LW's "Light of the World"!

LW's "Light of the World"!

Light of the World Studio Mix from "Overflow"

"Light of the World" on Spotify

We have some really amazing news! We have a brand new version of one of our truly classic 'bangers' from way back in the day: "Light of the World"! It is mixed by our own beloved Josh Loell, with all of the original band members playing what they always used to play in concert. There is Dave's familiar high noodling bass part in the intro, Tony's signature style on drums, Greg & Mark rounding out the Guitar brothers, Mike on piano, Denise lending her awesome voice to the proceedings. 

Let's talk about how we got to the point where I wrote this song.

Way back, when Living Waters first started in 1976, we did a couple of my early meditation songs in our first shows, but most of our group concert material consisted in cover songs. BUT, quite early on, we began to consciously write our own group-style songs.

"Sing to Jesus" was probably the first; Dave got that one started with the intro riff. I remember all of us playing it while staying at Chuck's house in Waterville, ME. (That one is the intro to the new album!) Four LW types joined in to create "The Introduction Song" which did exactly what it said in the title, introducing us as the concert began. (Some of us were just talking about that one recently at my son's wedding.) It included a choreographed dance by the newly joined dance troupe. We have no surviving recordings of that one.

A "Sheepgate Coffehouse" Reunion Concert where we revived "Light of the World"

However, probably our first really big one was "Light of the World". There's so many things we could say about this one. I believe all the crew would line up in front of the stage and sway and clap. The clap on the chorus was a special one: 'clap, clap...clap...clap, clap...clap'. (Anne-Marie just called it "that cool clapping"; yeah, it was cool, all right!) ALL the back-up singers were very active on singing this one, an example of working on vocal arrangement that became a hallmark for us. We have a couple of old 'classic live' versions of "L of the W" on our sites, one from 1987.

The tableau for 'evil thoughts' in the Light of the World skit; Mark, Mary Gillis & Mike

Another thing was that this song was usually strategically joined in the program to our early dramatic skit of the same name, "Light of the World". This skit illustrated how vices can be overcome by the power of what our Lord did for us on the Cross. The skit flowed & matched with the song perfectly. (Greg used to pray an acoustic lick in the background during a part of the action, based on "The Trees" by Rush. It fit perfectly.)
As a matter of fact, our shows began to become very well thought out in general, thematically and sonically, with lights, dance, drama and a large sound system. Our standard line became 'we started as a bunch of kids fooling around with our instruments and became a full production of music, dance & drama', & that really wasn't exaggerating. We moved on to the whole "Prodigal Daughter" format after this in support of Covenant House where we actually told a coherent story.

Soon after this song, Mike had a big breakthrough with the epic rocker, "Searching" and the amazing "Lonely Dancer", and I did "Nobody Else" and "Let's Stay," and so on and so on, but the way for those was prepared by these earliest group concert songs.

In this recording you hear & feel very much what it felt & sounded like back in those glorious early days. It felt like a new album was brewing with these songs, and, miraculously, providentially, that has happened! The new album features a deep dive into these earliest roots, plus some totally new creations. Those days were a great gift of grace to all involved, and this song was a part of that. And that grace continues to overflow one hundred-fold, to this time and unto eternal life....
Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

Light of the World Studio Mix from "Overflow"