I've always loved the story of the prodigal, but when wifey took me out on a lovely date to see "Jesus" playing at Sight and Sound Theater for my birthday (my 37th such occasion) it came to life again. I'm a big fan of the theater, have been ever since 3rd grade when I went to see some of my classmates act in a company called Triple Threats. The stage, the lights, the story, the singing, the mostly comfy seats... seriously, I was in awe. To be clear, I'm more partial to the old, classic theater style of what I'll call "over acting" I love it. It's a play, it's being exaggerated, it's not necessarily real and I can relax, enjoy. I'm a little more Bing Crosby, a little less Casey Affleck, so this theater company and I... well, we get each other.
That day at Sight and Sound when the son came home to the Father. Man, I was moved. I came home and scratched a chord progression pretty quickly and started writing the 1st Verse
If I come home will You meet me there
If I just show up even though I'm scared
Will You meet me with open arms
Will I feel love even though I'm wrong
That essential imagery I was trying to capture was the idea of being scared. I mean, I've been there. I've done wrong, and I want to come clean, get a fresh start, be forgiven. And it's not even taking that first step that's the hardest. It's the decision to take that first step to begin with. The unknown of wether or not your apology will even be accepted once you arrive after a long journey. By faith you hold on to the hope that you have been forgiven, you pick up what's left of yourself and you embark. You go. You #move.
Let's just see if I remember the way.
Every step brings me closer to stay
#Truth I've been so lost I don't even know how to get back to wherever it was I was going to in the first place. There was no GPS available to this dude in the late 90's/early 0's, we had maps, and I certainly stunk at orientation! Good Lord thankfully that's changed! But the fact is, once I finally admitted I was lost, miraculously I knew the way home.
Home how I need it
Home I can feel it
Home I can sense it
Home sweet redemption
I'm going Home
Inevitably once we get kicked started on that journey back home, we meet up with uncertainties... unexpected bumps in the road. Thankfully, you don't have to bring all your stuff with you, because dude, that would get heavy quick. I pictured myself heading down the road with a guitar case and a kitbag (that's PEI lingo for backpack.) I wrote a song once called Angels & Helicopters, depicting that scenario (sorry un-released!) But through the unknown, I'm sustained. I'm given power to walk when I don't think I can walk anymore. When it's no longer a fun, fresh idea of going home but an impossible journey I can't make on my own, He sustains me by His Spirit, because He is good. That's a lovely #truth.
I'm walking back packed real light
No surprise it's the blackest night
Oh but You Lord oh You light my way
Oh but You Lord You hold my pain
Heaven is our eternal Home. Over 2000 years ago Jesus secured that for us once and for all. I no longer have to be scared, lost or wandering; I just need to say yes to the journey.
Home how I need it
Home I can feel it
Home I can sense it
Home sweet redemption
I'm going Home
That's the backstory of Home ~ thanks for reading, now please crank up those speakers/headphones and have a listen https://ampl.ink/79Z6x
QUICK FUN FACTS: HOME.
The song was written in 45 minutes while Kate prepared my birthday supper!
I Recorded the tune over 2 days (mostly): Day 1 I had the flu SUPER bad and did everything but the vocals. I was too sick to stay in bed and dragged myself to the computer. Day 2, Joey re-did my attempt at piano, I re-cut the opening guitar riff on a mesa boogie Mark II, Zach came up with those crazy bv's in the pre-chorus and I cut the Lead Vocal
Jackson (my oldest offspring) sings in the outro chorus. You can really hear him on the "Home's" and the last "I can feel it". That's all J Rock. He's pitch perfect, and requires way less tuning than his old man.
The artwork for Home is a picture of the night sky outside of our house in Hershey PA. Shot on my #pixel (loving the pixel 3).
I Love guitar riffs and try to work some type of riff into lot's of my music. This one is based off the B-Major scale. I have a video up, with me playing it (click here for that)
The music video was shot in Indonesia!! Here's a VIDEO LINK I used a company called #Fiver and was super happy with the result.
The blocks in the picture for this post belongs to Luke. Photo was taken by Kate
This blog post is apparently a 4 minute read! With 4629 characters