God, Who Cannot Lie - Song Explanation

        Welcome back yet again to this now world-famous (in the same sense that Twinkies are world famous) blog series wherein I take a song written by yours truly (that's me) and try to explain what the dingleberry I was thinking when I came up with the music and lyrics, and why I haven't just given up and gotten a day job yet... (Because I'm too GOOD for a day job, that's why...) Anyways, this week, as a Valentine's special, I've got a song that deals with all the things Valentine's Day is about: heartbreak, trust issues, personal failure.... Ha! Just a little joke there, though the song does have those things in it, what it's really about is the love of God and how we can hold on to His promises tightly and never let go. But more on that later, here are the lyrics:

Lyrics: God, Who Cannot Lie

I've had so many, people promise me,
And like a fool I, closed my eyes and believed,
I put all my trust, in what I heard from man,
And they lied to me, as if that was their plan,
But I needed One, Who would tell me the truth,
And I know that I, must have found it with You,
'Cause I've read all the, promises that You gave,
And I believe that, You have power to save,
You've protected me, and I don't know just why,
But You promise me, promise me, You say,

"I, will be a wall of fire all around you,
I, will be the glory in your midst,
Oh I, will someday wipe those tears right from your eyes,
And I, will be your Everlasting Light,
And I, will never leave you no I won't forsake you,
I, will hold you in My hands they cannot take you,
I, will never break one of My promises,
'Cause I, am the God Who can never lie,
I'm the God Who can never lie.

Well I know there are, times when I've been uncouth,
And I admit I've, told my share of untruths,
Little white lies, well, that's put quite lightly,
Come to think of it, OKAY! I'm a liar and thief,
But You've forgiven, all the times that I've failed,
And when I'm faithless, I know You're faithful still,
You're the Rock that will, never move oh it's strange,
In this changing world, I know You'll never change,
You've told truth to me, and I still don't know why,
But You promise me, promise me, You say, "I..."

Oh, You cannot lie,
So You kept Your promise, and came to die,
Oh, I'm a lucky guy,
I'm in love with You God and You cannot lie!
You cannot lie, You cannot lie, You cannot lie, You cannot lie, when You say, "I..."

Music: My main musical themes for this song were "Interesting rhythm" and "Hope it sounds good." The chorus is a straight up 4/4, but sandwiched around the chorus are some interesting rhythmical things going on. I don't know if I can explain all of them, other than "the verses sound pretty cool, and I played all the notes in some sort of syncopation or whatever," and "the end of the chorus is like a triplet action goin' on, which is groovy," and "there's a bridge..." But suffice it to say, I wanted each section to sound unique, but be connected well, and all in the key of F, which is another wonderfully easy piano key. So it all came together quite nicely, as you'll hear, and the rhythms meshed with the poetry "like a song," as they say...

Lyrical Explanation: So here comes the heavy stuff. (And I'm not just talking about my 5th grade self...) When I started writing this song, I had just been through a heartache in the form of a breakup with someone I was 99.97% sure I was going to marry. (Of course, I was 19 at the time, so what did I know...) But it hurt. It was lame. I was not ready for it. I was not in the right mindset. I felt like I'd never be able to trust anyone ever again. Basically, I was throwing myself a great big pity party, and I was going to let the party last long after everyone else had moved on and gone home...
      Then, as often happens in such times, God slapped me in the face with His word. I was reading in Zechariah, chapter 2, and it's talking about the Holy City of Jerusalem, and God says that it will be "as towns without walls...for I will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst." And that got me to thinking about God's promises to be everything we need. And it got me to thinking about Titus chapter 1 where Paul says that "God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago the hope of eternal life." And that got me to thinking about God's promise to "wipe every tear from our eyes" (Revelation 21:4) and "never to leave us or forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5). And all of those promises are ones that God will keep, because it is impossible for Him to lie. It's against His very nature. He is "the Truth," in Him there is no deceit, no shadow of turning. He is God, Who cannot lie! And He's promised me eternal life. And He's promised to always be with me. And He's promised to wipe every tear from my eyes. And He's promised to be my light, walls of fire around me, and the glory in our midst.
    And when I thought about all that, it seemed kind of silly to be worrying and fretting and agonizing over one relationship that didn't work out the way I wanted it to. When the God of the Universe loves me, cares for me, promises that He'll be my comfort, He'll be my shield, and He'll never lie to me, the failures and deceit and tough stuff I go through is nothing. My true love, my first love, and my greatest love is for God, who so loved me that He sent His Son to die in my place. Breakups and heartaches and failures still hurt, and still sting, and still do all those unpleasant things, but God's love is bigger than all that, and when He makes a promise, He's going to keep it. That's what love is about. That's why I worship Him this Valentine's Day.

YouTube Version: Here's Jason and I performing the song live from our basement, which is where all the cool people are... This one has a title screen AND a Snakes on a Plane joke, so you know it's totally legit...

Album Version: The album version came out pretty well, I did a lot of percussion overdubs, and at one point had to start from scratch, but I think it came out pretty well. I did, however, stretch my voice to its absolute limits. Here's the link.

https://soundcloud.com/justin-samuel-manry/god-who-cannot-lie

Conclusion: Hopefully I didn't depress you too much this Valentine's Day, just remember God is bigger, and He loves you more than anyone else ever could... Let me know what song you'd like to hear next, what you think, and if I should just stop and move on to some other endeavor...

Singing off for now,
Justin Samuel Manry

Piano Hands!

To the Author of Love - Song Explanation

          Welcome back to the single greatest blog series you'll ever have the pleasure of reading (that is if you don't count every other blog on the internet). This week we'll be taking a look at another selection from the early years of Justin Samuel Manry's songwriting career, not the most interesting or best song ever written by a long shot, but fairly important in my progression as an artist, or whatever you want to call me. (I prefer to call myself an artist, so I can put myself on the level of such great men as Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Master Splinter...) Anyway, as always, the format calls for me to give you the lyrics right...about...now!

To The Author of Love

(A Capella Intro)
Thought I'd write a love song, Thought I'd write it from the heart,
Got my pen and paper, and sat down to make a start,
I wrote down all the words I had, they'd been swimmin' in my mind,
My pen hit the paper, and it was perfection line after line,
I skillfully crafted, a sonnet through and through,
Fillin' it up with these words that said "I love You,"
But when I looked down on the words that I just wrote,
I got me this feeling, started welling in my throat,
Maybe I didn't love You, the way I said I did,
Maybe I didn't show You, by the way that I had lived,
So I sat there with that love song, and I started to pray,
Asking God if He'd give me, the love it tried to convey....

I don't think I love You when I try to raise myself above You,
When nothing that I do, is ever straight and true,
When it's not for You, it's for me, and I don't want to drink that tea,
I want to be a man of Your reality,
Lord I don't think I need You, half as much as I need to, and I do,
The hardest thing I've found, beneath these skies above,
Is trying to write a love song, to the author of love.

Every time I try to lift Your name on high I just find,
That I'm lifting up myself,
I need You to come into my life and make it right and make me,
A man who's richer from Your wealth,
But not my will be done but Yours and Yours alone, I know that,
I could only make things worse,
You're the only One Who knows the plan and has His hand in,
Lifting up this horrid curse.

Music: Believe it or not, this song is not a rip-off of any love song I've heard before. It is a rip-off of several love songs (at least musically) that I made fit together somehow. First, I attempted to rip off the Beach Boys with a three part A Capella thing, which mostly just sounds like me making unearthly, unintelligible noises into a microphone (which it pretty much was). Then, I did pretty much an exact copy of Queen's "Rock It (Prime Jive)" with the 6/8 slow jam, followed quickly by almost exactly the same chord progression as "Heart and Soul," which is that annoying song that every kid can play on the piano and insists is the greatest single song known to man and so they have to play it every time they are near a piano at Kid's Camp and I am always on the verge of impaling myself with some sort of farm implement. So I guess what I'm saying is, nothing is really that innovative or groundbreaking musically in this song, but I was 16, and thought that I was really hot stuff, so I'm gonna give myself a pass here.

Lyrical Explanation: The real reason I wanted to explore this song is because it was a turning point for me. When I figured out the main chord progression and was playing it over and over on my guitar, I thought for sure I was going to write a love song. I probably had some girl in mind, and my friend Andrewshki probably had a code name for her such as "The B-10 Bomber," because he was just like that, but at any rate, I thought it was going to be a sweet little love song to some sweet young thang.
         But at some point in the process, my attitude changed. I remember sitting on the end of my bed, playing my guitar, trying to come up with some good lyrics, and thinking "Do I really want to write a song about a girl right now? I mean, she probably won't even like it. What would I accomplish if I added another love song to some girl to the thousands of others that already exist?" Of course, it wasn't in those words exactly, (again, I was 16, so my internal dialogue probably had a lot more "dude"s in it) but that was the gist. I didn't want to be a songwriter that wrote about relationships and girls and that kind of love. I wanted to write about real love, real faith, real life.
         So I decided "I'm going to make this a love song to God!" which I thought was just the cleverest idea I'd ever come up with. But as I tried to come up with some good lyrics, I was reminded of some Scriptures, such as "If You love me, obey My commandments." (John 14:15) And I was reminded of what it really meant to love God. And I was reminded of what my life actually looked like. And I had a long way to go...
         So the song that began as a teeny-bopper love song had become a song about how much I needed God in my life, and how much love I lacked. And I think I made a metaphor about tea that didn't make a lick of sense, but in my own way I was realizing what it really meant to love God because He first loved us. Some lyrics I'm still proud of to this day include "Every time I try to lift Your name on high I just find, that I'm lifting up myself," (which is a play on Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, a song I had played way too much at that point), "I don't think I need You, half as much as I need to" (which is just a cool line, if I do say so myself) and of course "make your life a love song, to the Author of love," (which is a line I try to live by these days).
         Hopefully this sheds some light for you on why I write the sorts of songs that I do, and don't write the sorts of songs that get me noticed by all the womenz... But, you know, it's a small price to pay for really having what I'm really passionate about be the focus of my music. And maybe someday when I get married I'll write a song for my wife... Maybe... If she'll make me a sandwich after I sing it to her, that is...

YouTube Version: Here's the song as sung on YouTube, again, sorry for the low quality webcam and sound stuff, but it was a while ago...

Recorded Version: This one went on my first album, and it was pretty all right. I do wish I'd done the intro better, but the rest of the song is quite nice, like an old-timey love song from the 60's. Here's the link.

Conclusion: So I bared a little of my soul to you today, and I expect reciprocation. Actually, come to think of it, just like and comment on the blog, tell me what song you'd like me to explain next, and what you like, what you don't like, what you want from me, and how I can serve you better.

Singing off for now,
Justin Samuel Manry

So very artistic...