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... |
No comments:
Post a Comment