What Songs Should We Sing In Light Of Haiti?

[mikeymo1741]

Well nick since you are the expert what's a fresh suggestion for number 2?

One song that came to mind when I read this was "Praise You in This Storm."

[NickAlexander]

No time to look at sovereignty songs. I did a search based on Theme: Trials. I immediately remembered Fernando Ortega's "I Will Praise Him Still" and discovered that he used this as a theme to that song.

There were 18 songs in the Top 2000 lists from the past ten years, that had this theme. They are, in descending order:

line
Trading My Sorrows (2574653) by Evans, Darrell [at #:27]
Refiner's Fire (426298) by Doerksen, Brian [at #:126]
I Will Serve Thee (14040) by Gaither, William J./Gaither, Gloria [at #:469]
Walk By Faith (3903041) by Camp, Jeremy [at #:844]
Faithful One (465840) by Doerksen, Brian [at #:923]
I Will Overcome (2060277) by Hall, Charlie [at #:1132]
I Will Praise Him Still (2287995) by Ortega, Fernando [at #:1207]
Thanks (239227) by McGruder, Carroll [at #:1291]
Whole World In His Hands (4410148) by Hughes, Tim [at #:1302]
Give Me Words To Speak (4992082) by Shust, Aaron [at #:1439]
I Will Sing (3166266) by Moen, Don [at #:1527]
The Motions (4780335) by West, Matthew/Mizell, Sam/Houser, Jason [at #:1571]
When Trials Come (4619523) by Getty, Keith/Getty, Kristyn [at #:1968]
--the rest not on current Top 2000--
Shine (3447435) by James, Marc\Sheppard, Tre
God Who Comes To Save (4455251) by Packiam, Glenn
Cast All Your Cares (629909) by Cymbala, Carol
Trust His Heart (178072) by Carswell, Eddie\Mason, Babbie
Yet I Will Praise (3033258) by Park, Andy

Some of these are a little too... shall I say, _cheerful_? but there's some great ones in there.

[chipshot0701]

TAke a quick listen to the words of this one. Put them in context of any disaster.

"You give and take away, my heart will truly say. Blessed be your name."

I think I will use this one on Sunday. Just me and one acoustic guitar with lots of heart in it.

[travisvwright]

TAke a quick listen to the words of this one. Put them in context of any disaster.

"You give and take away, my heart will truly say. Blessed be your name."

I think I will use this one on Sunday. Just me and one acoustic guitar with lots of heart in it.

Thought it was "still my heart will CHOOSE to say." I like choose better.

[NickAlexander]

Lyrically, it's spot on. Tonally, it's a little bit too strongly upbeat. Temper the tone with a stripped down version, it probably will work. (same prob w Trading My Sorrows).

Personally... and this just entered my mind... if you find another B-keyed 4/4 song with a similar medium slow tempo, one which has the same lyrical focus, you can medley directly into BBYN *ON THAT VERY LINE*. Find the right song, and it will be quite powerful.

[chipshot0701]

Travis I am glad you pointed that out to me today.

And I agree with Nick, a slowed down more relaxed tempo would be great leading into another song in the same key.
Good thinkin Nick. So what song will that be? I guess I need to think more about this.

[NickAlexander]

I ran the same CCLI query based on THEME = Trials, like yesterday. Only this time, I sorted the list by Key, to see if I can find any A, Bb or B songs that could possibly work, in conjunction with the bridge with BBYN.

Here's something to try: why not Jeremy Camp's "Walk By Faith"? I know that's in 6/8, but could the BBYN bridge be sung with 6/8? This forces the latter to slow down, and can work together.

Another song: It Is Well With My Soul.

There's also a new song from Paul Baloche (unheard by me) called "We Will Hold On."

Let me know if any of these work.

Nick

[merry]

I ran the same CCLI query based on THEME = Trials, like yesterday. Only this time, I sorted the list by Key, to see if I can find any A, Bb or B songs that could possibly work, in conjunction with the bridge with BBYN.

Here's something to try: why not Jeremy Camp's "Walk By Faith"? I know that's in 6/8, but could the BBYN bridge be sung with 6/8? This forces the latter to slow down, and can work together.

Another song: It Is Well With My Soul.

The BBYN/Walk by Faith combo sounds interesting.

We really like the Todd Fields version of It Is Well, different chorus, modified chords. I had kind of forgotten about it until now.

[MattB]

This one is not your typical worship song, but I would recommend it nonetheless. I think it appropriate for the context...

Mike Crawford: Words To Build A Life On To Will One Thing

Also, I'm thinking about a reading of Psalm 88. It's pretty heavy, yet it's there, something in it resounds with the (unimaginable) suffering in Haiti right now...

[milepost13]

Another song: It Is Well With My Soul.

Check out Jason Sartain's version of this song...it's got a great new bridge, "now matter what the future holds or lines of history have told, I will place my trust in you...you're the God of all creation new, I know that you will get me through, any trials that just might take their toll." We've been using it for a few months and people are responding well to it.

Nate