TWCSW April- Who Is Like Our God?

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

Here is a rough recording of my submission for April.

The instrument is simple piano chords, 2 per measure. I would love to see someone put a good guitar and/or keyboard track to it.

The scripture comes from Isaiah 40:12, 25, 26, and 29-31.

The song begins with the chorus, then verse/chorus x2, bridge, chorus.

The verses are question and answer; the leader asks the questions, and the praise team and congregation sings the answer.

This is the basic bones of the song. It needs meat and muscle. I am counting on collaborative help to bring it to life.

One other thing: on the recording, I sang "Who is like the Lord" three of four times, instead of "our God."

Tom Kline 1 - Who Is Like Our God? - SoundCloud (http://soundcloud.com/tom-kline-1/who-is-like-our-god)

Who Is Like Our God?
Copyright @2010 by Tom Kline

(chorus)
C F
Who is like our God?
G7 C
Who is His equal?
C G7
He is beyond Compare
C F
All creation cries
G7 C
"There is no other"
C G7 C
He is the holy One
F G7 C G7
He is the holy One

(verse 1)
F G7 C G7 C
Who can hold the ocean in His hand?
F G7 C
No one; No one but the Lord
F G7 C G7
Who can measure the heavens with His finger?
F G7 C G7
No one; No one but the Lord
F G7 C F C
and Who knows the weight of the mountains and the hills?
F G7 C
No one; No one but the Lord
F G7 C
No one; No one but the Lord

(verse 2)
F G7 C G7 C F
Who gives power to the tired and the weary?
F G7 C G7
No one; No one but the Lord
F G7 C G7 F
Who gives strength to fly like an eagle?
F G7 C G7
No one; No one but the Lord
F G7 C F C
Who helps us run and not grow weary?
F G7 C
No one; No one but the Lord
F G7 C
No one; No one but the Lord

(bridge)
F G7 C
Look to the heavens, He created the stars
F C
He hung them up in their place
F G7 C
He calls them by name, and He numbers them
F G7 C G7
As He brings them out to shine!


Please feel to comment and critique. Your feedback is important.
Tom

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

I posted this song 3 1/2 days ago. 89 people have looked at it; 5 people have listened to it; Zero people have commented on it.

Do you have any idea how disheartening it is to work for days on a song, then no one has anything to say about it? When I asked for feedback, I wasn't asking for positive -only feedback. I want to know how you feel about my song. If it stinks, tell me. I need to know. If you don't like part of it, say so; tell my why, and, if you can, how to fix it.

One of the main purposes of the songwriters forum is to help us become better songwriters. I don't become a better songwriter if everyone ignores the song.

I'm not the only one who has felt this way; scroll down the page and look at how many songs have been posted that no one commented on. We can do better.

I hate having to write this post, but I just could not hold it inside any longer.
I want to be a better songwriter, not a bitter songwriter. :)
Tom

[pian0dude]

Tom,

I tend to agree with the feelings you expressed in your post. I often find that when I have written songs and then ask others for feedback, when I don't hear from anyone, I admittedly think the worst.. like my song stinks. I don't know if I'd personally get overly upset by it, but it'd bug me nonetheless. Thanks for being open and honest with your fellow brothers and sisters on this topic.

Regarding me personally... I typically will listen to songs submitted to this forum and ponder on them for a few days before making any comments / feedback. I try to put the song in to perspective as if I were to try and do it at my church. If I were to just listen once and hit reply, I think I'd be doing more of a disservice than a service to the writer.

Regarding this song... thank you for taking the time to record this. I especially enjoyed the echoing vocal lines / harmonies that you had in the recording.

For me, I think this song would serve well as a "special music" piece as it is somewhat long, length wise. There are also quite a bit of lyrical content to it, which i find the congregation has a hard time with too many words. That doesn't necessarily mean that having as many words is a negative thing. The words are great and cause us to focus on God's greatness and re-affirm the fact the NO ONE is like our God.

[russhutto]

I'll also throw out the "logistics" angle a bit if it helps.

Depending on when you post a song and how many other "new" posts are there can factor in to if people have "time" to reply. I know for me, my life has been CRAZY lately. By lately I mean this week.

Not that's it's not normally crazy, but normal crazy and this week's crazy don't even compare.

That being said, I apologize for not listening. I always intend to! I'm seeing though that if it disappears form the "new posts" page (which is where I go first) I might not comment on ANYTHING if I don't see it!

That's what I mean about logistics. The forum is so broad in it's scope that you're going to have a lot of views and likely few (or no) responses sometimes. I'll be back later with some feedback!

[pian0dude]

I will second Russ's comments... here's my schedule just as an example. I'm sure everyone on here has something similar.

Mon - Fri: Full time 40+ hour work week with a 1.5 hour commute each way

Almost every evening during the week has a pre-planned social activity that we take part in whether it's church related or not.

So for me, it also comes down to flat out time. Not to mention, if I'm working with others on the forum to try and assist in any way I can musically with one of their songs, that consumes quite a bit of my time as well... often late night work ;-)

[russhutto]

BUT...just because I love ya, Tom, I sat down with the ol' guitar for a few minutes and "russified" your tune. Hopefully it's not a murdering of your original direction, but I thought this could definitely be fleshed out in a more folksy kind of direction. ESPECIALLY since you're already kind of using a very "real" kind of a call and response.

I think I probably got some words wrong (the first line of the chorus)...but I just wanted you to hear a snippet of how I might do this song if I had written it. The cool thing is I didn't so it's just my "flavor" of this song.

I had to lower the key a little just for me because I'm not a true tenor, but it will give you the gist. Plus, I only did the chorus and a verse, just so you'd get the style.

Plus, I set it to a 117 bpm metronome. Not sure if that's cool or not. I had it going at 100 at first and the verses felt to draggy. You'll also notice that I left a little more space in between phrases. I think the lines you've written are beautiful. I just set them in a little more breathing room. :)

I love it!

Take a listen: russhutto - Who Is Like The Lord (Tom Kline) - SoundCloud (http://soundcloud.com/russhutto/who-is-like-the-lord-tom-kline)

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

Russ, I really appreciate you taking time to sit down and come up with something. I loved hearing it with guitar, rather than the basic chords I used.
I like it "Russified", and that you mostly kept my tune intact.
I struggle with making my music sound contemporary; that is where I need the most help.

Thanks to you, and to Brian, for helping pull me out of my "unloved" mindset.
Tom

[pian0dude]

Ok, so the next step is to have Russ record guitar for the entire song and upload it to Kompoz so others can contribute to it :-)

I hear a good bass line in there and maybe some light hand percussion.

Nice work you two!