Hope

Some lyrics I whipped up this morning. Excuse the lack of refinement.

Hope
© 2010 Megan Sauder

Let it be
The first tear upon your cheek
The last worry upon your brow
The first sigh of deep relief
When the fear is gone for now

Can you see
A ray of hope in the distance
A bright star’s entrancing light
A shimmer of greatest joy
When there’s no need for might

What became of
Peace when the road is rocky
Faith when there seems to be no end
Love to the broken hearted
When there’s hope to be giv’n

I know now that
This isn’t the only thing in life
The world is hurting all around
Will you join me in surrendering
Pick up the pieces from the ground
Yes I know this isn’t the only thing in life
There is hope to be found

My Perception

So I wrote a new song... a while ago... but since leaving college my regular audience is no longer easily accessible, and therefore hardly anyone has heard it. I thought I might share it with you today. You can listen to a demo version of it at: www.reverbnation.com/MeganSauder. I encourage you to listen to all of my songs - I love feedback! This song, however, is titled "My Perception"... I think it's always best to read the lyrics and listen at the same time. By no means is the recording on the website a finished version... in fact, it's quite the opposite. It's my very first demo recording of it for me to work off of... so you can judge me, but just don't judge me quite as harshly as you would if it were the final studio cut. The male vocals that come in on the last chorus with me are done by my talented friend, Kirk Hacker (www.myspace.com/kirkhacker), who so generously has been letting me use his studio for free! Talk about amazing.

Enjoy!


My Perception
(c) 2009 Megan Sauder

Verse:
Turn on the spotlight
To my insecurities
Afraid to face the spotlight
Down on my knees

I know that there's beauty
In the things I do
But why can't I see it
When I'm compared to You?

Pre-Chorus:
There's beauty in everything
All I see and I hear
But I just keep missing it
It would lead me to You
Please lead me to You

Chorus:
Cloud my perception of this world
I want to love like You love them
Heal this broken world
And I know that I've failed You
Time after time
Can You see through me
And see what's on the inside?

Lyrics to Start

Here's what I do when I try to write lyrics. I piece it together bit by bit. Rarely do I just sit down and write out a full set of lyrics. It can take weeks, months... even years to finish a set of lyrics, let alone put it to music. I normally find randomly jotted down phrases or subject matters in a sheet music notebook, and try to work with it again... molding it until I feel like I am writing something worth saying.

I am notoriously bad at writing "Christian" songs. If you think about it, it's quite the overwhelming task. I sit down at the piano, read a Psalm or two for inspiration, and then think to myself, "Why would I ever try to write something myself, when David already said it so beautifully?" So, I usually stick with my usual mind-wandering lyrics that sometimes make no sense. I always like to say that it's up to the listener's interpretation. It actually works quite successfully sometimes. Other times people will ask me what the lyrics mean... and then I have to try and remember why, several months ago, I wrote those lyrics.

So why not write lyrics that require no explanation? Is it so bad to be blunt? Metaphors can be very poetic, and lymerics can be very witty. I love being both of those things. But when the point of a song becomes the poetry, or being witty... has it lost all meaning? Can there be meaning in the meaningless? I mean... there is hope for the hopeless. Does the same rule apply?

I started writing some lyrics a month or two ago... haven't gotten very far. But it's one of those attempts I rarely make to write something about my faith. God hasn't gifted me with an incredible ability to write worship songs that churches will want to sing on Sunday morning services. No, I don't posess that gift. But I went to a Josh Garrels concert last weekend and realized that all of his songs overflow with spirituality... yet they would never be sung in a church on a Sunday morning. Not for theological reasons, and not because they aren't wonderful songs... but they are artsy, creative, and well, very different from most stream-lined Christian music you hear today. It was refreshing.

I only have one verse. But you can read it... it's nothing extraordinary. But maybe in a few months or years I will have something more. These are just lyrics to start.


I'm trading my sorrows for victory
Hoping that they will see Christ in me.
You say, "Seek and you will find."
But what happens if I've gone blind?