471: The Song “Walkin’” | mark Joseph "young"

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #471, on the subject of The Song “Walkin'”.

Last month I mentioned that that song, Present Your Bodies (linked below), was structurally modeled on this one, specifically mentioning the repetition of the bridge and the way it changes the feel of the music. I suppose the similarities end there–key, tempo, mood, even the nature of the lyrics are all different. Yet because of those structural similarities the two songs are connected in my own mind.

As I mentioned then, The Last Psalm had just played its final concert. I am not at all certain what inspired this song, but I liked it immediately. Then Jeffrey Robert Zurheide called and invited me to play bass in a band that he was forming mostly to be backup for a Luther alumni classmate named Bruce Henne, and I immediately thought we should include this song.

Jeff and I had met at summer camp, a one-week “sleep-away” music camp sponsored by the United Presbyterian Church and at that time held on the Camp Lebanon campground belonging to the American Baptist Convention, in Lebanon, New Jersey. Late in 1972 he was driving, and joined my band BLT Down as our lead guitarist and vocalist. He stayed with the band in 1973 when it transitioned to being The Last Psalm, and for the next eighteen months his “velvet voice” was one of the band’s main attractions. However, he did not particularly like the spotlight, and in the summer of 1974 he left the band. Our drummer, John Mastick, persuaded him to play with us at our final reunion concert at Maranatha Church of the Nazarene in New Milford, New Jersey, at the beginning of summer 1975.

Our relationship had a strange quality. I considered him my best friend, and he was best man at my wedding late in 1976. On the other hand, as early as February, 1974, he had decided that my musical ambitions had to be reined in, that I shouldn’t sing as much as I did and shouldn’t be seeming to be in the spotlight. There were several moments after that where Jeff took actions which seemed to be about stifling those ambitions, and in retrospect I often wondered whether this was one of them. He was seeking someone to play bass guitar and help with the backup vocals in the new band, Jacob’s Well. I played this song for him, and he immediately said no, he did not want the band to do this one, choosing instead one song from my repertory, When I Think (also linked below, web log post #412). As I mentioned in discussing that song, I was never enthused about it, and it was all wrong for that band–the piano part was not easily reproduced on a guitar, and it wanted a soaring soprano that was not going to be found in an all-male band. However, that was the one song from my repertoire that the band included. This song was shelved.

I have vague recollections of a time a few years later when I met with a few musicians in Delaware through a friend (known as Big Brother Archie Bradley) who were exploring the possibility of including me in their band. I played this song for them; I don’t remember what others I might have played. Nothing came of that.

I’ve shied away from performing it solo, because in my mind the vocals are integral to the music–it was written for three vocalists. However, when I was recording those vocals-over-midi-instruments recordings I included it because I still thought it was well written. On the other hand, I did not include it on the list of songs to be considered for the Extreme Tour submission.

The piano in this recording is probably irreproducible. When I was recording it, I felt the background was a bit hollow, but thought that another guitar wouldn’t solve the problem, so I began sketching a racing piano part. I was working with a software interface that let me in essence put the part on paper and have the computer play it back to me, so I was making it up as I went along. I’ve never even attempted to play it. I think I have performed the piece live once or twice, because I like it, but feel like it needs a band.

Walkin’.

So here are the lyrics.

Walkin’ through this world of ours I see so much is wrong.
We’ve got to find a better way, ’cause this just can’t go on!
Brother hates his brother–there must be something else.
The world must surely grieve the Lord, but I’m no good myself.

Some will never understand the things I’m tryin’ to say;
They think that Christ was just a man who lived a special way.
They will never realize ’til the coming of the judgment day,
‘Cause the devil’s had them close their eyes, and they’ve turned their heads away.

We can’t seem to make it–something seems to hold us back.
In trying to be perfect, there is something that we lack.
God has got the answer–He knows that we can’t win:
The blood of Christ poured out for us forgives us for our sin.

Some will never understand the things I’m tryin’ to say;
They think that Christ was just a man who lived a special way.
They will never realize ’til the coming of the judgment day,
‘Cause the devil’s had them close their eyes, and they’ve turned their heads away.

Now I live for Jesus–Jesus lives in me,
And I’m here to heal the eyes of those who cannot see.
Jesus died to save you; He died to save all men,
And although they buried Him, God raised Him up,
God raised Him up again.

Some will never understand the things I’m tryin’ to say;
They think that Christ was just a man who lived a special way.
They will never realize ’til the coming of the judgment day,
‘Cause the devil’s had them close their eyes, and they’ve turned their heads away.

When we choose to follow Him, He leads us day by day.
Because He has forgiven us He hears us when we pray.
Christ was raised to victory when He was crucified.
The key to life abundant is that we have also died.

Now I live for Jesus–Jesus lives in me,
And I’m here to heal the eyes of those who cannot see.
Jesus died to save you; He died to save all men,
And although they buried Him, God raised Him up,
God raised Him up–

Some will never understand the things I’m tryin’ to say;
They think that Christ was just another man, though He lived a special way.
They will never realize ’til the coming of the judgment day,
‘Cause the devil’s had them close their eyes, and they’ve turned their heads away.

Now I live for Jesus–Jesus lives in me,
And I’m here to heal the eyes of those who cannot see.
Jesus died to save you; He died to save all men,
And although they buried Him, God raised Him up,
God raised Him up, God raised Him up again!

*****

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mark Joseph "young"

471: The Song “Walkin'”

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