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After a music layoff, I rediscovered my Fender Strat, purchased a Zoom PS-02 around 2003 to record some cover songs to play along with and help me practice. With help from other musicians in the Zoom PS-02/PS-04 and Fender Discussion Page (FDP) forums, I started putting some of my ideas into songs.
Song Info
Genre
Charts
#6,564 today
Peak #102
#594 in subgenre
Peak #19
Author
John C. Painter
Rights
2011
Uploaded
July 24, 2011
Track Files
MP3
MP3 2.6 MB • 128 kbps • 2:49
Story behind the song
This is about how I learned the lesson of listening. It culminated after an Easter service although it started a month earlier.
I was in a church Praise Band and we were still practicing at their old location (10,000 sq. ft.). I don’t think any of us knew that we would be the first Praise team to perform in the new building (100,000 sq. ft.), when that month started.
I contacted the other guitar player to see if he wanted to come over to my house to work on the songs and he said sure. Then for a reason I couldn’t explain at the time, I blurted out ... do you also want to practice “Spirit in the Sky”. He asked is that on the CD? I said no. He asked, are we going to be doing that the next time up? I said not as far as I knew. It just sort of popped into my mind to ask … but he said sure, he’d bring his Strat too.
After practicing all the songs on the CD we tried “Spirit in the Sky”. Neither of us had ever played it before but it was amazing how it came together. I helped him carry his stuff out to his truck that night and then another thought came to mind and I asked him … do you want to do something kind of crazy? He said like what? I said, lets go into church a little early for practice and when everyone comes in we’ll start playing “Spirit in the Sky” and I bet they’ll all get a kick out of it. He said that sounded like fun … lets do it.
That practice night everyone came in around the same time and we started playing. I can still remember one of the singers. She got so excited … almost like a little kid. She was walking beside our Music Director (MD) and turned to her saying “Oh, are we going to do Spirit in the Sky, oh oh oh please, please, please”. As I remember, everyone except MD seemed to get on the bandwagon with wanting to do it. Our MD didn’t look real happy and I wasn’t about to volunteer that I contributed to this.
Before practice MD explained that it looked like we would be playing for the first service in the new building. With everything else MD had going on, getting everything moved & ready for not only the new building but a killer Easter service she couldn’t have possibly wanted to include “Spirit in the Sky”. Besides, what church would ever play that song on Easter Sunday, but she never said “No”. She said lets practice all the planned songs and then at the end she would let us try it. I don’t know if she was hoping it would really bomb and she could just say no, but just like when other guitarist & I first practiced it … it seemed to come together just fine.
Each practice after that seemed to go pretty much the same way with MD letting us practice it after we finished all the planned songs, she never said “No”.
Easter Sunday came and someone during the morning practice asked if we were going to do “Spirit in the Sky”. I think everyone was hanging on what MD would say. She said “You can play “Spirit in the Sky”, on one condition. The condition was after the service was over and she dismissed the congregation and gave us a nod, we could play it as the send out song. All of us were excited about that … we had no problems with doing it that way either. It seemed odd, even to me, that everyone was so psyched about doing that song.
Everything about the service was as perfect as could be. Just as planned after the service, our Music Director dismissed the congregation and turned to us and gave us our nod and we played Spirit in the Sky. It didn’t appear that many heard it except for us but that seemed just fine. After the song, most everyone headed off the stage to find his or her families. A few others and me were still up on the stage in dimmed lights as we packed our stuff up to leave. If this were where the story ended, it would be pretty pathetic … that somehow, due to my own selfish desires, I corralled everyone into doing that song … but that was never my intention.
As I was kneeling down to put my Strat away, I noticed a young woman making her way up the steps leading to the stag
Lyrics
It only takes a moment …. for a sail to catch the wind
It only takes a moment …. for a journey to begin
Do you heard him calling … a gentle whisper in your ear
Do you let it linger … do you let it disappear
Please don’t miss it
Don’t fail to realize
God might be calling you
To touch somebody’s life
It can happen …. any time any day
And if you follow … he can clear the way
It only takes a moment …. for a sail to catch the wind
It only takes a moment …. for your journey to begin
Please don’t miss it
Don’t fail to realize
God might be calling you
To touch somebody’s life
… pause
Please don’t miss it
Don’t fail to realize
God might be calling you
To touch somebody’s life
It only takes a moment … it only takes your time
