Music Notes 5-3-26

I Love You Lord was written in 1974 by Laurie Klein. She was a young mother and homemaker

in Oregon and was “feeling the poverty of my life keenly at that point, both emotionally and

physically.” She sang the first part of the song spontaneously, and felt so intrigued and moved

by the words that she thought “maybe I should write this down.” She stopped long enough to get

a pen and then the rest of the song came just as easily. Her husband Bill recognized the simple

beauty of the song and encouraged her to play it for a local pastor and some visiting musicians.

Eventually the song surfaced at Jack Hayford’s Church on the Way in Van Nuys. There Buck and

Annie Herring learned the song and included it on Annie’s Kids of the Kingdom. But its greatest

exposure was on Maranatha! Music's Praise 4 in 1980. Since then, it has been estimated to have

been recorded over 75 times. A notable, rather earthy cover of the song was released by the rock

band Petra in 1997 on their album Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus. This was the piece that was

specifically requested by the family for the memorial service on Maui, this piece and this specific

arrangement. We augmented it with Tracy singing You’ll Never Walk Alone at the end of the

service, which brought most of the congregation to tears.

Mark Hayes is a composer/arranger/pianist based in Kansas City whose music is renowned

around the world. He got his degree in piano performance at Baylor University, moved to

Kansas City to work as a music editor for Tempo Publishing, and now spends his time writing

music for the church and traveling around the world as a clinician and guest conductor. When I

met Mark in the late 80’s, I was struck by his pianistic skills – more specifically, the way he

manhandled the piano into submission to produce the most wondrous sounds. Mark’s writing is

superbly crafted, with influences of black gospel and jazz. He’s one of my favorite

contemporary writers, and one of today’s most sought after composer/arrangers. If you play

piano and want some music that will both challenge you and satisfy your appetite for delicious

piano music, pick up a book of Mark Hayes piano improvisations. You’ll love it. The words to I

Surrender All were written in 1896 by Judson W. Van DeVenter, who was a teacher of music and

art. While conducting a performance, he made the decision to surrender himself completely to

God and become an evangelist, and the song was born. The words were then set to music by

Winfield S. Weeden, who loved the song so much that the words are inscribed on his tombstone.

When Mark sent me a copy of his arrangement of this piece to look at, my wife and I sat down to

read through it and were blown away. I called Mark and asked him if he had experienced a

“Blues Brothers moment” – a ray of sunlight coming in the window and illuminating him while

he wrote it. This is one of the most inspired arrangements of this old classic tune I’ve ever

heard, and one of my all-time favorites.

Michael Joncas (born Jan Michael Joncas) is a priest, liturgical theologian and a composer. He

did his Master’s degree in liturgy at Notre Dame and studied at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute

in Rome. He was ordained in 1980 and now teaches at the University of St. Thomas (in

Minnesota), at Notre Dame and at the St. John’s School of Theology. He is best known for his

hymn On Eagle’s Wings, which he wrote in the late 70’s, basing the lyrics on Psalm 91 and Isaiah

40. He recorded it in 1979, and it has become a standard in the liturgical music world (it’s even

in our hymnbook). It was performed at the funerals of many of the victims of the 9/11 attack, as

well as the funeral of Luciano Pavarotti. He has stated that his preference for the title would be

“On Eagles’ Wings”; indicating that the wings belong to a single eagle as a metaphor for God, but

he said he could make an argument for the plural “On Eagles’ Wings” since many wings would

be needed to lift up the multitude of people in covenant with God.