Revive Us, O Lord -- Steve Camp and Carman Licciardello

 

Their paths crossed, perhaps just to make this one song. Was that true for two popular singers in the mid-1980s, by the names of Steve Camp and Carman Licciardello? They may have had something in common, as they thought about what to say in their collaborative project that they called “Revive Us, O Lord”.  As is evident by what they wrote, they felt an emergency was ongoing, which in a physical analogy oftentimes means an ambulance (perhaps like this one shown here) is necessary to prevent death. The two men had come to a shared faith in separate walks from different directions, so expressing the same message says something about not only the congruence, but also the universal truth of what they wanted to say.  What was it?

 

Steve Camp was 30 and Carman Licciardello was 29 in 1985, and can we infer from their words that these two, nearly the same age physically, also were closely aligned in their estimation of how Christendom was going here on planet Earth? Was it something in each of their personal journeys or rather something they sensed in the Christian world at large that caused them to cry out in their lyrics about betrayal, a need for repentance, and a divine renewal? Both Steve and Carman (his birth name was Carmelo) were musically talented from early ages, but their walks toward Christian faith were different. In childhood, Carman performed in his mother’s band and then moved on to his own shows as a teenager in Atlantic City casinos, before trying to take himself into the Las Vegas scene. So, at age 20, Carman was still searching for himself, and was in for a big change when a Christian music artist’s (Andrae Crouch) concert profoundly affected his outlook. He accepted the message he heard that night, though his musical career went on a five-year hiatus. In the same 20-year stretch of time, Steve Camp accepted Christ at age 5, and his early musical journey included mentorship by two men (Larry Norman and Keith Green) prior to beginning a professional music career by age 22. So, two different beginnings, but by their late 20s Steve and Carman were evidently on the same page. Where and how they met to collaborate is not known (at least, it’s not shared readily on websites, etc), but Camp and Licciardello agreed that something was amiss in their world. They admitted that they’d abandoned God, walked away from doing His work, and had strayed so far that they could no longer hear His voice nor feel energized by His resurrection (v.1). Were they dead? They must have thought so, because alive people don’t need revival! This was an urgent appeal, with Christians needing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and with not just one jolt of divine electrical stimulation. Steve and Carman vocalize ‘revive us’ no less than 11 times in their collective exclamation.  Did God respond to their alarm bells?

 

From what they wrote Steve and Carman must have thought there was still some reason to hope, if only Christians would expose themselves to His prescription for healing. They expected God was still faithful and willing to call us His own (v.2). We could still be drawn by His own life’s revival, with His Spirit sparking our sense of fidelity (v.2). Finally, part of the healing process is humanity’s willingness to be cleansed, to admit we’re dirty (refrain). It may seem like a simple question, but Jesus once asked someone ‘Would you like to get well?’ (John 5:6) In our pandemic world today, some of us are asking others this same question, and wondering why the answer seems so elusive to them. To some with a spiritual disease, the same question might be asked. What better cure is there than Jesus?  

 

 

 

See here for biography of one of the authors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carman_%28singer%29

 

Here’s a link to an obituary of one of the authors: Died: Carman, Christian Showman Who Topped Charts with Tri...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

 

See here for biography of one of the authors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Camp

 

See here for information on the album for the song by one of the authors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_God%27s_Own_Heart

His Name Is Life – Carman Licciardello and Bill Gaither

If nothing else could be said about the man named Carman, at least one could say he knew a winner when he saw it. And the same might be said of his collaborator Bill Gaither in 1983. The two of them composed something that neither of them could claim as his own, and even together, they could not assert that their thoughts were original. Much of the song’s lyrics are obviously taken from ancient texts. For both Carman Licciardello and Bill Gaither, that is OK. You cannot do better than what the poets said centuries ago, which their two contemporary counterparts have repeated some two millennia later in “His Name Is Life”. Together, Licciardello, Gaither, and the ancient poets define ‘life’ for us, though scientists might suggest it looks like an amoeba (see picture). 

The 27-year old Carman and 47-year old Bill must have been reading their bibles, like Christians you’d expect, and marveling at all the ways to relate to God’s son when they wrote this tune in 1983. They had been travelling musical companions in the early 1980’s, and so you can imagine they must have shared lots of time together discussing what each other thought about Jesus. He has lots of names, but they centered their thoughts on thirteen of them.  We don’t know what particular events brought about Carman’s and Bill’s creativity, but with gifted musicians, it doesn’t take much. Just a few well-chosen moments of study, of Spirit-led immersion and focus, mingled with plucking on a guitar or tinkling on the ivory keys. Maybe Carman and Bill were merely humming some notes when they ran across the names that struck them one day. Some of us are moved by his humanity, his compassion for His earthly children, and so we might favor ‘Teacher’ or simply ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, an identity we can more easily grasp. Not so with these two composers, at least not when they reached out to Him and to each other in this musical inspiration.  Most of the names they chose evoke images of Jesus the transcendent. Perhaps it’s a phenomenon of music, to reach for the highest rung with our hearts. Maybe it was also His way of drawing these two composers closer to Himself. 

Why’d Carman Licciardello and Bill Gaither choose thirteen names, not twelve or fourteen or more? Well, perhaps the syllabic tempo of the music they chose dictated that certain names were used. With their sense of musical pace, perhaps they just let go until it felt right, until that moment when they said ‘Yeh, that’s it.’ Is it ever an accident when the Spirit is engaged during songwriting? Was it for David when he strummed on a lyre while watching sheep? How does one touch creative musical genius? It seems two guys in 1983 might have found a method that worked for them.

Look at these two websites for information on the two composers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carman_%28singer%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gaither_%28gospel_singer%29

Bless the Name of Jesus -- Carman Licciardello

Some people are universally acknowledged even if only their first names are used in conversation. Who comes to mind? Jesus, most notably, right? What about those among the human race, who were just human? Maybe Rocky (played by Sylvester Stallone)? How about presidents whose initials prompt familiarity, like FDR, or JFK? Here’s one that may ring a bell with some – Carman. He’s the composer of the bouncy, celebratory “Bless the Name of Jesus”, that he wrote in 1983 when he was 27 years old. He is described as a ‘cultural phenomenon’, and an ‘American original’, with a unique blend in his Christian music performances that is hard to classify. Unique, phenomenon, original. Sound like anyone else?

He was born Carmelo Domenic Licciardello – maybe that’s why he’s known more simply as Carman. From his upbringing in New Jersey, he had a music and entertainment gene fostered by his mother, in whose band he played the drums.  He frequented places like Philadelphia and Atlantic City to exercise his show business skills as a teenager, and was actually approached by a Mafia crime family, who offered to help promote his career. But, off to Las Vegas he went, without making any commitment to the ‘family’. While away, he attended an Andrae Crouch concert, where he was stirred as a young man to give himself up to Christ, a great disappointment to his potential promoters, but a boon to the Christian music and entertainment genre for the next several decades. By 1980, in his early 20’s, he was making Christian music records, and shortly thereafter wrote the song “Bless the Name of Jesus”. What’s the specific story behind the song, you ask? It must be known, by Carman certainly, and perhaps he tells it during his performances. His official website says ‘…Carman's repertoire..is what we could only identify as a 'story song'’. He mixes multiple presentational styles - including comedy, drama, satire, preaching, funk, rock, and others – to get the message of his life across. Judging by the song’s lyrics and what one can hear and see in videos, he was overjoyed with the Lord at that time, and wanted to draw others who would listen into this festival atmosphere.  It’s a song that prompts worshippers to sing His praise over and over, not unlike what we’ll sing throughout Eternity. 

Carman is a one-name guy, promoting a God named simply, Jesus.  What Carman does may look pretty daunting, for one person. He’s a singer, dancer, writer, and an actor (in no less than two movies, as well as many other productions), and has even been politically active (spurring reportedly one million people to sign a petition pushing a constitutional amendment for school prayer). And, he’s established two non-profit organizations – Carman Ministries and Carman World Outreach. It may seem like his life is pretty complicated, with a spotlight that is often focused on him as the stage performer. Yeh, gobs of people may take notice of him. But, looking at all he does, it seems this one-name guy is really just a mirror for another.  

Biographic information on the composer at these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carman_Licciardello

http://carman.org/carman-biography.php

Here’s a link that shows two verses of the song that may not often be heard, along with the well-known chorus:  http://www.higherpraise.com/lyrics/cool/b/9289.htm