The Piano Room

Where do songs come from? Sometimes they seem to arrive fully formed, and other times they have to be melted and moulded.   This song is a declaration of God's goodness and love, and my thinking at the time was that sometimes we have to sing these songs in faith.   Even when we're not sure that we believe them.   Even when their truth seems far different from our reality.

Click here for all piano-room take as well as the chord sheets.

It's been quite a long time. Between Oliver and work there has been little time for writing, never mind recording, but I managed to grab an opportunity and get this one down.

It's more a fun family worship song than anything too serious, but it looks at what some of the great characters of the bible were facing before they were obedient and became "heroes of faith". Sometimes we forget that they weren't always superheroes, at one time they were just like us - struggling to be obedient. So if they could, why can't you? It's Not About The Boat!

When I posted the 3 christmas songs (below), I realised that they were all quite "serious". So I wrote this song, which is more a traditional christmas carol, must more upbeat, and more suitable to family worship in a church setting. I first named this song "The Dancing Song", as it's written in 3/4 (a waltz), and the image I had in my mind was of creation dancing and celebrating at Christs birth. However, I think that Bethlehem is actually a more suitable title.

So the reason things have been a bit quiet on this site, is that Jenny & I celebrated the birth of Oliver in August, and while he is a huge blessing to us in so many ways and we continually give thanks, having him is not conducive to much time at the piano. Nevertheless, this is a song of thanks I wrote on the day he was born.

It's been a while, I know, but more about that in another post.
Every year as christmas approaches there's this desire to write a new song to celebrate the miracle of God's grace through Jesus. Here are 3 songs along the theme.

The first, You Were Our God In Heaven, was written last year, but never really made it out of my book.   The second, Helpless As A Newborn Babe, is my effort at writing something more for Advent than for Christmas morning.   And the third, Tears In Your Eyes, was one of those songs that seem almost to arrive fully formed, but it's hardly the happy christmas song you might expect.

Or click here for all the songs, chordsheets and comments.

Haven't been finding much time to play, never mind write or record, but I had a free evening last night so I put this song down.

Written last year, Creation Calls is currently one of the favourites at CHS with it's very catchy chorus. I think my favourite part though is the simple bridge, which just repeats the prayer for God to open our eyes.

Written 10 years ago almost to the month, this recording was requested by a friend in the UK.   How anyone remembered this from that long ago amazed me, so my curiosity was piqued to page back and find this old song.

This song was one that didn't make the cut for my second album Finally Free, and was written at the same time as that title track.   Or Click here to see all the PianoRoom takes.

Written last year, this worship song has been one of the more popular ones at CHS. This one works really well with a full band.

Mrs L went out to bookclub last night, so I got to do some recording.   Having lived alone forever, and being a naturally shy and retiring type, I don't actually like playing my songs when Jenny is home. But when the cat's away ...

This song is one I wrote last year.   Actually it took much of the year to write as I really struggled with the chorus.   Then one day I sang just one note differently and everything changed, and the rest flowed from there.

Sometimes that's just how it is.   We get stuck in a way of doing things, and it takes a real effort or some kind of outside jolt, to get us to re-assess.   And hopefully the end result is better.

For those who have been here before, you may notice that I've moved all the piano room takes to their own page, while my old albums can now be found elsewhere.

Recently my writing has mostly followed the liturgical year - first Christmas, then Easter.   Although I still owe you a completed Easter Sunday song, the next thing up was the great commission which Jesus gave to his disciples before he ascended.

I've woven this in with the idea of "Listen and Obey" which is on one of our banners at CHS, trying to emphasise the sequence of first being sent and then going.
Give it a listen here.

Whenever I come across it, I'm always incredibly challenged by a covenant prayer used by John Westley. We tend to use it at the start of each year as a form of rededication, and so once again I've had it rolling around in my head for the past couple of weeks.

Last night I picked up my dusty guitar, and within an hour this simple song was written and recorded. Obviously I love it when this happens, but far more often it is much harder work.

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

Welcome to ThePianoRoom!

It's only taken me about 6 months to put this site up, but it's here at last. The idea is not that you will find brilliant music here (you probably won't), but that hopefully you will find real music. In essence, I invite you to be a fly on the wall and listed to some of the musical goings-on in our home. To be honest, it's probably going to be mostly my songs, but I'm going to try really hard to convince Jenny and others to share something with you too.

I'm kicking things off with all the tracks from my 3 cd's, but that's just so that there's something for you to hear. The next recordings will be much simpler, much rougher and much newer.

Enjoy!