New L. W. DEMO: "Sing to Jesus"
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This summer, we will be doing more recording. One thing we will probably work on is this song. We have worked up a demo that's a little rough around the edges, and hope to add more to it. This is one of the very first original concert songs we wrote. Dave came up with the opening lick and Mark helped, and the rest is history! Below, is an excerpt from a previous post about this treasure:
"Sing to Jesus" was one of the first group songs we wrote as Living Waters in 1977. Dave Bourque had come up with that riff in the beginning and we all spent hours playing it. At some point, I added words to the riff and made it an intro and then wrote the body of the song. We then had the idea of making this a medley by using Mike's song "I Need Someone" as an introduction. That was awesome! We have now posted a 'classic live' version of this medley with a shortened ending for "Sing to Jesus". {You can find this on our "Living Waters Classic Tracks" site on ReverbNation.} In this version, I flubbed the words (a very common occurrence)! I did part of the second verse for the first so I made up part of the second. That sort of thing happened a LOT!)
My memory is telling me that a bunch of us from Oblates went up to Chuck Rossignol's house in Waterville and we were jamming on that riff there. I can't remember if we had already come up with the song or what. Chuck’s mother patiently waited on all of us and listened to us play and absorbed our excitement as kids. We all loved her so much; she looks and acts so much like my own mother and I found out that my mother used to take the train to go visit the Rossignols in Waterville back in the 30’s or so! Small world, isn’t it?
Introducing this song was a real eye-opener for us. We realized we didn’t have to be another Lighthouse or another anything. We could be – LIVING WATERS! That was liberating and exciting. We soon added “Light of the World” and “He That is in Us” and other group songs. Listen to these, and you get a sense of what it was like to go to a Living Waters concert back then. These were the times when Omer Bourque (father to Dave, Joline, Jim and Anne-Marie in the group) was our ‘manager’ booking us to show after show. We didn’t ask questions, as Kathy Bourque commented the other day, we just piled on the bus and went! Thanks to Jim Babish and Tom Doran from the prayer meeting, we began to organize lighting, stack speakers, dance, and drama into a full production.
I decided to preserve for posterity here that famous counting gimmick we used to use in concert to know when to end the song (you mIXed yourself in my weakness, SEVEN times a day I will praise you and wAIT for your coming in glory). Ha! Ha! It was the only way we could figure out how to end together!
This song was great because it got people into praise and praise is powerful. I remember we played a Charismatic conference in New York and they told us, "You are one of the most 'anointed' ministries we've heard" meaning that we were authentically spiritual, that our music was integrated into who we were and what we were doing. This song was an example of the power of praying songs together and finding your own identity in the Lord.
Thank you so much for reading! We plan to change what Mark sings at the end to mirror the "overflow" lyrics of "City of Joy" to bring an overall theme to the new album. Stay tuned!
Peace & Love & JOY,
Mark LaJOIE!
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