Mike's looking pretty snazzy in those shades, eh?
I think we have a ‘flow’ going here! Mike has written another new song that is
pretty obviously inspired. And there is a definite thematic pattern happening
in Lajoie & McBride songs here. It is a joyful hope & perseverance through
real life trial, fed by the certainty of final victory, at death, in the Lord’s
all-powerful Mercy! This song is something beautiful that can really reach into
souls with the Sword of the Spirit.
This song has a lot of amazing textures that remind me of a
lot of things. Josh said that it has a Coldplay-type instrumentation; it’s a
textured weave that rivals ‘what’s out there now’, yet remains true to our
Living Waters roots. It also reminded me in tone of my songs “City of Joy”
& “Glory”, a cry of pure joy. It is full of genuine, mature emotion. Greg’s
lead coming out of the bridge – he’s just plain outdone himself again; it has
the melodic arch of the Edge with the dexterity of any number of guitar heroes.
Yet the bare simplicity of his intro playing perfectly fits that gentle
entrance. I am just so proud of this song. Thematically, it reminds me of Paul's advice, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" AND, of course, that the same Spirit that raised Christ from death is at work in us!
Mike had these very personal comments on the experience of
writing this:
Alive Again is yet
another song and idea that came so quickly that I thought it too
simple. The preacher’s words were a work on, but the basic message of the
song was there at the start. At first I could not make sense of the
completed song. Soon after I had finished it, I went to a church meeting
with the Loells where we met and listened to Barry Kingston talk about his life
changing visit to Medjugorje.
All of a sudden, I thought, Barry would sing "Alive Again".
I felt
my mother beside me while writing this, literally, to the right of me while I
played the piano. Several years ago, after she died, my brother had a
dream about her. She came to him and said, "I am okay, it's not what
I thought it would be, but it's good and you'll be here too." We
channel spirituality differently, but we got the same message. His
is a dream, mine is a song. In the past few years, I have seen
more loved ones die than in my entire life. All of my
recent compositions have addressed the inevitable. We will not
escape death here on earth. But I know, with all my heart and
soul, that there is so much more, this is a journey. Learn, grow,
move!
A
friend of mine listened to this demo and said, "That's what it's like
to be in Alcoholics Anonymous." We struggle with pressure from
expectations, responsibilities, mistakes, misunderstandings, regrets,
dependencies, delusions. There are so many times in life that we need a
second chance, to change the path we're on, to stand up, dust ourselves off and
say, "I know who I am and what I am supposed to be!.”
What
did Jesus do? He carried the greatest pain; rejection, beating, with the
burden of all of our sins. He thought that God, His Father, had
abandoned Him. They killed Him. But, He rose from the dead.
He is alive again. And because of Him, I am alive again.
I actually kidded with Mike because he was calling this song
“AA”, but that is more than coincidental, isn’t it? I used to work at a detox
for alcoholics. Yeah this meshes pretty perfectly with “Booze Blues Cruise”, “Save
Me from Myself” and so on. We are all addicts and sinners. Thank God for his
Good News.
Mark LaJOIE!
