The Basement Tapes: Open Our Eyes

It's been awhile again since I've posted; in the meantime I've created another couple of videos of old songs as well as released another book.  More about the book in the next post; this one's about a song.

Another one of my old basement tapes, this is one of the very earliest recordings I still have of my songs.  It was done around 1981; all of the guitar work was performed by the admirable Mark Wilson, and all of the vocal work was done by the adequate me.  It sounded a lot better in my headphones in 1981 than it sounds to me now, but I hope you'll be able to hear what I was aiming for.

Theologically, I was still in a very works-oriented phase in my life, but, sad to say, the lyrics still kind of ring true.

There is about a half-second dropout in the tape a few seconds into the song; I don't know why, but the problem is on my end, not yours.

The Basement Tapes: Prisoner of War

This song is both one of my greatest triumphs and one of my greatest embarrassments.  I never could have written it today; instead of commanding the devil to be bound, I am much more prone to think along with the Apostle Paul, "We do not know what we ought to pray for" (Romans 8:26b NIV).  Still, as a piece of music, it is one of my all-time favorites (from my own catalog, of course), and out of the few songs that have survived the ravages of the years, it is probably my very favorite one.

I am sorry to say that I don't remember the name of the recording engineer for this piece; he also played the guitar, which added a whole new element of depth to the music.  I worked hard on the drum machine for this one, and played the bass and the keyboards as well.  Backup singers were Ivan and Tina Wheeler, Mark and Jayme Wilson, and Christie Tompkins.  Thanks also to Dave Roff, who rescued and digitized my old cassette tape.

Listen on YouTube here: Prisoner of War, or else click on the arrow below if you don't want to leave this page.

The Basement Tapes: When He Comes for You

Time for another song from the Basement Tapes.

This one is called "When He Comes for You," and what it lacks in mature theology, it more than makes up for with a kind of heavy-handed evangelism.  It was written in the late '80s, when I was at the height of my earnest legalism, not yet comprehending the doctrines of grace.

Click here to listen to the song.

Here's the "Inside Baseball" if you're curious:

I loved the melody of this song, and crafted the words to fit it, which is not the way I wrote most of my songs--usually the concepts of the music and the lyrics developed at the same time.  In this case I had been writing on a different theme and was dissatisfied with the way it was progressing, so I crafted another lyric to fit the preexistent melody.

I played all the instruments in the recording, including the electronic drum machine; in the '80s, that was the best we could do without a live drummer, even though the cymbals are a little overbearing.  Backing vocalists were Mark and Jamye Wilson, Ivan and Tina Wheeler, and Christie Tompkins.

Regarding the video, I knew that if I tried to find images appropriate for this song, it would probably never get finished, so it's presented here only with some changing colors and lyrics.

Johanan

I've been noticing lately the bleak historical record of how quickly God's people fall short of practical righteousness; that is, God does something spectacular on behalf of His people, after which He commands them to obey His laws, and in a shorter period of time you can imagine, they are falling--no, stampeding--away from Him.

Two quick examples, though there are many more:

God appears to King Solomon in a dream, and asks him to name anything he wants, and God will give it to him.  Solomon famously asks for wisdom.  And God replies, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.  And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days" (1 Kings 3:11b-13 NKJV).