In a songwriting exercise I undertook one morning, I came up with a melody before I had improvised any lyrics. I opened up a book I use to select different liturgical prayers for the church services we put together, and I opened up to a hymn text written by William Cowper in 1768. This melody fit perfectly with the words and very quickly this song came together. We will put it’s confessional lyrics to good use as a part of our liturgy of confession within our services.

Hark, my soul! it is the Lord
’Tis thy Savior, hear his word
Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee
“Say, poor sinner, lovest thou me?

“I delivered thee when bound
And when bleeding, healed thy wound
Sought thee wand’ring, set thee right
Turned thy darkness into light

“Can a woman’s tender care
Cease towards the child she bear?
Yes, she may forgetful be
Yet will I remember thee

“Mine is an unchanging love
Higher than the heights above
Deeper than the depths beneath
Free and faithful, strong as death

“Thou shalt see my glory soon
When the work of grace is done
Partner of my throne shalt be
Say, poor sinner, lovest thou me?”

Lord, it is my chief complaint
That my love is weak and faint
Yet I love thee and adore
Oh for grace to love thee more

posted: January 3rd, 2013
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I Forget How Strong is the first new song on this new blog. It’s the first song I’ve completed in four years. I cannot live with such old original work any longer. I mean to post every two weeks, so fire up your RSS readers and point ‘em to JesseStu.com. Thanks to Austin Church for his new free ebook, Melting Chocolate Kettles, for the kick to start this blog.

All sounds except my voice and the guitar came from Logic Pro. I’d like to record with real people and real instruments (that is, someone who can actually play the drums), but I feel I need to have some songs ready to coerce people to join with me. Soon, such times shall come upon us.

Verse 1
I could stand on a fortress of stone, with a spear in my hand and a list of debts
I would plot the vengeance against wrong and right the injustice of the weak
I would bear peace that could not, would not last for my force will soon pass
All the systems of this world rebel against the powers of the past

Verse 2
We plot and we plan and we fight until our knuckles bleed and our hearts are in flames
And in the energized stupor we might prevail over the principalities
And I am king for but a day more, and I will slay my foes with bloodlust rage
And energy wears down as I am young for only a time

Chorus
I forget how strong the Lord is
He moved the mountains, he moved the mountains
I forget how strong the Lord is
He moved the sea, he moved the sea
I forget how gracious our God is
He healed the lepers, he raised the dead man
I will proclaim the stories of our Lord forevermore

Bridge
Victory seems impossible to keep alive
When we build it using our own might
Our Lord assured us peace and love
If we leave vengeance all to him

Our God is a refuge for the hurting who have lost their way
Our God is a refuge for the dying and the weak
Our God is a refuge and a strength in our time of need
Our God is a refuge and our strength

posted: March 28th, 2011
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I told you last post that I would have a new song. I have written a solid chorus and bridge pair, but in the two weeks I have given myself, I have not gotten an opening that I like. In the mean time, I will post another old song.

I came up with I’ll Say Hi Tomorrow in 2006 when I tried to sit down and make up an entire album in one sitting. I wrote out a track list, posted below, and in about an hour made up the songs for each track. If I haven’t finished my new song next post, you might get to hear them all! After listening back to the songs, it was clear that this one had potential. After developing the song, I recorded it as my main project for Advanced Sound Design class. It has ukulele, bass guitar (heavily edited—it was the first time I’d picked up a bass), multiple vocal tracks, MIDI sounds with Reason patches (the bass solo), and a shaker which is my voice sampled through the entire song. The only thing I owned that I contributed on this track was my voice and the ukulele. The rest came from friends or the computer.

As all the songs so far, I would change elements of the song if I made it today. I’ll stop writing this note soon and hope you’d assume that the canvas never finishes being painted, it just gets cut off. Here’s the track list for I’ll Say Hi Tomorrow, the album.

  1. The Anthems of Flying
  2. Patches of Clover
  3. Ruby Water Eyes
  4. Live a Tale to Tell
  5. Emptied
  6. Filled
  7. I’ll Cry Tears
  8. When
  9. I’ll Say Hi Tomorrow


Does that tracklist not sound amazing?

posted: March 14th, 2011
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Songs from Across the Sea is the last song from the short album we made as our wedding favors. See the last post for more details on that superfly CD. I like this song, but it suffers the same production woes as The Lifting (you can’t get gold records when you’re producing yourself and you’ve never done it before). And, there’s the lyrics. They are weird. They try to tell the story of my heartache while Mary Ann lived in China, of our being separated, but bringing sea animals into the picture does not help things.

Mary Ann and I have developed an alternative version sans angel porpoise calling anyone’s name, but this multitrack is in stone. Not because it’s sonic grooves have been carved from historic Knoxville marble, but because I didn’t save the tracks. You’ll learn a lot in the studio without a tutor—a lot of bad habits.

I feel proud of the resonating stereo space in this song. It builds out using multiple acoustic guitars, multiple electric guitars, MIDI organ with a Reason sample, MIDI chimes with a different Reason sample, sweet Reason beats, three or four vocal tracks, and a butt-load of reverb.

In two weeks, Imma hit you up with a recent song.

posted: February 28th, 2011
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This song comes from Songs from Across the Sea, the short album my wife and I put together preparing for our wedding. I made this song up in the recording studio at Johnson Bible College while I worked to get presentable songs together. We gave away the finished five-song set as the wedding gift to our guests.

I wish I had saved the multitrack on this file as I would like to hear an instrumental version. That’s what you get when you don’t back files up in a classroom studio. The Lifting has three guitar takes, two panned far on either side and one in the center. I fell into the introduction because, when making the songs, I acted as my own studio technician. I’d press record on Pro Tools and then mentally prepare for the take before I started playing. The recording had a minute of silence before the song started, so I would noodle until the song started. That turned into the introduction.

I like the song in general, but it’s rushed on many levels: the vocals are mixed too hot and sound piercing. The lyrics stay too far away from understandability, and the second verse—the one that formed the song for me—keeps the awkward phrase, “And my mom missed her sister’s face.” That could afford to sound less weird. The three guitar arrangement sounds too simple. But, lo, I did not have the instruments nor the time.

In summary, this song is a first draft that’s produced well. It could add depth and polish to revisit it down the road, but I’d prefer to move on to new, better material.

posted: February 14th, 2011
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