Category Archives: Music

#490: Looking Back

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #490, on the subject of Looking Back.

Once again, as we did last year in web log post #461:  2022 in Review and in previous years linked successively back from there, we are recapping everything published in the past year–sort of.

I say “sort of” because once again some material is being omitted.  There have been a few hundred posts to the Christian Gamers Guild Bible Study which can be accessed there but aren’t really fully indexed anywhere.  Meanwhile, the dozen articles in the Faith in Play series and the similar dozen in the RPG-ology series were just indexed on the Christian Gamers Guild site in 2023 At the Christian Gamers Guild Reviewed, and won’t be repeated here.  The RPG-ology and Faith in Play series were both released in book form this year, along with two other books, RPG Theory 101 and Other Essays in Role Playing Games and An Analytical Commentary on The Book of Romans.  These are all available in paperback and Kindle format; follow the links for more information about them.

I also posted several days a week on my Patreon web log, which announces almost everything I publish elsewhere on the same day it’s published, but again omitting the Bible study posts.  There is also a bi-monthly review of my work at Goodreads under the title The Ides of Mark, now at sixty-two installments, which does include some information about those Bible Study materials.

This year saw the last of the web log song posts, at least as an ongoing series.  These included:

I continued posting the ninth Multiverser novel Con Verse Lea, featuring Lauren Hastings, Tomiko Takano, and James Beam, from chapter 27 to the end (chapter 85), which are indexed there along with several behind-the-writings posts about it, and after posting a few character papers to the support site I continued with the tenth novel, In Version, featuring Robert Slade, James Beam, Joseph Kondor, and Derek Brown, through chapter 91.  Behind-the-writings posts on these two books included web log posts:

Collaborator Eric R. Ashley and I have managed to finish the twelfth novel, A Dozen Verses, and the thirteenth, Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, and are working on one called Verse a Tile.  Separately, I picked up the horror book I dropped, Corpoises, and wrote a bit more, and will probably finish it shortly.  I’m also continuing setup work on the analytical commentary series.

I think the rest of everything is a bit miscellaneous and disorganized, but here’s what I find.

Mark Joseph “young” web log post #465:  Believing in Ghosts considers whether ghosts exist and what attitude Christians should have about them.  It was an answer to a question from a friend.

Another question from the same friend led to post #469:  Church History, rather narrowly focused on distinguishing Reformation Protestants from later Evangelicals and both from Pentecostals and Charismatics.

Responding to a question from a time travel fan, #474:  Preliminary Temporal Thoughts on Paper Girls looked at the description of a television series and the time travel implications.

In our Christian Gamers Guild Chaplain’s Bible Study the accout of the healings of Jairus’ daughter and the woman who touched the hem of his garment arose, and when I suggested the woman was the girl’s mother I was asked why I thought this.  That seemed too big a question for the Bible study, so it became web log post #475:  The Mother of Jairus’ Daughter.

A few years ago someone had written to ask me what I knew about Bernice Wurst, an artist who was a friend of my mother who gave me two of her paintings.  I had featured one of them in an article in the Game Ideas Unlimited series.  It bothered me that when I looked for information about her on the web, there wasn’t much, so I decided to record the few reminiscences I could recall in post #486:  Bernice Wurst:  Impressions of an Impressionist.

In other news, I made it to AnimeNEXT this year, and expect to be invited coming up in June once again; I edited and subsequently reviewed two books for a friend–the BeautyAndTheBell trilogy–and expect to start on the third soon; and I posted a few recipes and some other images to Instagram.

I think that summarizes the year; the new year has already gotten started, but you can keep up by following my social media sites including Patreon.  I’ve already started something new this year, but maybe I’ll tell you about it next year once I see how it goes.

#485: The Song “Where Did I Go Wrong?”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #485, on the subject of The Song “Where Did I Go Wrong?”.

Last month I gave you a song that had never been performed, a recording of a choral arrangement with midi vocals and a midi piano, along with lyrics and an image of the hymn setting for it.  This month again the recording is midi instruments and midi vocals, with a lyric sheet–but this time the song isn’t finished.  I have not managed to write the lyrics for the bridge.  It’s also very different, a progressive or new wave rock sound.

I told you I was scraping they bottom of the barrel.  I hope to be able to record a few more songs in the months ahead, because indeed there are more songs, I just need to be able to record them.

People ask what you write first, the words or the music, and the answer is not only no, it’s more complicated than that.  The music has at least two parts, and the lyrics similarly have at least two parts.  For the music, there is the musical progression–chords, baselines, rhythms, everything that goes in the background–and the melody; sometimes, as in this song, there are two melodies, or more than two if it turns out contrapuntal.  Then the lyrics involve figuring out the subject, working out the rhyme scheme, and fitting words to the music that tell the subject and fit the rhyme and meter scheme.

If I remember aright, this song began with the background, which I pieced together on a midi program which for a while Scorio provided free online.  This included the intro, verses, and bridge, and the tag at the end.  Once I had the background I wrote the melodies–two parts, but no words.  I then must have started on the words–I know this because I have a document containing the words that first contains a lot of scraps of possible lyrics some of which were used, or modified, or discarded.  Eventually I carefully constructed two verses with a rhyme and meter scheme that fit the melody, and used one of the lines as the tag line after the bridge.

But I never came up with lyrics for the bridge.  Obviously I had a meter pattern and line length, because I’d written the melodies.  I couldn’t figure out what the words should be, even quite exactly what they should express.  I tossed it at a couple people with whom I had collaborated in the past, but they indicated no interest in helping this time.  I come back to it a few times each year and try to figure out what to do with it, but it seems unlikely that I’m going to come up with anything any time soon.

Feel free to suggest something if you’ve got any ideas.

This is the original midi recording.  It is again very different from anything else I remember writing, and I regret that it is not a song I can perform.  Markings on the page tell me that I had envisioned Collision performing this when Sara joined us but before Kyle left, which puts it in the early months of 2013.  I think I had actually set it up for two bass guitars, but changed one of them to a keyboard because I had Jonathan on keys and didn’t have a second bass at that time.

Where Did I Go Wrong?.

So here are the lyrics.

Where did I go,
Where did I go,
Where did I go wrong, to reach such misery?
Why’d it take so long for me to see?
Oh that someone strong would come along and rescue me!

How can I be,
How can I be,
How can I be spared from this calamity?
I was unprepared for what would be!
Oh that someone cared and dared to come and rescue me!

(Bridge lyrics not written)

La-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah;
La-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah;

La-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah;
La-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah-di-da-da-lah;

Oh that someone cared and dared to come and rescue me!

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret” | #466:  The Song “In a Mirror Dimly” | #468:  The Song “Present Your Bodies” | #471:  The Song “Walkin'” | #473:  The Song “In the Light of His Love” | #477:  The Song “Step by Step” | #479:  The Song “They That Trust” | #481:  The Song “To the Philadelphians” | #483:  The Song “Give Me a Vision” |

Next song: The Songs of “Christmas Quick”

#483: The Song “Give Me a Vision”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #483, on the subject of The Song “Give Me a Vision”.

And now for something completely different.

One spring in the early to mid teens Pastor Don Chroniger of the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Shiloh asked if I could write a song for him.  He had read a book about vision (not visions), and was loosely planning a sermon series on the subject and wanted a song–something that the choir could sing, but which could also be used as a chorus by the congregation.

I produced this, and made a midi recording, midi piano and midi vocals, to show how the choral version would sound.  I also produced a printable choral sheet music for the choir to use, and a chorus version in the easier key of D for the congregation.  I also did a hymn setting, shown in the image here.  After I had delivered all this, one of those political events happened–I think the church was chosen to host a denominational meeting that fall–and the sermon series was scrubbed, the song put on perpetual hold.  It was never performed; I don’t think copies of the music ever reached the choir, possibly never reached the pianist.  I searched for another chorus or choir to sing it, but my contacts are extremely limited in that area and nothing ever became of it.

However, I still have the music, the words, and this midi recording, and I personally think it’s a powerful song looking for someone to debut it.  It is the nearest I have ever gotten to writing something similar to the works of my favorite twentieth century composer, Randall Thompson, and it sometimes moves me near to tears.  Pastor Don having retired, I don’t expect the sermon series will ever be realized, so their choir probably won’t ever sing this.

Give Me a Vision.

So here are the lyrics.

Give me a vision, let me clearly see
Your perfect plan and what you ask of me.
Your will be done, Lord; let me know my part.
Give me a vision; put it on my heart.

People are dying, lost in the night,
Alone and afraid, and needing your light.
Lord, let your light shine through,
Because the world needs you.

Give me a vision, let me clearly see
Your perfect plan and what you ask of me.
Your will be done, Lord; let me know my part.
Give me a vision; put it on my heart.

Christians are fighting, caught in our pride,
United in Christ, we choose to divide.
Lord, let your love break through,
Because the church needs you.

Give me a vision, let me clearly see
Your perfect plan and what you ask of me.
Your will be done, Lord; let me know my part.
Give me a vision; put it on my heart.

I am a sinner, not knowing why.
To enter your kingdom I need to die.
Please let your life come through,
Because, Lord, I need you.

Give me a vision, let me clearly see
Your perfect plan and what you ask of me.
Your will be done, Lord; let me know my part.
Give me a vision; put it on my heart.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret” | #466:  The Song “In a Mirror Dimly” | #468:  The Song “Present Your Bodies” | #471:  The Song “Walkin'” | #473:  The Song “In the Light of His Love” | #477:  The Song “Step by Step” | #479:  The Song “They That Trust” | #481:  The Song “To the Philadelphians”

Next song: Where Did I Go Wrong?

479: The Song “They That Trust”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #479, on the subject of The Song “They That Trust”.

The only reason I recorded this song is that when I wrote it I wanted to have a version I could play for Tyler Chroniger.  Becky Patterson had just joined 7db, and I really wrote this to feature her singing.  Tyler didn’t care for it, and I think Becky never heard it.

I expect that part of the problem is that this vocals over midi instruments recording is not very good.  Shame on me, I think I psyched myself out, because I had written the top vocal for Becky and therefore imagined that it was high.  It was only an A, and I sang that high all the time comfortably, but because I was thinking in terms of her singing it, I struggled for it.  On the other hand, I’ve never been able to decide whether I like the song.  The guitar and bass interaction is supposed to give it something of a rock sound, but it comes across as very much a pop song, I think.

They That Trust.

So here are the lyrics.

Oh, they that trust in the Lord,
Oh, they that trust in the Lord shall renew,
Oh, they that trust in the Lord, shall renew their strength.
And they shall mount up on wings,
And they shall mount up on wings of eagles,
And they shall mount up on wings, mount on eagle’s wings.

Oh, they that trust in the Lord,
Oh, they that trust in the Lord shall renew,
Oh, they that trust in the Lord shall renew their love.
And they shall love each other,
And they shall love each other as He loved,
And they shall love each other as He first loved us.

Trust in the Lord, not your own understanding–
That is the place to start.
Follow the way that the Lord is commanding.
Trust Him with all your heart.

Oh, they that trust in the Lord,
Oh, they that trust in the Lord shall renew,
Oh, they that trust in the Lord shall renew their joy.
And they shall sing His praises,
And they shall sing His praises forever,
And they shall sing His praises–sing forever more.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret” | #466:  The Song “In a Mirror Dimly” | #468:  The Song “Present Your Bodies” | #471:  The Song “Walkin'” | #473:  The Song “In the Light of His Love” | #477:  The Song “Step by Step”

Next song: To the Philadelphians.

#477: The Song “Step by Step”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #477, on the subject of The Song “Step by Step”.

This is undoubtedly the longest song yet published, and I do not anticipate posting a longer one.  Yet it is a good old-style rock song with an interesting story behind it.  The dramatic opening moves into the slow pounding forward movement which eventually segues through gentle voices into the frantic cadenza building to a climax that brings it back to the beginning, and a denouement capturing the first part as the last.

Part of that story was already told in web log post #462:  John Three (linked below).  There I tell about how Jeffrey Robert Zurheide and I started writing a rock opera.  This song is primarily sung by the commander of the soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross, although there are parts (in very operatic style) attributed to John the Baptist and the Prophets and to The Church.  It also contains several instrumental stretches including a drum solo, although this recording is another vocals over midi instruments work.  Although I wrote it alone, I incorporated scraps of melody from at least one piece that Jeffrey had written, the Carpenter’s Song melody at the end.

My impetus for recording it was that a paper copy of the lyrics with chords would not preserve the intricacy at all.  When I originally wrote it, at Gordon College probably in the spring of 1976, I recorded it in my dorm room using a Sony reel-to-reel deck that let me record one channel while playing the other, but that tape had been lost, so having the software to do so I reproduced it.  I have often thought that the second half of the section given to the Voice of the Church should break into SATB, but I’ve never taken the time to draft that.

It has a lot of excellent images, although at least one part I always liked turns out to be historically inaccurate (they did not drop crosses into sockets; they nailed criminals to the crossbar and hoisted it onto the scaffold, then affixed the feet).  But the picture of the steps throbbing in the brain of the soldier, the phrase “Jesus walked to the cross” suggesting that it was voluntary, and the notion of the earthquake waiting for Him to nod His head as a cue, have always struck me as gems.  (I had probably heard the notion that walking to the cross was voluntary before this, but it was worth including.)

When I played it for Jeff, he was thrown at the end, because when I sang “Today we killed a carpenter” he thought it was the carpenter he’d invented at the beginning who, in fairness, I’d brought back into the story in the song sung by Caiaphas.  I thought that connecting the carpenters together gave some cohesion to the song.

Step by Step.

So here are the lyrics.

(John the Baptist and the Prophets)

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

(Soldier)

Step by step He walked to the hill.
His shredded back was bleeding still.
Step by step He carried the cross;
I felt so helpless, so blind, so lost.

Step by step He plodded along,
This man in whom we found nothing wrong.
Step by step He came to die.
I had the feeling only He knew why.

Somehow I think He died for me;
Can’t you see, He took my place?
I should have been nailed to that tree;
Instead, I spit in His face.

Somehow I think He died for me;
Can’t you see, He took my place?
I should have been nailed to that tree;
Instead, I spit in His face.

Step by step–it stays with me yet.
This was a man like none I had met.
Step by step, it throbs in my brain.
How could this man bear so much pain?

(Voice of the Church)

And Jesus walked to the cross–
He didn’t have to do it,
But He thought of me
As He faced that tree,
And for my life He went through it.
Jesus walked to the cross–
One little word would have saved Him,
But His love was why
Jesus chose to die.
The cross was mine, but He gave Himself for me.

He died for me.  (Repeat and under)

(Soldier)

Somehow I think He died for me;
Can’t you see, He took my place?
I should have been nailed to that tree;
Instead, I spit in His face.
I felt so guilty as I watched Him walk along,
And He was still alive–He must have been remarkably strong,
But any minute I was sure that He would fall–
We beat Him so hard, I’m surprised He walked at all–
And so I grabbed a man who stood beside the road
And made him carry Jesus’ awful, awful, awful load,
And made him carry Jesus’ awful load, but what can I say?
I thought I was the one who should have led the way
To take the cross, to die myself, to set Him free,
To bear the cross on which this Jesus died for me.
The cross He bore–I felt it was my own,
But one man just can’t stand alone
Against the people and against the rulers at the top
And tell them all they’re wrong, tell them to stop, stop, stop, stop, stop–

Stop this madness, stop this madness,
Can’t you see you’re plunging us in darkness and sadness?
But still we nailed Him to the cross, and dropped it in the socket,
And grumbled that His garment didn’t have a pocket;
But I did give Him a drink before He died.
When He was dead, I plunged my sword in his side,
I don’t know why–somehow I knew that He was dead.
When He died, He prayed, then He dropped His head,
Then came the earthquake, yes, it seems it waited for His nod.
Surely this man had to be the Son of God.
Oh, tell me Jesus, tell me, please tell me why,
Why did we hate you, why did we beat you, why did we crucify?

(John the Baptist and the Prophets)

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

(Soldier)
Today we killed a carpenter–I guess I don’t know why.
Can someone tell me why this Jesus had to die?
He’d been a nuisance, and we’d fin’ly had enough.
But for a righteous man, we sure did treat Him rough.
We bit and spit on Him, we acted just like swine,
And yet it seemed that He forgave us for our crime.
I meant to ask Him to explain some things He’d said.
I’m kind of sorry that the carpenter is dead.

(All)

Step by step.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret” | #466:  The Song “In a Mirror Dimly” | #468:  The Song “Present Your Bodies” | #471:  The Song “Walkin'” | #473:  The Song “In the Light of His Love”

Next song: They That Trust

473: The Song “In the Light of His Love”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #473, on the subject of The Song “In the Light of His Love”.

This might be the oldest song on the list; it’s probably also the shortest, at least so far.  (I have a couple of very short songs that I never sing, but might figure out how to record sometime.)  Working with a few others back around 1970 plus or minus a year under the name Genuine Junk Parts (with Art Robbins, my brother Roy Young, and Andy Nilssen handling the recording), I put together a collection under the title Genuine Junk Lives in Ramsey, but decided not to try to sell copies because I was worried about copyrights.  Yeah, I was a kid.  This song wrapped up the tape, and is, I think, the only song from that collection that I’ve ever sung publicly since forming The Last Psalm, although there is one other that I’ve tried to remember from time to time.

It was also the last song I recorded for the vocals-over-midi-instruments discs I created for Dave Oldham, because it was a song performed occasionally by The Last Psalm (and at least once before that by BLT Down when we did a church service).  I sing it occasionally to close concerts, and think of it as a benediction.  After all, it’s short–under a minute, forty seconds in this recording.

My wife always comments that she likes the way I rhymed “God’s Son” with “person”.  It’s a very simple song, but then, it’s not really long enough to get that complicated.  I don’t recall anyone else ever commenting on it.

In the Light of His Love.

So here are the lyrics.

The Lord will select you,
Direct you, protect you.
He’ll stay beside you
To hide you or guide you.
He’ll always lead you
And he’ll always feed you,
So stay in the light of His love.

You know that you need Him,
So hear Him and heed Him,
For Jesus is God’s son,
And no normal person.
He’s never far from you
Once He has won you,
So stay in the light of His love.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret” | #466:  The Song “In a Mirror Dimly” | #468:  The Song “Present Your Bodies” | #471:  The Song “Walkin'”

Next song: Step by Step

468: The Song “Present Your Bodies”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #468, on the subject of The Song “Present Your Bodies”.

Identifying when I wrote this song is a bit tricky, but I have a few clues.

In May or June of 1975, shortly after The Last Psalm played its last concert and just before I was invited to join Jacob’s Well, I wrote a song called Walkin’; that song is slated for next month, simply by a sort of random roll, but it is relevant here, because this song is like that one in structural ways of which I was always aware–indeed, I think they were intentional–but which might not be obvious to the casual listener.  Unfortunately, you won’t be able to hear the other song until next month, unless of course you’ve arrived late, in which case the link to it should be at the bottom of this page.

The similarities are related to the fact that the “bridge” is marked by a significant key change which changes the feel of the music, and it is repeated such that it launches out of both the chorus and the verse.  Both songs have three verses, multiple repetitions of a chorus, and as mentioned a repeated bridge.  It was a formula that worked perhaps better for the other song than it did for this one, and I rarely sang it for that reason; it was lengthy and repetitious, and I was never certain it held the attention of the audience.  I rarely sang the other, either, but that was for different reasons to be addressed next month.

I suppose the similarities end there.  This song is considerably slower and more somber than the other, and its power comes from a slow drive and potent words.  The lyrics are entirely quoted or paraphrased from scripture in this song, while that one is more a narration of a poetic salvation message.

My other major clue is that in the summer of 1977 I was using a small studio at Gordon College to record a few songs (those tapes, alas, long lost), and this was one of them.  That gives me a window during which this was created.

This is another vocals-over-midi-instruments recording.  Again its simplicity helps support a decent recording, although there is a technical hiccough in the midi at one point.

Present Your Bodies.

So here are the lyrics.

Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God,
Present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Set aside the sin that oh, so easily besets you.
Forget the past, and press on toward the prize.

Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord
With all humility, with gentleness,
With patience.
Always be diligent in striving to preseve your unity
In peace.

Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God,
Present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Set aside the sin that oh, so easily besets you.
Forget the past, and press on toward the prize.

Count it joy when you suffer for the Lord,
And thank Him that He finds you worthy
To serve Him.
He will reward those who continue praising through their suffering
For Him.

When He comes back again
He will repay
Each one according to his deeds.
When you are serving Him
Day after day,
He will provide for all your needs.

Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God,
Present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Set aside the sin that oh, so easily besets you.
Forget the past, and press on toward the prize.

Place your whole life solely in His hands.
He’s working all things for His glory
And our good.
He’ll finish ev’ryone in whom He has begun salvation.
Amen.

Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God,
Present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Set aside the sin that oh, so easily besets you.
Forget the past, and press on toward the prize.

When He comes back again
He will repay
Each one according to his deeds.
When you are serving Him
Day after day,
He will provide for all your needs.

He’ll finish ev’ryone in whom He has begun salvation.
Amen.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret” | #466:  The Song “In a Mirror Dimly”

Next song: Walkin’

466: The Song “In a Mirror Dimly”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #466, on the subject of The Song “In a Mirror Dimly”.

I remember exactly where I was when I wrote this song, and what inspired it.

I was dating Sue Adams my freshman college year, and in June, 1974, right after school was dismissed for the summer, we spent a few days at her home on Staten Island.  She lived in a duplex, and her grandparents, who had shared the other half of the building, had died that spring.  Thus I was given one of the vacant bedrooms in the otherwise empty half.  There was an old mirror, the sort that was losing its silver and so had an imperfect reflection, leaning against the wall near the bed, and I had my guitar handy when I awoke.  The mirror reminded me of the passage in I Corinthians 13, so the words of this song came to be.

I remember stretching a bit for the second verse, looking for something else that gave a weak reflection, and the storefront window was the only thing that came to me.  The third verse stepped out of the mold, but was still about something we would see that would, in a sense, reflect the image of God.

I was never overly fond of the song; it felt a bit strained to me.  However, others like it, particularly my wife.  I performed it with The Last Psalm in the 74-75 year, and so I included it in the recordings I made for Dave and Jes Oldham.

This is another vocals-over-midi-instruments recording.  It is rather good, probably because it is simple.

In a Mirror Dimly.

So here are the lyrics.

In a mirror dimly we can see His face.
He is God most holy; His image we can trace,
But oh, what an image–
It scares me to think that someday
I may see Him!  I may see Him!

In a storefront window we buy our peace.
We don’t count it sin, though we find release
From oh, such an image–
It scares me to think that someday
I may see Him!  I may see Him!

God is great, and God is good,
We thank Him ev’ry day.
He gives us life, He gives us food,
But if He came to stay
Would we let Him live with us?
Would we let Him reign?
He once died as Jesus;
Would He die again?

In a quiet sunset His glory shows,
But we haven’t learned yet, and may never know
Oh, such an image–
It scares me to think that someday
I may see Him!  I may see Him!

In a mirror dimly we can see His face.
He is God most holy; His image we can trace,
But oh, what an image–
It scares me to think that someday
I may see Him!  I may see Him
Face to face,
Face to face.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three” | #464:  The Song “The Secret”

Next Song: Present Your Bodies

464: The Song “The Secret”

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #464, on the subject of The Song “The Secret”.

I sing this song from time to time in my solo concerts, but not that often–people just don’t seem to get it.

I remember that the first person for whom I sang it was Jeff Zurheide, in Evans Hall at Gordon College, so it must have been 1975 or 6, not later than 78.  He stared at me, and said that he thought I was going to end by saying that if you couldn’t do all those things just ask Jesus and he’ll help you do them.  That, of course, is not how it ends.  I played it some time later for Phil Keaggy, who was not really expecting someone to walk up to him after a concert carrying a guitar and singing a song, and all he said was it was interesting.

It comes from a silly saying, that there are two ways to get to heaven.  One was to be sinlessly perfect your entire life, and the other was the right way.  That’s what I wanted to capture with this.

This is another vocals-over-midi-instruments recording.  Although it sounds as if the eleventh and twelfth commandments are the two given as the most important by Jesus, they were references to two commandments I’d heard in my teens, Thou shalt not hassle and Thou shalt not sweat.  There actually were scripture references to support those, but I’m not sure what they were.  The point was to make the requirements seem as impossible to keep as they are.  Someone commented that they appreciated the shift near the end from the “never” rules to the “always” rules, that more was required than simply refraining from evil, that some positive good was part of it.

The Secret.

So here are the lyrics.

Everybody wants to know the secret;
Ev’ryone is looking for a way.
People tell us how to get to heaven,
But they disagree in what they say.

Some men say sincerity
Will pay the price of liberty,
But people make mistakes when they’re sincere.
Some men tell you to believe
Anything you do believe,
But that doesn’t seem to be quite clear.

I’ve waded through the answers;
I’ve found the one that’s true,
So if you’ll stop and listen,
I’ll pass it on to you.

God expects perfection from your birth until your death.
This is all you really have to do:
Keep your whole life perfect with your ev’ry passing breath.
This is what the Lord expects of you:

Keep the ten commandments, the eleventh, and the twelfth;
Love the Lord above all else,
And love your neighbor as yourself,
Show kindness to your enemy,
And give to all abundantly.
Never hate a man, never tell a lie,
Never doubt the truth, never question why,
Always bear the pain, always take the time,
Always keep the law, always stay in line.
Then perhaps you’ll make it to his throne;
Then perhaps you’ll make it on your own.

But if you’ve any trouble, there’s a better way:
Turn around and give your life to Christ,
And God will touch you with His power, and starting from that day
He’ll give to you a brand new kind of life.

Yes, if you’ve any trouble, there’s a better way:
Turn around and give your life to Christ,
And God will touch you with His power, and starting from that day
He’ll give to you a brand new kind of life.

*****

Previous web log song posts:

#301:  The Song “Holocaust” | #307:  The Song “Time Bomb” | #311:  The Song “Passing Through the Portal” | #314:  The Song “Walkin’ In the Woods” | #317:  The Song “That’s When I’ll Believe” | #320:  The Song “Free” | #322:  The Song “Voices” | #326:  The Song “Mountain, Mountain” | #328:  The Song “Still Small Voice” | #334:  The Song “Convinced” | #337:  The Song “Selfish Love” | #340:  The Song “A Man Like Paul” | #341:  The Song “Joined Together” | #346:  The Song “If We Don’t Tell Them” | #349: The Song “I Can’t Resist You’re Love” | #353:  The Song “I Use to Think” | #356:  The Song “God Said It Is Good” | #362:  The Song “My Life to You” | #366:  The Song “Sometimes” | #372:  The Song “Heavenly Kingdom” | #378:  The Song “A Song of Joy” | #382:  The Song “Not Going to Notice” | #387:  The Song “Our God Is Good” | #393:  The Song “Why” | #399:  The Song “Look Around You” | #404:  The Song “Love’s the Only Command” | #408:  The Song “Given You My Name” | #412:  The Song “When I Think” | #414:  The Song “You Should Have Thanked Me” | #428:  The Song “To the Victor” | #433:  The Song “From Job” | #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again” | #438:  The Song “Even You” | #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road” | #442:  The Song “Call to Worship” | #445:  The Song “How Many Times” | #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely” | #450:  The Song “Rainy Days” | #453:  The Song “Never Alone” | #455:  The Song “King of Glory” | #457:  The Song “Greater Love” | #458:  The Song “All I Need” | #462:  The Song “John Three”

Next song: In a Mirror Dimly

#461: 2022 In Review

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #461, on the subject of 2022 In Review.

Each year I try to post an index of everything I published in the previous year.  I’ve done it before, obviously, so working backwards you can find previous years (and in the early days of the web log, partial years) at:

It has been an unusually productive year–in the sense that it has been productive in unusual ways.  In the wake of the release last year of my comprehensive apologetics book Why I Believe from Dimensionfold Publishing, they put to print my summary of time travel theory, The Essential Guide to Time Travel:  Temporal Anomalies & Replacement Theory, and republished three earlier books, Do You Trust Me? summarizing salvation by faith as the only way of salvation ever, What Does God Expect?  A Gospel-based Approach to Christian Conduct about living a Christian life without following rules, and About the Fruit, a study of the famous passage in Galatians and its place in that book and in the history of the first century church.  There is a long list of pending titles moving toward publication next year, beginning with a printed collection of the Faith in Play series–more on that later.

There were twelve entries in that series this year, including several on archetypes, a few on bringing divine acts into the game, some about spirits and the afterlife, and a couple about Christianity and role playing games.  The companion series, RPG-ology, also slated to be compiled and released in book form next year, gave us eight recovered Game Ideas Unlimited articles from the old Gaming Outpost series, plus one more originally in the e-zine Daedalus, and a few new suggestions for running games.  All of those are indexed at the Christian Gamers Guild, 2022 At the Christian Gamers Guild Reviewed, along with a few other articles at that site.

There were also many posts on the Chaplain’s Bible Study, which finished the Gospel According to John and began working on Mark, along with several Musings posts.

The Multiverser novels continued in serialized form, finishing the eighth, In Verse Proportion, featuring Joe Kondor, Bob Slade, and Derek Brown, and starting the ninth, Con Verse Lea, with the return of Lauren Hastings, Tomiko Takano, and James Beam.  These were accompanied by behind-the-writings peeks as mark Joseph “young” web log posts:

In collaboration with author Eric R. Ashley, I’ve got the tenth and eleventh books fully drafted, and we have started on the twelfth.  I also posted updated character sheets for Joseph Kondor, Robert Slade, Derek Brown, Lady Shella, Ezekiel Smith, and Amira Vashti, and am working on the next set of these.

The web log also posted eleven songs–not twelve, because due to government red tape tangles I was off line for a full month, but it only cost us a bit.  We saw, and heard (there are audio files linked from the pages which contain the lyrics and a story behind the song) including:

  1. #436:  The Song “Trust Him Again”;
  2. #438:  The Song “Even You”;
  3. #441:  The Song “Fork in the Road”;
  4. #442:  The Song “Call to Worship”;
  5. #445:  The Song “How Many Times”;
  6. #447:  The Song “When I Was Lonely”;
  7. #450:  The Song “Rainy Days”;
  8. #453:  The Song “Never Alone”;
  9. #455:  The Song “King of Glory”;
  10. #457:  The Song “Greater Love”;
  11. #458:  The Song “All I Need”;

Other web log posts included:

There was a new analysis added to the Temporal Anomalies site, Temporal Anomalies in Time Travel Movies unravels The History of Time Travel, a clever mockumentary in which time travel was never invented because its inventor prevented it.

Those upcoming books include compilations of the first five years of articles in the Faith in Play and RPG-ology series, plus a book of collected essays on role playing games, and then I hope to see a series of commentaries on the New Testament, one book at a time.  I began with Romans a decade and a half ago, worked my way through the end of Revelation, then doubled back to do John, Mark, and Matthew, and am currently working on Luke.  after that, I will be going through Acts, which will complete the New Testament hopefully within my lifetime.

On the web, I have a few Faith in Play and RPG-ology entries queued to post and a couple more waiting for me to set them up.  There will be more web log posts, and hopefully I’ll get to some of the time travel movies I’ve noted are available on various web streaming services.  Of course, the novels continue, and the Bible Study will be around for a while yet.

I have an Instagram account, and early in the year I decided to post some of my Gazebos in the Wild photos to it, along with some other things there.  They are mostly in the categories of nonsense or personal, but you’re welcome to look.

Those who wish to stay current on what is being posted can get that from my social media outlets, but particularly Patreon, where I announce everything that posts on the day it posts, other than the Bible Study; and the Goodreads web log The Ides of Mark which publishes twice a month and includes the Bible Study posts.

There are also still more songs to come, and one should be released later today.