come to and find myself up here.