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Lowest Ebb

Started by nicklawmusic on 24 August 2008 - 11:05am

24 August 2008 - 11:05am

A song that I'll be introducing shortly at our church. I wrote this whilst reading through Lamentations during 2007 when my wife was struggling with depression.

I am aware that the lyrics go from talking of God as 'He' to 'You' towards the end - this is because I felt like the right response in a song of lament is to actually call upon his name by singing to him, however, if anyone has a suggestion for the bridge that isn't 'I call upon His name' I am more than open to suggestions for a tweek in that lyric.

I would post the chords for this, but as I discovered with my last post, you can't get the chords in the right places without using an underscore, so I've just included the lyrics... enjoy!

LOWEST EBB
Nick Law (c) 2007 Homegrown Songs. All rights reserved.

Verse 1:
When I'm at my lowest ebb
And it seems all hope is lost
Upward I look and see Him there,
My Salvation!

Verse 2:
When bitter tears run down my face
And my sorrows will cease
Silently I wait for Him,
My rock of peace

Chorus:
For He is mighty to save and strong to deliver
Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow
Mercies afresh and new every morning
My strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow

Verse 3:
My soul is downcast within me
And streams of tears flow from my eyes
Yet, I lift my heart and hands,
To God most high

Verse 4:
When I am torrmented within
My heart is poured out on the ground
I turn to His unfailing love,
And fall facedown

Chorus:

Tag:
I call upon Your name!
I call upon Your name!
I call upon Your name!
I call upon Your name, for You are mighty to save...

The song is in Ab, however, I play it capo 1 in G. The basic chords are pretty obvious, however, I play slight inversions on them, which give them a nice feel.

AttachmentFile Size
05 Lowest Ebb
5.05 MB
29 August 2008 - 1:53am

You've put a unique feel to the song which I enjoyed. Sounds like you've put some thought into this already, so I don't mean to step on your reasons for composing it or your hearts expression in it; it sounds like a very personal piece. Feel free to consider my thoughts lightly.

The only thing I would recommend for you to consider is to meticulously review the verses to be sure they error on the side of easily resolving to God's hope instead of our fallen humanity. I think the danger in these songs is they can so easily leave a feeling of hopelessness; i.e. a feeling that God's hope is still detached from our problems. A single word like "seems" in verse 1 line 2 can be so powerful in forming a thought since it allows for our perception of hopelessness to be inaccurate: conversely a statement like "sorrows will not cease" can also lead us away from God's hope and into our problems. It really is nit-picky, but I think worth the effort since a song like this really can breathe hope into someone.

All in all, I really enjoyed your song and I was encouraged by its message.
29 August 2008 - 9:03pm

Hi Nick,

Thanks for posting this.

Al
31 August 2008 - 10:08am

Hi Marc & Al,

Thanks for your comments, will take them into consideration.

Nick
4 September 2008 - 8:01am

Hey nick, I realy like the song, it has a great feel to it. My comment would be maybe the lyrics in the chorus could be a bit more original, like it seems like you have just got a bunch of well used phrases and put them together. If that make sence?

But i love the song all the same!

God bless,

iain