::SOMETHIN' ABOUT IT::
I had a couple of the verses of this song written back during Red Letter Day, and for awhile I thought I would finish it, and put it on that project...but that CD filled up, so I put the song away, and didn't wind up completing it until the 11th hour (I added the Gabriel line the day I sung the vocal!) It was written as an 'opener' for a live performance so I thought I might as well open this project with it! The great intro guitar stuff is vintage Greg Jennings (my old bandmate/roommate in college). I asked him to set a tone with the guitar intro (ala Hummingbird, which he cowrote for Restless Heart) and I love the freneticity of it (I may have made THAT word up). I tossed in the Trio harmony for Anthony Burger. I really love the thought of Jesus inviting us 'up to His place'! (Don't you?)

::MAKE UP MY MIND::
One of those comforting thoughts for me in the Bible is where it talks about Jesus being tempted in like manner as we are. That means that He could have chosen to mess up, but He didn't! His will was strong enough, He made up His mind, and He stuck to it. I think that SO sums up the Christian walk. You gather your resolve, you decide what you will and won't do, and you stick to it. Most of our problems come because we decide what we SHOULDN'T do and not what we WON'T do. It's hard NOT to look behind (or to the side..I like 'to the side' better, but it doesn't rhyme as well), so we're easily turned. Notice on the solos (get down Greg and Jason)...it's kind of a battle of voices, much like goes on in our heads (like the little devil on one shoulder saying, "Go ahead and do it!" and the little angel on the other shoulder saying, "Now you know better than that!"). I was going to choose one (solo) or the other, and just like in my life, I couldn't MAKE UP MY MIND, so I left them both there!!! There's MY confession! (Help me, Lord) Hey Mike, nice 'Ray Charles' keyboard work!

::DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO ME::
This is one of those songs where the chords for the verses came about first, and the lyrics later. Seems like I'd been hearing the 'talking-style vocals' from the some of the female artists around the country, not to mention the strong element of spoken rhyme in rap music, so this seemed very natural to me at the time. Maybe from an earlier era, it sounds like a Bob Dylan, Tom Petty deal. Some guy hearkened the vocal style on it to Thin Lizzy...I don't think so. It's just that when you throw away the melody, you can say a whole bunch more, and really play with inward rhyme. Lyrically, it's that introspective, question-asking like Chris Rice talks about (I figure He's big enough). It's OK to ask. The answers aren't all there. That's why we rely on faith! P.S. I played the keys on this...Mike had a conflict, and it felt real good to sit down with 'the boys' and play it.

::'NEATH THE SHADOW OF MY SAVIOR::
(I always try to spell Savior with a 'u' (Saviour), which is also correct, it's just a bit too Old English for this bluesy song.) My friend Rich Vickers told a story one night about his son Kyle hiding in Rich's (his father's) shadow as an illustration of our relationship to our heavenly Father, and I thought, "Man, how can I put THAT into a song?" Unlike "God's Show" which wasn't PLANNED as a blues song, this one was that way from the very beginning. Thematically, it's similar to 'He Knew Me When'...always trying to run away from all those past sins that tell us "we're not good enough". Sadly, it's usually those in the church that keep reminding us of them, either directly or through subliminal legalism. Jesus forgives us. And it's through the 'prayer' and 'praise' that we more deeply partake of His forgiveness. I hope this song helps you to 'lose' your shadow!!!

::LET'S GO::
If at first listen you figure out right away that I'm talkin' about a church, then it's no wonder laws prevent opening a bar or tavern within so many feet of a church...people might not be able to tell 'em apart...seems like today's church is only a sinner's prayer away from being a social club! All right, that may be a little harsh, but SHOW ME THE LOVE. It's the acceptance, the friendliness, the comraderie that attract people to the 'club scene'. We better have more to offer than judgement. The guitars on this song give me a Rose Of The Cimmarron feeling, circa 1977. Give credit to Doug Fallis for doubling up on the beat when we hit the chorus. Rhyming 'windows' with 'sin goes' and 'innuendoes' thrilled the poet in me. Remember...we are all sinners. So let's go!

::BANNED FROM HELL::
If I can come up with a good title, I can write a song about it. This is one of those songs. I loved the play on words. I love songs about heaven. This is looking at it from the 'other' perspective...if you're 'bound for heaven' then you're 'banned from hell'. I figure a larger percentage of folks walk the aisle because they're afraid of hell, than because they're so hyped up about heaven. I wanted the song to have a real 'pop' feel since the subject matter was a bit dark. I added the 'circus' organ up at Gaither studios, and it seemed to really 'happy' it up! (That lick was originally a horn line that never got recorded.) Forgive my overzealous tambourine playing. Forgive me if I sound like the Bay City Rollers. "Playin' nothin' but the W(hits), all the time."

::PRAISE HIM (Psalm More)::
The music to this song was written long before the lyrics or even the idea for the song came about...just sitting down at the piano and jammin' on some chords, writin' 'em down, and coming back to them later. Coming back to them at a time when I had a deep desire to write a joyful, uplifting praise song, and as so many Worship Leaders do, resorting to the 'original' psalm writer himself, David. Then once this 'Praise Him' ball got rolling, going through Psalms and finding as many references to the many ways to 'praise Him' as I could find. Jason did a great job on the horns. Dan did a great job on the guitar licks. I wasn't half bad on the 'Dr. John' clavichord. We ALL stunk on the shouts and the live hand claps, but we were having a 'holy hallelujah' time, so I left the 'imperfections'...the 'live' stuff in. I know several churches that are using this for their worship services. I hope YOU will.

::I DON'T WANNA LEGGO::
OK, here I go again with the 'play on words' stuff, but it accentuates the fact that a belief in Christ can change you from "please jus' let me live my life" to "Jesus livin' in my life" in a heart beat. The first part of this song was important to me, because I think people are so 'worried how it would look' to everyone around them if their life suddenly changed. (Yeah, you know who you are, and yes, I'm talking about you! Can't see yourself as a 'bible banger'?) This is another one of those songs that started out one way, and musically switched midstream. Maybe it was some of the 'reggae' praise music I'd been hearing, but once I put an island beat on this, it enveloped it and I couldn't go back, man! I even pulled out the old trombone on it. I resisted putting a bunch of congas and such on it and kept it simple...partially to keep it simple, and partially because I think Josh Isenhart was growing weary of my tinkering (you should lock YOURself up in a studio with me for a week!!!). It seemed very fitting that we mixed this song last, with the mother of all fades...I can still see Josh dancing to the beat during the final dub. Either he was digging it, or was so glad we were through. It was a long drive back that night from Alexandria to Oklahoma City through a torrential thunderstorm (in Indianapolis, no less). "So I took it down the road, unsure of what I was headin' toward."

::HOUSE OF BREAD AND PRAISE::
My pastor at the time, Bobby Boyles, was preaching through Ruth. The theme of the series was returning to the House of Bethlehem, Judah...the House of Bread and Praise. It was all about returning to your first love...returning home...to the bread of Life. Getting back to the way you were and the way you felt when you were first saved. Richard V came up to me and told me we had to write a song for this deal. That's all I needed. He came up with the title, and away I went. I felt like God gave me the right music, then Richard and I bounced some word ideas around, and the song was born. Of course, we sang it at church many times. It turned out to be an awesome, worshipful song. I added the little intro to present the song...as a quick musical explanation. It's not necessary when being used in a worship setting, but for listening, and performing it fits, I think.

::ATTILA, THE HUN::
I don't mean to make a habit of play on words, but I've been toying with this idea for a half dozen years, maybe longer. I had the first half and second half mostly written for much of that time, yet I kept coming back to it, over and over, not wanting to finish it, because I knew it wasn't complete. In wanting to add a little spirituality to the song, I came up with the prayer in the middle, and BOOM, that was what it needed! Not because I HAD to have 'religion' in the song, but a little 'one-on-One' ALWAYS helps you to see a little more clearly. My wife likes this song a little TOO much (she wouldn't if she knew originally I had written "She kicked the remote and grabbed me by the throat") This is a fun song to perform. (I left the 'studio chatter' on the front end of the song, because it fit so well, and seemed to set the tone for song...hope you don't mind!)

::I'M THANKIN' YOU, LORD::
I wrote this song for (surprise!) Thanksgiving. That's the good part. The bad part is WHY I started writing it. I was asked to sing a specific song for a Thanksgiving service. I didn't particularly care for the song. I thought it was a bit lame, and I didn't think it fit my voice, and with THAT attitude, I certainly didn't sing it very well. I was like, "Well, I'll write a REAL Thanksgiving song to show you what I COULD have sung, if I had been given a choice!" (That's right, I'm REAL human.) As a song to say Thanks, I even started the first line ON the beat, and just said, "I'm Thankin' You for thinkin' of me..." but it became a little TOO generic, and put the emphasis (the down beat) on I'M instead of on THANKin' (not to mention leaving out Lord) so I adjusted my spirit and wrote the song the right way. I've done this one as a praise and worship song, too.

::PSALM 1::
I get a great thrill out of putting scripture to music. I believe it pleases the Lord, and it helps me to commit it to memory. I love the first chapter of Psalms. I began putting it to music several years ago, but was never happy with the total thing...it needed a 'hook'...an overall thought that would permeate the song. I kept putting in my own thoughts as a chorus and they didn't work. Then I read a long interview with Elvis Costello about how he cowrote "That Day Is Done" off the Fairfield Four project with Paul McArtney, and he talked about Paul 'landing' on the phrase at the end of one of the verses ('that day is done') and making a chorus out of it. That really stuck with me (I admire both of those guys' writing ability) and suddenly one of the last phrases in the Psalm, "the Lord knows the way of the righteous" jumped out at me, so I put that in, reversed the thought accordingly (since certainly the truly 'righteous know the Lord') and my chorus was finished. Once again, Dan's guitar licks really drive this, and I added the B3 organ hits (and yes, the tambourine fills) in Alexandria.

::WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM::
Youth leaders...I've got a great youth musical entitled, 'The Witness Protection Program'...that's all I'm gonna say.