On Sunday night Rebecca Jordan Heys preached on the parable of the ten bridesmaids and asked me to conclude the sermon by leading the spiritual “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning.” Like many people, I know the song from the popular choral arrangement by Andre Thomas, but it has traveled far and wide, as you can hear in this YouTube video by Blind Willie Johnson and this one by Hot Tuna. In any case, on Friday afternoon as I played around with the song and tried to figure out how best to lead it, I began laying down some tracks in Logic Pro and came up with this little demo.
Category: Rock and/or Roll
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GR Press Phone Message
Last week someone wrote a nasty letter to the editor about a friend from church. It’s a long story, but what it boils down to is that a group of people in Grand Rapids are poised and ready to write mean-spirited letters to the editor of the GR Press any time they read key words such as “evolution,” “homosexuality,” or “President Obama.” But I guess they’re not the only ones who feel they are saving society one letter at a time–I was lured into the fray and wrote what I believe to be a beacon of reason in a turbulent sea of idiocy.
I was pleasantly surprised that one of these folks actually left a phone message for me at the church letting me know just how misguided my letter to the editor was. Really, it ranks up there with being lumped in with Robert Webber and the Antichrist by Jimmy Swaggart’s wife, Frances
In any case, I decided that this little aural work of art needed a frame, so I created a bed of music to accompany her message. Of course, I’ve edited out some of the details like the caller’s name and phone number, but you’ll get a pretty good idea of her rhetoric by listening to this MP3. It will also give you an opportunity to dance.
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Tight Rope
I’m always inspired by a challenge. My latest compositional challenge has come in the form of my good friend’s wife’s cousin, Morgan Bracy. (It’s all about who you know…) Morgan is a fantastic singer working in Nashville who I met a few months back. We decided to write some songs together, and the first fruit of our labor is “Tight Rope.” She wrote the lyrics a while back and I wrote the first draft of the music while in Singapore. Last week I recorded a rough demo of the song. The demo is ugly, but the melody is catchy.
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55 Feet, 3rd Place
In a past post you read the story and heard a solo version of my 1986 song “55 Feet.” I recently entered a fuller version of the song in the National Speleological Society Cave Ballad contest. (Yes, there is such a society, and such a contest.) I just got word that I won 3rd place. The judges felt it was “good but grimness detracts from appeal.” You can listen to it in all its grimness here.
I think of this as a work in progress. In this particular case, the progress started over 20 years ago. (Yikes. Am I really that old? No wonder I’m having a mid-life crisis.) This is just a rough mix. Stay tuned for a full CD of this and other musical tales of the depraved human nature–including my own.
By the way, special note to the judges and my wife–I know that one’s sweat can’t drop to the floor when one is 55 feet underwater. That’s because the narrator is no longer underwater when he’s telling the story. However, I don’t feel at liberty to say where the narrator is or what he’s about to do, because that would be far too grim.
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Mind the Gap
My wife’s friend Paula is the founder of Mind the Gap Theatre Company in NYC. Recently she sent out a call for “a sexy cool jingle/ tagline” for their new podcast. How could I resist? After all, I’ve written marches, fight songs, faux soap commercials, VBS theme music and pop songs for girl groups–how could I say no to a sexy cool jingle?
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The Deeper You Get
Back when I lived in Pittsburgh, I played out quite a bit with a trio consisting of Elizabeth Way on violin, Eric Emmons on acoustic guitar and me on vocals and string bass. One summer I recorded an album of these songs called from the hand of on a four track cassette. (On this particular recording I replaced Eric on guitar for logistical reasons–if Eric had played on the recording it would have sounded a lot better!) One of the hits from that recording–if a cassette that sold 200 copies can have a hit–is “The Deeper You Get.”
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Bones and Ashes
With Ash Wednesday quickly approaching, it seems appropriate that I post a song about the fleeting nature of our earthly existence.
I remember having the idea for “Bones and Ashes” while taking a walk during one of my summers working at Camp-of-the-Woods in Speculator, NY (1984-86). I can’t remember when I finished it, but in the end I included it in my 1993 recording from the hand of…
For any of you who want to “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” here is Bones and Ashes.
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Happy Valentine’s Day, Amy!
In 33 minutes it will be Valentine’s Day. And what better way to express my love to my wife of 15 years than with a song? “This House is Lonely” was written the first time Amy went away for a weekend. We had been married for a year or two and it just seemed so strange after living for 26 years without her that I’d miss her so much after just a few days away. I couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up and wrote this song.
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For You
A long time ago, there was this 23 year old who was trying to figure out life. He was a Christian, but he was also a musician–and he couldn’t figure out how the two went together. He was studying music composition, but led a double life writing rock music. One weekend he ended up at a big outdoor Christian festival in New England and he got to play play at a coffee house. All the other people at the coffee house did inspiring songs of faith, accompanied by guitar, but this 23 year old sang songs like “Sometimes I Feel Like I Don’t Know” and “Psycho Killer” accompanied by his electric bass. He caught the ear of Dan Russell, a Boston-are producer who had worked with Robin Lane, Andy Pratt and Mark Heard. He was invited to send the big city producer a demo, and the rest is history.
No really, it’s history. The 23 year old was me, and I totally misjudged what a big city producer would want to hear. I worked up some demos that I thought would fit with some of the people Dan Russell worked with. At the time I was particularly enamored with Maria Mckee of Lone Justice, so I sent him a cassette (remember those?) with a few songs including this one, “For You.” At the time I thought it would fit her perfectly, but Dan’s reaction was something like, “Huh?” It turns out that he was more interested in me as a songwriter/performer than as a songwriter for any singers he worked with. Oh well…
“For You” is sung by Shoshana Feinstein, who appears to be going strong after all these years. Keys and production are by my good friend Jim DeFrancesco. Hey, it was 80s and I was trying to write the perfect pop hit. Cut me a little slack!
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You Can Talk to Me
Back in 1993 I released a cassette (yes, that’s how one did it in the last century) called From the Hand of… Greg Scheer, a collection of my folk/jazz/rock songs performed on acoustic guitar, bass and vocals (me) with Elizabeth Way on violin. It included a song called “You Can Talk to Me,” which I somehow ended up singing in my friends’ Jeff and Kathy’s wedding, which I somehow mentioned to my friends Andrew and Jessica, which they somehow are now interested in hearing, which may somehow entice them to work it into their wedding, which will mean that I’ll somehow have to remember how to play it.