Blog Background

Never been to this blog before? Well here’s how to use it. In a word, here’s what will serve you best: LABELS. Just click on any one of them, and you’ll go directly to stories with those attached labels. You can find them on the bottom right side of the blog page, and they are of six different types.

1. The composers’ last names, A-Z (generally those who wrote the words of the songs) 2. Topics – what was it that influenced the composer (from ‘anoint’ to‘worship-praise’), or was a significant issue on which he/she was focused? 3. Bible books-characters-places (pretty self-explanatory) 4. Audience – to whom is the song directed? There’s three different ones, generally – God; us (as a group of believers); and myself (as an individual worshipper). There’s also a small but unique group of songs that are ‘from God’, who uses my voice to say His words. Fascinating, huh? 5. Miscellaneous labels – just two, including one called ‘fresh scoop’. This is a category of song stories that are derived via direct communication with the composer, or which contain discovered facts not really published elsewhere. The other miscellaneous label is 'blog background', which you can use to find your way back to this document, as well as to another with my thoughts on why I started this blog. 6. Era (the century in which the composer wrote...from the Biblical age to the 2000s).

You may also use the search window at the top left of the page to hunt for any stories with whatever keywords you choose.

Research Citations: The original source information for each story is at the end of each story, or is occasionally in the story text.

Comments on stories: Just click on the ‘comments’ area below any song, and leave a comment (please make it a kind one, and remember, I can control which ones are published! :)

Who am I ?: My profile is at the top of the page, if you want to know more about me, the author and blog administrator.

Why Share Stories?

I am fascinated by music, I think most of all because those who compose it combine human characteristics that seem so opposite. On one hand, a composer must have a heart and a soul that is poetic, creative, and unafraid to share his or her emotions for all to hear. On the other hand, music writing imposes rules, in necessarily predictable patterns that demand discipline – which one might think is rather contrary to creativity and emotionalism. So, composers are special people, because they manage to successfully merge these characteristics. They also have stories or motivations that drive them to compose. Perhaps it’s confusion, or a struggle, maybe an exuberant joy, or sadness that finds its voice in a song. A great way to see a songwriter’s heart is to read the Psalms, a maze of emotions, ups and downs, and each Psalm with a different shade of emotion and a related story, if only we could know each one. In some of the Psalms, we can only guess what David or other songwriters were experiencing. But, since they were humans, like us centuries later, we can identify with them at that basic level. The same is true of contemporary songwriters and us. I hope my song “scoops” – my ambition to know the stories behind compositions – will help you. As a fellow human being and a believer in the God who created us in His image, I want to join in song with you, with more appreciation and emotional depth, as we discover what makes composers creative. Maybe we’ll all be more creative, and more like our Creator God, as a result. Enjoy! ...P.S. The picture is of me at the Hoover Dam in hot July 2006, trying to be cool and incognito in my 'detective' shades.