“You Are my Lord” Wednesday, 07/28/2020
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This song was many years in the making. Though I composed it and began performing it as far back as maybe my sophomore or junior year at Sam Houston State, I believed, even then, that it needed a proper beginning section, introducing the melodic material, as well as an instrumental leading into the bridge. I finished those sections only when I finally began collating the music for Eclectic Talking Donkeys project one.
I experimented with falsetto voice, which experienced a surge in popular music, especially because of the Bee Gees success (late 70’s, early 80’s) with their take on disco music. Also, the high male vocal and the background chorusing on “You Are my Lord” owed just as much, if not more, to the influence of the band called 2nd Chapter of Acts, Matthew Ward and his sisters Annie and Nelly. I had purchased the album Mansion Builder at the prompting of my friend Jerry Bullock. “You Are” does not strictly adhere to all of the stylistic elements of 2nd Chapter of Acts, nevertheless, their work left a strong impression on me. This praise song is the earliest result of that. It was never meant to be a strongly developed artistic endeavor, but rather a very personal devotional song emulating something like a spontaneous expression of thanks and worship. Over the years of sharing “You Are my Lord” with others, this song seemed to have been the one folks remembered the most.
I had been introduced to the “praise and worship” genre after meeting John Gaston, who later became pastor of the Assembly of God Church in Huntsville, Texas. My friend, Kevin Umber, took me to a Chi Alpha campus ministry meeting where John was leading. I had heard music similar to this at a summer camp in Glorieta, New Mexico, but there was a spontaneity here and folk/almost rock quality to the playing that took me in a very positive direction. I heard the kind of sentiment that was often incorporated in traditional hymns as finding a new mode of expression. I think some people perceived the “praise and worship” genre as somehow at odds with hymnology. These songs were certainly, on the whole, easier to play with guitar, but I fairly quickly began to see the “new style” as more like the flipside of the same coin. The bottom line - it is all praise and worship music whether performed as choral hymnology or folk/rock style guitar with drums and improvised vocal harmonization.
John, eventually, invited me to lead musical praise and worship alongside him at the Chi Alpha meetings. That experience bled over into the composing of this piece, certainly. The degree to which John’s friendship encouraged my growth as a musician and as a follower of Christ cannot be overestimated. Thank you, John.