Lyr Add: Let This Be My Prayer (Adrienne Jones)

Subject: Let this be my prayer
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 07:02 AM

The current issue of Singout features a song by the group Mad Agnes: Let this be my prayer. I dog-eared the page, determined to learn it some day, since it speaks so eloquently to my bereavement, although it's for those who are further along than I am. But my dear friend Alouette called and told me "We're singing this song for the Solstice concert".
Who's "we?" Not me!
Oh, yes.
Alouette, along with three other women who frequently performed with my beloved, and yes, I too, all sang this lovely song this past Saturday night in honor of all those we mourn, and I did it without breaking down.
To listen to a fragment of this lovely song, click here:
Let this be my prayer

Subject: Lyr Add: LET THIS BE MY PRAYER (Adrienne Jones)
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 07:04 AM

Let this be my prayer
by Adrienne Jones of Mad Agnes

1. Let this be my prayer today
May I be easy in my heart
Let me see a clearer way
If I can heal then let me start

If I should love, let love return
To this dark room and silent space
Where I have learned to count these hours
Between the done and rising days.

        REFRAIN: Let this be my prayer today
        World of sorrow wash away
        Let this be my prayer
        Let this be my prayer

2. Help me hold my loved ones close
And when their time comes, let them go
Knowing they're not lost or gone
But, like me, just moving on

Let time and weather not lay waste
The beauty of this changing face
Give me wisdom as I see
Things that never more will be
REFRAIN

3. When I am locked and cannot speak
Let that silence set me free
If once I give this heart to break,
Let the one I love, love me

Rooms of splendor in my house,
Though I stand sad and lost without
There is untold joy within
Open gates and let me in
Open gates and let me in

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 07:22 AM

(The link for the song is HERE,in the clips for the "Magic Hour" CD, top left at their site under Listen/Buy)

It's wonderful! I know a little about having to sing when an open throat means letting out more than just the sound... dunno how you did it. It's a good song, as well as a good prayer.

You say it is for those further along than you.... maybe there are a few new verses lurking in your heart, that are your prayer, THIS today?

love,

~Susan

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 07:27 AM

Maybe.

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 08:10 AM

That's a beautiful song! There are times when songs ARE prayers. I had a tragic accident many years ago, on New Year's Day, where a man was killed. Sitting in a State Trooper's car in a state of complete shock, the only thing that kept me going was to keep repeating the chorus to a song that I'd just written. I realized that it was as much a prayer as a song:

"And in the darkness, give me the eyes of faith
In my sorrow, send down your healing grace
And on my journey, may my path be straight
May my heart find rest in Thee."

The song was inspired by a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas: "The heart is restless until it rests in Thee."

Love,

Jerry

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: bbc
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 08:40 AM

What is the whole song, Jerry? It sounds great, as does the one you found, Allison.

much love to both,

Barbara

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 10:33 AM

That's wonderful music. Well done.

Stephen Lee

Subject: Lyr Add: EYES OF FAITH (Jerry Rasmussen)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 10:51 AM

Hi, bbc!

Here are the words..


EYES OF FAITH

I take cold comfort in the ways of man
I see no justice in this land
I feel the anger of the un-stayed hand
May my heart find rest in Thee

Chorus:

   And in the darkness, give me the eyes of faith
   In my sorrow, send down your healing grace
   And on my journey, may my path be straight
   May my heart find rest in Thee

Give me the wisdom, that I might understand
Give me the courage, that I might take my stand
And when I'm weary, lend me a helping hand
May my heart find rest in Thee

Some spend their lives in a search for power
Ignoring treasures, time can't devour
All that I ask in my final hour
May my heart find rest in Thee

Words and music by Jerry Rasmussen

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: Louie Roy
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 12:58 PM

Ernest Tubb wrote THE SOLDIER'S LAST LETTER in 1942 and I learned it while in the South Pacific and at that time I didn't think he had finished it completely, I changed the last verse to this:

That night as she knelt by her bed side
And tears flowed from her eyes that were red
She turned her eyes toward the heaven above
And with a quivering voice she said

Our Father up in heaven, hear this sincere prayer
May the people of all nations be united in Thy care
For earth's peace and man's salvation can be granted only through Thy grace
And not with bombs and missiles and our quest for outer space
And until all men recognize that the battle is the Lord's
And that peace on earth cannot be won with strategy and swords
We will go on vainly fighting as we have in ages past
Finding only empty victories and a peace that cannot last
For we have grown so rich and mighty and so arrogantly strong
We forget to ask in humbleness please God show us where we're wrong
For we have come to trust completely in the power of man made things
Unmindful of the power of God and that he is the King of Kings
We have turned our eyes away from Him and gone our selfish ways
And money power and pleasures are the gods we serve today
And this good green earth God gave us to peacefully enjoy
Through greed, through fear, through hatred we are seeking to destroy
So Father up in heaven stir and wake up our sleeping souls
Renew our faith and lift us up and give us higher goals
And give us heavenly guidance as You renew our faith again
For more than guided missiles all this world needs is guided men

Subject: RE: Let this be my prayer
From: Cruiser
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 01:16 PM

A beautiful melody.

These verses from the song are especially poignant:

Help me hold my loved ones close
And when their time comes, let them go
Knowing they're not lost or gone
But, like me, just moving on

Let time and weather not lay waste
The beauty of this changing face
Give me wisdom as I see
Things that never more will be

Subject: RE: ADD: Let this be my prayer
From: bbc
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 02:37 PM

Thanks, Jerry. Sounds like a good one. Have you recorded it or do you intend to?

Barbara

Subject: RE: ADD: Let this be my prayer
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 07:47 PM

Hi, bbc:

If I ever do another album, perhaps I'll put the song on there... thanks for asking..

Jerry

Subject: RE: ADD: Let this be my prayer
From: bbc
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 10:31 PM

I hope you do, Jerry. Screen Porch Door is another one I'd like to hear you sing! Merry Christmas to you & Ruth!

best always,

Barbara