With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.
What makes a song a worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned?
We think an excellent worship song should contain the following elements:
- A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
- A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
- A focus on God, not us
- Lyrics that do not create uncertainty or cause confusion
- A certain amount of profundity
- A singable, interesting melody
- Allusions to Scripture
- Doctrinal soundness
- Not excessively metaphorical
- Not excessively repetitive
- Jesus is not your boyfriend
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Video found here.
Lyrics:
You saw me first
You let me in when I was at my worst
The moment when I heard You say my name
It's the first time in so long I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid
You are the voice that calms the storm inside me
Castle walls that stand around me
All this time, my guardian was You
You are the light that shines in every tunnel
There in the past, You'll be there tomorrow
All my life, Your love was breaking through
It's always been You
It's always been You
My northern star
Your love will be the compass of my heart
Oh, I just wanna be right where You are
Right where You are
Lyrics:
You saw me first
You let me in when I was at my worst
The moment when I heard You say my name
It's the first time in so long I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid
You are the voice that calms the storm inside me
Castle walls that stand around me
All this time, my guardian was You
You are the light that shines in every tunnel
There in the past, You'll be there tomorrow
All my life, Your love was breaking through
It's always been You
It's always been You
My northern star
Your love will be the compass of my heart
Oh, I just wanna be right where You are
Right where You are
Who stood with me in the fire?
It was You, it was always You
Who pulled me out of the water?
It was You, it was always You
And who carried me on their shoulders?
It was You, I know it's You, You
We don't wish to be mean, but we shall be direct. We have no appreciation for this song at all. Phil Wickham has written some really excellent worship music, but this song is not one of them.
Our evaluation should be short. The reason is, it isn't a worship song, though it pretends to be one. A worship song is praise and adoration directed specifically to God. But God does not make an appearance in this song. We don't know who Mr. Wickham is singing to because he never tells us. It could be his wife, or maybe a fireman who carried him out of a burning building, we just don't know.
Ok, let's assume he's singing to God. What does Mr. Wickham tell us about God? Very little. There's some vague statements about how He's always there, He's shining like a light, He's like a compass, He was there in the fire and the water, He carried him at some point in his life, more stuff about light, and that He breaks through.
So, Mr. Wickham writes a lot of words that tell us almost nothing about God. And we don't even really discover why he's singing to (God) these vagaries. Is he thankful? Appreciative? filled with love? Amazed? Broken?
We just don't know.
Mr. Wickham sings in a sort of Lauren Daigle style that is hoarse, emotive, and affected. He's employing every sort of vocal manipulation he can in order to convey that he's really, really sincere and means every word of what he's singing.
Most irritating is his use of some sort of a wheezy falsetto break to enter certain notes. This sounds like he is having trouble getting the vocal chords vibrating, but we think it's purposeful. An example of this is when he sings, "the moment when I heard you say my name," where the exit to the word "moment" bleeds to "when," there's a vocal break. This happens all over the song, and it's annoying to listen to.
It was You, it was always You
Who pulled me out of the water?
It was You, it was always You
And who carried me on their shoulders?
It was You, I know it's You, You
OverviewWe don't wish to be mean, but we shall be direct. We have no appreciation for this song at all. Phil Wickham has written some really excellent worship music, but this song is not one of them.
Our evaluation should be short. The reason is, it isn't a worship song, though it pretends to be one. A worship song is praise and adoration directed specifically to God. But God does not make an appearance in this song. We don't know who Mr. Wickham is singing to because he never tells us. It could be his wife, or maybe a fireman who carried him out of a burning building, we just don't know.
Ok, let's assume he's singing to God. What does Mr. Wickham tell us about God? Very little. There's some vague statements about how He's always there, He's shining like a light, He's like a compass, He was there in the fire and the water, He carried him at some point in his life, more stuff about light, and that He breaks through.
So, Mr. Wickham writes a lot of words that tell us almost nothing about God. And we don't even really discover why he's singing to (God) these vagaries. Is he thankful? Appreciative? filled with love? Amazed? Broken?
We just don't know.
Mr. Wickham sings in a sort of Lauren Daigle style that is hoarse, emotive, and affected. He's employing every sort of vocal manipulation he can in order to convey that he's really, really sincere and means every word of what he's singing.
Most irritating is his use of some sort of a wheezy falsetto break to enter certain notes. This sounds like he is having trouble getting the vocal chords vibrating, but we think it's purposeful. An example of this is when he sings, "the moment when I heard you say my name," where the exit to the word "moment" bleeds to "when," there's a vocal break. This happens all over the song, and it's annoying to listen to.
It seems he had surgery to remove polyps on his vocal chords a decade ago. We don't know if his singing style caused the polyps (abused vocal chords), or if the sound of his voice is as a result of the surgery. In either case, it sounds painful when he sings.
Conclusion
We shall not examine the chords (semi-random uses of I IV V and vi), or the melody, which is relatively boilerplate. These things are irrelevant since there is a primary and fatal flaw of this song: Its lyrics.
If this song is in any church's repertoire, it should be removed immediately. We cannot recommend it.
Conclusion
We shall not examine the chords (semi-random uses of I IV V and vi), or the melody, which is relatively boilerplate. These things are irrelevant since there is a primary and fatal flaw of this song: Its lyrics.
If this song is in any church's repertoire, it should be removed immediately. We cannot recommend it.
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