Retro Truth

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 09 May 2011 08:14:19

I am quite into retro truth songs. I really like mixing them into a set which also contains some more current material so that people get a good combination. What I find is that the current stuff has a more upbeat style but the retro truth songs are deeper in meaning and also, like most retro stuff, have fond memories attached for people.

Yesterday I went, deliberately, for a retro set which enabled people to experience the familiar. One of the songs I went for in this set was I Will Sing the Wondrous Story. I think it might be nudging All Are Welcome as my favourite one on the possible play list at the moment.

What I was really struck by were verses three and four. Verse three gave the classic mix which is the bass line for so much contemporary stuff. It says:

"I was bruised, but Jesus healed me,
Faint was I from many a fall,
Sight was gone, and fears possessed me,
But He freed me from them all."

But then verse four kicked in with a more urban feel. Rather than the sugary MOR message that life was kak and then Jesus saved me and it was all fluffy it goes into a more street level gritty realism. Verse four says:

"Days of darkness still come o’er me,
Sorrow’s path I often tread,
But His presence still is with me;
By His guiding hand I’m led."

I find this really refreshing as it encourages me to tell the real story, not the one I  think people will want to hear about my life. In this retro truth classic I really am singing my story and to paraphrase the title of a new hymn book, which might eventually appear, I am "Singing the Faith."