Recapturing the Temple!
Apparently, someone in the bloggernacle noticed that when you type "Mormon Temple" into google, that it comes up with a lot of anti-mormon sites. In an effort to bring our own representative site into that mix, there's a linking campaign on.
So, like this posting over at Latter-Day Saint Liberation Front, I got my endowments at the Mormon Temple in Washington DC, and was married in the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple.
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
Monday, April 11, 2005
Cryin' Songs
One of the “holy grails” of songwriting is writing songs that make people cry. Now, there are lots of ways to reach someone through music. You can make them dance, make them think, make them feel… In church music, you can bring the Spirit, too.
Bringing someone to tears, though is like ringing the bell. It breaks downs the walls. It’s visible, tangible evidence that you got through to them. People can dance to songs they don’t like. I know. I’ve done it. People will clap for songs they didn’t like. But I’ve never seen anyone cry for a song that didn’t touch them.
There are a lot of other people’s songs that have touched me that way. And as I get older and more sentimental, that list grows.
Lately, “Growing Young” by Greg Simpson has been getting to me.
“Everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
But I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
But we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our father still waits and he watches down the road
To see his crying children come running back to his arms
And be growing young…”
Not long after we lost our first pregnancy to a miscarriage (after trying to get pregnant for 8 years), Border Crossing put out a song called “She Walks With Candles” about the loss that is felt after losing a loved one to cancer. Now, our little child wasn’t a cancer loss, but the sentiments were the same. I had a hard time listening to that one all the way through for a long time.
Border Crossing’s actually done it a couple of times for me. The other one is “The Other Way Around”:
“There’s a girl in California
Who loves to walk the beach
Feel the wind in her hair
The sand beneath her feet
She smiles at the sun
Smell the salty air
But her eyes have never seen
What she knows is there
Sometimes seeing is believing
Sights we’ve already found
Sometimes seeing is believing
Sometimes it’s the other way around…”
While it’s one thing to cry for someone else’s song, and another thing to see someone cry at your song, it’s altogether something else, when one of your own songs makes you cry.
That’s happened to me a few times. There have been two songs that have been so cathartic and cleansing for me to write that after wrenching them out of me, I sat down and bawled. One of those was “Toy Soldiers”. It’s all about the loss of a friendship. When I wrote it, my friend and I had spoken only a few times in several years. We had both apologized for the rift, but it still hadn’t healed. Writing the song helped me to see what I’d really done wrong, and clean it out of me so that I could really ask forgiveness.
I almost didn’t want to record that one because I felt it was too personal. Not that I didn’t want to share it, but I just didn’t think anyone else would relate to it.
“We’ve made our peace but it’s still not the same, now
It seems we’ve lost the chance to compromise
The dice are still and the battle is over
But through it all I’ve come to realize that
I don’t like fighting in real life
I like Toy Soldiers with plastic guns
With painted on anger
And die-rolled explosions
That stop when the game is done
Toy Soldiers are much more fun”
Another one was a big surprise for me. Usually, one expects a tear-jerker song to be slow, soft and dripping with syrupy sentiment.
But one day I was listening to what would end up being the final mix of “Here in Me”. I was at that stage where I keep spinning it over and over, and each time gets a little louder. If you’ve heard it, you’ll know that it’s a driving rocker, that tells how I feel when the Spirit moves me to action.
Well, this particular day, it moved me again, and I sat there with the song blaring in my speakers, tears streaming down my face, my testimony strengthened, and my purpose renewed.
I’m curious, dear readers, to hear your stories of songs that have moved you to tears. What connected you with the song, what made you feel it so much? Post a comment…
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
One of the “holy grails” of songwriting is writing songs that make people cry. Now, there are lots of ways to reach someone through music. You can make them dance, make them think, make them feel… In church music, you can bring the Spirit, too.
Bringing someone to tears, though is like ringing the bell. It breaks downs the walls. It’s visible, tangible evidence that you got through to them. People can dance to songs they don’t like. I know. I’ve done it. People will clap for songs they didn’t like. But I’ve never seen anyone cry for a song that didn’t touch them.
There are a lot of other people’s songs that have touched me that way. And as I get older and more sentimental, that list grows.
Lately, “Growing Young” by Greg Simpson has been getting to me.
“Everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
But I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
But we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our father still waits and he watches down the road
To see his crying children come running back to his arms
And be growing young…”
Not long after we lost our first pregnancy to a miscarriage (after trying to get pregnant for 8 years), Border Crossing put out a song called “She Walks With Candles” about the loss that is felt after losing a loved one to cancer. Now, our little child wasn’t a cancer loss, but the sentiments were the same. I had a hard time listening to that one all the way through for a long time.
Border Crossing’s actually done it a couple of times for me. The other one is “The Other Way Around”:
“There’s a girl in California
Who loves to walk the beach
Feel the wind in her hair
The sand beneath her feet
She smiles at the sun
Smell the salty air
But her eyes have never seen
What she knows is there
Sometimes seeing is believing
Sights we’ve already found
Sometimes seeing is believing
Sometimes it’s the other way around…”
While it’s one thing to cry for someone else’s song, and another thing to see someone cry at your song, it’s altogether something else, when one of your own songs makes you cry.
That’s happened to me a few times. There have been two songs that have been so cathartic and cleansing for me to write that after wrenching them out of me, I sat down and bawled. One of those was “Toy Soldiers”. It’s all about the loss of a friendship. When I wrote it, my friend and I had spoken only a few times in several years. We had both apologized for the rift, but it still hadn’t healed. Writing the song helped me to see what I’d really done wrong, and clean it out of me so that I could really ask forgiveness.
I almost didn’t want to record that one because I felt it was too personal. Not that I didn’t want to share it, but I just didn’t think anyone else would relate to it.
“We’ve made our peace but it’s still not the same, now
It seems we’ve lost the chance to compromise
The dice are still and the battle is over
But through it all I’ve come to realize that
I don’t like fighting in real life
I like Toy Soldiers with plastic guns
With painted on anger
And die-rolled explosions
That stop when the game is done
Toy Soldiers are much more fun”
Another one was a big surprise for me. Usually, one expects a tear-jerker song to be slow, soft and dripping with syrupy sentiment.
But one day I was listening to what would end up being the final mix of “Here in Me”. I was at that stage where I keep spinning it over and over, and each time gets a little louder. If you’ve heard it, you’ll know that it’s a driving rocker, that tells how I feel when the Spirit moves me to action.
Well, this particular day, it moved me again, and I sat there with the song blaring in my speakers, tears streaming down my face, my testimony strengthened, and my purpose renewed.
I’m curious, dear readers, to hear your stories of songs that have moved you to tears. What connected you with the song, what made you feel it so much? Post a comment…
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Songs of Zion
TJ Fredette “In the Blink of an Eye”
For a long time, I’ve been saying that I want to see a full spectrum of LDS music. I want to see hard rock and rock lite (“One third the noise of our regular music”), and country, and pop, and urban, and yes, even hip-hop and rap.
I’ve long thought that if there were a good member of the church, that did good rap, it would find a place in the youth of the church.
Now, whenever I mention that, someone inevitably brings up the “Mormon Rap” song that was done by the Walter and Hayes band many years ago. That was a fun tune, but it wasn’t at ALL real rap. It wasn’t meant to be. It was a novelty tune.
Well, over time, I’ve run into a small handful of LDS rappers. One of the best I’ve encountered is one from New York named TJ Fredette. I recently got his self-produced CD, entitled “In the Blink of an Eye”. I’ve been listening to it off and on since, and anticipating what I would say about it in my Songs of Zion review.
I hesitated to review it, actually, because his website is currently down for renovations, and in my communication with him I found that he’s got some new material coming out. In fact, he sent me some tunes, and it made me think that I should wait for that release.
But in the end, my excitement won out.
“Blink of an Eye” has some great tunes on it. Let me just say up front that I’m not a rapper, and I’m not very well schooled in the genre. However, I have kept my ear to the ground and I’m liking what I’m hearing here! A big problem I’ve had with other LDS rap in the past is that it ends up sounding like a Sunday school lesson that rhymes. TJ’s material is driving and not at all preachy. It’s not flighty and frivolous, either. It deals with some real life stuff, and I come out learning.
“Drop to My Knees” is by far my favorite on the CD. It’s hooky and memorable, which is tough for a musical styles that doesn’t use melody. There are some schweet samples being used in the background here, too. I think it also has the strongest mix on the CD.
There were a few songs that used a sung chorus. That helped drive in the hooks, too, making those tunes even easier to recall. “Crisis was one”, and “We Don’t Play Around”.
I wish, for all those that enjoy mainstream rap, that I could send you to a site to buy this CD. At best right now, you can download “Drop to My Knees” at http://www.ldsmusicworld.com/artists/tj_fredette.html. As cool as I think these tunes are, I gotta warn you, the stuff coming up is even better. He’s got the same drive and intensity in his vocals, the hooky sung choruses, and on top of that he’s got better production and smoother mixes. He’s truly kicked it up a notch.
But don’t worry, I’ll be going on about that when it comes out in full.
Also, I admit to my ignorance as a non-rapper, but it seems to me that the moniker “TJ Fredette” is not the strongest “nom d’ street” I could come up with… :-)
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
TJ Fredette “In the Blink of an Eye”
For a long time, I’ve been saying that I want to see a full spectrum of LDS music. I want to see hard rock and rock lite (“One third the noise of our regular music”), and country, and pop, and urban, and yes, even hip-hop and rap.
I’ve long thought that if there were a good member of the church, that did good rap, it would find a place in the youth of the church.
Now, whenever I mention that, someone inevitably brings up the “Mormon Rap” song that was done by the Walter and Hayes band many years ago. That was a fun tune, but it wasn’t at ALL real rap. It wasn’t meant to be. It was a novelty tune.
Well, over time, I’ve run into a small handful of LDS rappers. One of the best I’ve encountered is one from New York named TJ Fredette. I recently got his self-produced CD, entitled “In the Blink of an Eye”. I’ve been listening to it off and on since, and anticipating what I would say about it in my Songs of Zion review.
I hesitated to review it, actually, because his website is currently down for renovations, and in my communication with him I found that he’s got some new material coming out. In fact, he sent me some tunes, and it made me think that I should wait for that release.
But in the end, my excitement won out.
“Blink of an Eye” has some great tunes on it. Let me just say up front that I’m not a rapper, and I’m not very well schooled in the genre. However, I have kept my ear to the ground and I’m liking what I’m hearing here! A big problem I’ve had with other LDS rap in the past is that it ends up sounding like a Sunday school lesson that rhymes. TJ’s material is driving and not at all preachy. It’s not flighty and frivolous, either. It deals with some real life stuff, and I come out learning.
“Drop to My Knees” is by far my favorite on the CD. It’s hooky and memorable, which is tough for a musical styles that doesn’t use melody. There are some schweet samples being used in the background here, too. I think it also has the strongest mix on the CD.
There were a few songs that used a sung chorus. That helped drive in the hooks, too, making those tunes even easier to recall. “Crisis was one”, and “We Don’t Play Around”.
I wish, for all those that enjoy mainstream rap, that I could send you to a site to buy this CD. At best right now, you can download “Drop to My Knees” at http://www.ldsmusicworld.com/artists/tj_fredette.html. As cool as I think these tunes are, I gotta warn you, the stuff coming up is even better. He’s got the same drive and intensity in his vocals, the hooky sung choruses, and on top of that he’s got better production and smoother mixes. He’s truly kicked it up a notch.
But don’t worry, I’ll be going on about that when it comes out in full.
Also, I admit to my ignorance as a non-rapper, but it seems to me that the moniker “TJ Fredette” is not the strongest “nom d’ street” I could come up with… :-)
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
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