Before Your Light

© Will Spicher 2005

before_your_light.mp3 (3.7Mb)

The second posting on WillSongs Unplugged was also debuted in November of 2004.  Here was how I introduced the song:

If you are looking for an organization to invest in, I have a great one for you. Its founder and CEO was killed only three years into his career, and the remaining top brass resigned immediately. The most powerful tyrants in the world continually try to defeat it, and it is constantly being torn from within by strife. Its debt-to-equity ratio looks awful because it keeps giving everything away, and it never posts a profit. Yet it has survived for two-thousand years. Of course, I am talking about the Church about whom Jesus Christ said, "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." The Church can no more be destroyed than the Bible about which he also said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." But, though the analysts may turn her away, they don't realize that someone very very rich is in love with her. And sometimes we see her through the eyes of the analyst, and we are tempted to conclude she is a failure. May God grant us repentance and vision.

Technically and physically this is one of the most challenging songs I perform.  The strum is so fast and syncopated, it leaves little energy left over to concentrate on the words (notice I mixed up the verses the third time).  The bridge is a classic JamMan loop.  Here is how it works:

  1. I step on the octave pedal and play the bass line.
  2. At the top of the phrase, I step on the a switch on the MIDI Foot Controller programmed to the JamMan's record function to record the bass line; and the end of the loop, I hit the switch again to establish and start the loop.
  3. Then I boost the volume and bass knobs on the 414 and pound the top and side to create and record the percussion line.
  4. I throw the knobs back to normal and hit a switch on Mission Control to activate the wah-wah sound, and I use one of the expression pedals on the MIDI Foot Controller to time the swells of the wah-wah (it sends MIDI controller data to Mission Control on a different channel than the JamMan). 
  5. I turn the wah-wah off, stop recording, and play and sing the rest of the bridge over the three-part loop.

It's really quite simple once you get used to it--after swimming through a stack of manuals and learning to pound in correct time.  By the time the song is through, I am generally exhausted (on the old recording from the City Church concert, you can hear me exhale explosively into the microphone). 

your people arise for your light has come

bearing the name and the love of your risen son

and we are one and we carry your truth

and the darkness will flee

he shall flee

before your light

 

your word is alive and dispelling lies

confronting and comforting, healing and changing lives

and we will carry the sword of your Spirit

and the darkness will flee

he shall flee

before your light

 

your light illumine the nations!

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updated 11-mar-2006