This isn't the first song I wrote. I think it was the third. But it was the first that went all the way to a recording (much thanks to Sherry Grey and Paul Rydell).
"All From You" is supposed to be a driving rock sort of song pushed by electric guitars, but all we had was a piano and an acoustic guitar. I think we made it too slow in the recording too -- it should be about 130.
I consider it a celebration song. It's for God and it's about God but it's dedicated, with all my love, to my three kids: Braden, Kaelly, and Georgia.
Key A / Speed 124
VERSE 1
-------- A---------------------------------------------D- We’d swing so high our feet would scrape the sky
---------A-------------------------------------D Make angels in new snow as our breath rose
Esus4------------------------------------ D------ Every heartbeat filled with awe and wonder
- Esus4------------------------------------D Childhood seemed a spell we’d fallen under
F# - G# - A – B
CHORUS (driving)
---------------A-------------- D------ It’s all from you, it’s all from you
------------ --- A---------------- D It’s all from you, it’s all from you
---------A------------ E---------------------- D All the joy that we know, it comes from you
---------------A------------------ D It’s all from you, it’s all from you
---------------A ------------------D It’s all from you, it’s all from you
-------A--------------------E --------------------D Every seed of love we sow, it comes from you
--------A ------------D ------A -----------------------D All the joy that we know, Every seed of love we sow,
---------A------- --------------E---------------------- D All the hope that’s in our souls, it comes from you.
(The highlighted part is omitted in the first singing of the chorus) VERSE 2
-----A------------------------------------------- D The trembling teenage bliss of love’s first kiss
-----A --------------------------------------D A shy and lovely smile floats down the aisle
Esus4--------------------------------------------- D The laughter of our children falls like warm rain
Esus4--------------------------------------------- D Your blessings greet us each and every new day
F# - G# - A – B E
CHORUS
BRIDGE (soaring, light)
-----A7sus4----------------------------------- D We thank you for the gifts you’ve given us
------A7sus4----------------------------- D And send our heartfelt praises rising up
In Chapter 7 of Mark's Gospel we read this about Jesus:
"Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers in his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly."
This passage speaks to me. I've never considered myself a songwriter, or even a musician. But when I came to Christ in my 40th year something wondrously odd seemed to open up inside of me, and from somewhere in my soul the songs in this blog came pouring out.
I remember with a weird sort of clarity how startled I was when one day in the shower a complete chorus came to my mind and my lips. (If you're curious it's now in this blog as a mostly complete song called "Be Still.") I don't know how or why these things happen -- why I can be driving to work musing over words and melodies and suddenly find myself unraveling a song. But it happens every once in a while and I'm thankful for it.
Caveats and disclaimers: I'm not a piano player. I'm a bass player, and a pretty mediocre one at that. And my bass -- though I love my black Fender Jazz to pieces and affectionately call her "Bessie" -- just isn't a good accompaniment instrument. So the piano playing on these tracks is coarse and unrefined at its best, awful at its worst. Forgive me!
And I'm not a singer, either. Especially when I'm trying to remember where my fingers are supposed to go on the keyboard. So as I say in most of these posts: try to listen to the song while ignoring the stuff around it.
All songs displayed here in their current state are copyright Michael Thelander. But none of them are "finished." I'm more than willing to work with any partners who can help these tunes reach any potential they may have and speak to more people.
After all, they're not mine. All I can believe is that they came from God's own heart.
About these songs...
As I comment elsewhere in this blog, none of these songs are really "finished" in a true sense. They're at a point where they can tell an end-to-end-story, and where they can be played without too many gaps, but they're not finished.
Over the couple of years that I've been working on these songs I've come to realize that this perpetual state of "undone-ness" is a good thing. I believe songs are alive, and that they need to have room to grow. And I especially believe that songs of faith need input and shaping from more than one person: In as much as the spirt dwells in all who believe, it can't find its true expression in the outpouring of one voice.
Learning Stuff
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My wife and her four skirted traveling sisters are on their way home... or
soon will be. 6 AM in Manzini, and so they're about ready to start their
last ...
Moving: Please Follow Me
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Hi All. I've decided to try out some of my blogs over at wordpress.com. A
Stumbling Christian has been moved over to
http://astumblingchristian.wordpress.c...
You family must love this song! And how true it is.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it is amazing what a little more instrumental support makes for a song. Why can't you just play all the instruments, my friend.