Hosanna! You’re My King – David Bell

 

He evidently wanted something that would be like hitting a nail on the head, not very time-consuming and yet very resolute and focused. David Bell just thought that saying “Hosanna, You’re My King”, as a group of people did almost 20 centuries earlier, was nearly all that was needed to express the proper sentiment of a people looking upward and worshipping their God. What this songwriter had to say in 1990 needs no further embellishment, no matter how many years elapse and how much culture appears to advance. He’s still the same as He’s always been and will be forevermore, as one writer has said (Hebrews 13:8); and all peoples will meet Him, in fact bowing before Him in acknowledgement and utter humility, as a prophet once said and another writer echoed (Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11). Is this 20^th Century songwriter the same David Michael Bell that a 2012 obituary indicates died some years later after offering this poem-ode to God (see links below); and thus, he’s already paid homage to Him up close and personal, perhaps not unlike what people did on a day known as Palm Sunday in this picture (shown here)? (Or, is he instead known as David E. Bell, the author-composer of two albums, Prince of Peace (1996), and Lion of Judah (1994)? For this blog entry, this blogger will assume that David M. and David E. are the same Bell, and that the middle initial is listed incorrectly in some resources. Readers, please set me straight, with some credible information, if this is not correct.)

 

Perhaps it wasn’t long after he left a career in a secular field, that David (M?) Bell wrote his brief poem and began to minister professionally to a group of worshippers in San Antonio, Texas. The year 1989 marked the time when David felt the call, and turned his life toward church ministry, and by 1990 ‘Hosanna…’ was in print. David’s musicianship must have been one reason why he switched careers, a choice that could have been in the back of his mind as a 35-year-old software career-ist in 1989. His musical talent must have come into play in his new role, as a minister in the same church where his grandfather, father and mother had ministered for decades; David would eventually (in 1996) become the church’s lead pastor, though his obituary indicates worship was a core impetus of his life’s work. ‘This church’s praise could use something fresh’, perhaps David reasoned to himself, and thus his ‘Hosanna…’ emerged. Was Matthew (21:8-9; and other parallel passages in gospels of Mark, Luke, and John) the biblical text studied on one occasion at the church, spurring David’s spirit to gestate some meaningful poetry that could musically express this church’s thoughts toward heaven? Two brief verses are what David thought sufficed, perhaps making note that the crowd that greeted Jesus a few days before His crucifixion did not use many words to say what they felt, just three sentences. The Hebrew of ‘Hosanna’ means ‘Save!’, a people’s exclamation to someone they felt could bring hope forevermore to them. And, so it is today, as it was for that crowd that caught sight of a Nazarene on a donkey.

 

The church in San Antonio also said ‘Hosanna’ in 1990, and one could surmise they still are today, as they were in 2012 despite their grief over David’s death. David’s contributions at the San Antonio church were many, and live on to a significant degree through his progeny – five sons who were all reportedly ministering at the same church in 2012. This detail reminds us who believe that there is an intimacy, a sense of family among a body that cries ‘Hosanna’ and looks forward to a grand reunion. It is an eternal flame that burns within the soul, isn’t it? The time we so anticipate is described in Revelation, and though there are many cries of exclamation there, no cries of ‘Hosanna’ are among them. His saving will already have been accomplished by the time we arrive there, so none are needed there. ‘Hosanna’ is for us who are still looking upward, before going upward. Make it loud, as you go about your business today!  

 

https://www.last.fm/music/Dave+Bell/+wiki

(following is from the above link – may refer to the David E. Bell that wrote the song of interest. ) Dave Bell is an American Christian musician from San Antonio, Texas. He has released two albums, "Prince of Peace" and "Lion of Judah". His style is contemporary and combines jazz with rock.

 

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sanantonio/name/david-bell-obituary?id=7759710 (This site shows an obituary for David M. Bell in May 2012.)

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Bell-led-church-founded-by-family-3550171.php  (another obituary)

 

https://songselect.ccli.com/search/results?List=contributor_P400591_David%20E.%20Bell&PageSize=100&CurrentPage=1 (this site indicates David E. Bell wrote three songs in English, including the song of interest [Hosanna! You’re the/My King] that is the subject of this blog entry)

 

https://songselect.ccli.com/Search/Results?List=contributor_P400590_Dave%20Bell&CurrentPage=1 (this site indicates that Dave Bell wrote more than a dozen songs, including the Lion of Judah)

 

This site plays the song, showing how briefly it takes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugODXiicHrI

Good to Me -- Craig Musseau

 

Who is/was he, and what was happening that drove him to write this? That’s about all we can say about Craig Musseau and his poem-song “Good to Me” that he contributed to the Christian music industry by 1990. Where he was, his age, etc., and especially the circumstances in which he found himself are a mystery.  If someone has details about how and why Craig decided to make public his distress-praise ode to God in the 1990 timeframe, I’m listening! As my blog’s header says, Song Scoops is a music detective’s quest, with your help especially useful in cases like this, when the story is pretty veiled. Perhaps it's not unlike someone hunting for and finding the switch to turn on a dark room’s light bulb (shown here). It might strike someone as a bit too close to New Age-ism, but I just clicked on my desk’s Lava lamp, containing a most unusual light, in an attempt to provide some extra inspiration and close my information gap on Craig Musseau and his composition! According to instructions that came with this curious desk accessory, the ‘Lava’ brand lamp is a ‘philosophy’, with oozing wax that becomes ‘hypnotizing and invigorating’ inside its liquid container. This lamp purports to remind the observer/s of the prehistoric primordial goop (the wax), and yet the post-modern age too. What a device, with such a broad effect, and more rousing than a simple light bulb! This prehistoric and yet post-modern effect, in its spacious sweep, can also characterize the God who created in the beginning and is still here in our age. Craig apparently counted on Him remaining good throughout the ages.

 

That light bulb analogy that began this blog entry is perhaps appropriate here, to describe what Craig Musseau discovered. He was in a dark place, and he needed light that only God could provide. This sounds very similar to the episodes of the great psalmist David that caused him to lament. Was it Psalm 13 that Craig was reading, in which David concludes his cry to God by saying ‘…He has been good to me’? Craig felt he needed His ‘hand of mercy to heal…’ because he was ‘weak’. Interestingly, this poet thought God’s ‘love...(would) free me’, so it sounds as though Craig was suffering emotionally or spiritually, rather than physically when he might have instead called for God’s almighty power. His ‘strength’, ‘rescue’, and ‘promise’ were also on Craig’s lips, even as his insides wept over his situation. There’s an evident burden on his heart, but nevertheless Craig pledges ‘…to follow (God) forever’, and then sings repeatedly this devotion’s title words, showing his fidelity to God despite his hurts. The accompanying music in this repeated phrase has the worshipper feeling as if he’s rocking in the arms of a loving parent who’s trying to soothe an agitated child into a peaceful sleep. Did Craig find rest and reassurance? Tell me if you know.

 

If the poet-king David were to answer, he might remind us that he had to write many laments to cover his life’s episodes. Research indicates Craig did the same (writing or co-writing at least a few dozen songs), but chose to remain relatively anonymous, except for his name, for some reason. He could have been stressing over his own situations, or maybe he was the compassionate friend who was giving voice to the griefs of someone or multiple people close by. David must have thought his own poems put to music were therapeutic, and not just for himself, since many of his psalms have superscriptions that indicate a ‘director of music’ (as in Psalm 13) employed David’s thoughts for group worship. Craig likewise took his own desperate meditations and set them to communal use when he allowed for the dissemination of ‘Good to Me’. No one’s alone here, he’d probably say. Our Creator would want us to think that way, too. 

 

This site indicates that the author-composer wrote at least 20-30 songs: https://songselect.ccli.com/Search/Results?List=contributor_P97469_Craig%20Musseau&PageSize=20&CurrentPage=1