Acoustic
Midwifery
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Most of my previous work has
been recording songs that came from my head, but this album is composed
entirely of music that came out of other people’s heads. A midwife is someone
who is “with a wife” when she has a baby, helping both baby and mother make the
transition of birth. Sometimes this
happens with music, too. In fact, as I was putting together the music I had recorded
in the year 2001, I realized that in every song, I had acted as a “midwife” to
get the song out of one context and into another – either out of the context of
a previously-made recording or out of the head of one of my children or a
co-worker. So, although none of the material is original to me, it still bears
my fingerprints as the “midwife.” Contact me if you’d like a copy on tape or
CD. You can also listen to samples by clicking on the song titles. ~Nate Wilson
By
Nate, Josh, & Beni Wilson ©2001 - Inspired by driving from Grand Junction,
CO to Denver on
This grey ribbon of road stretches to the
azure sky,
Piercing through the whiteness of the highest
peaks.
Sage and ferrous rock on the mottled ground
flash by;
The winding river, flashing green, the valley
seeks.
In every changing hue,
I am reminded of You
And I praise You, Maker of Earth;
And I praise You, for You are my God!
And I praise You, matchless in worth -
I praise You, Jesus!
To my Right, the river splashes rocky shoals,
Melted from the stillness of the highland
snow.
In time it will flow smooth and deep through
canyon walls,
Pocked with the evidence of floods from long
ago.
In all of these things, too,
I am reminded of You.
From the barren shoulders of the Western
buttes,
To the stiletto firs that cloak the Front
Range high,
From wide-open spaces where you see for miles
the routes,
To canyon walls that close and stretch up to
the sky
No matter what the view,
I am reminded of You.
During Family Devotions in the
year 2000, we studied the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Josh composed this
song based on what we read, and I helped polish the song up. Josh is the lead
singer, and I added my trumpet and recorder and a drumbeat from Sonic Foundry’s
library. The last chorus is accompanied by the instrumental section of a recording
of the Battle Hymn of the Republic on an album entitled Masterworks.
My eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord;
He is clad in all his radiance,
our rejoicing knows no bounds!
He has come to judge the peoples
with His justice and His truth,
And we may praise the Lord!
Glory, glory halleluiah!
Lady Babylon is fallen.
Bad men grieved at her ruin,
But Christians will rejoice!
My eyes have seen the burning
of the evil Lucifer;
He was bound with chains 1,000 years,
his demons are with him.
They were cast into the lake of fire
which burns forevermore,
And God reigns over all!
The
first half of this melody is an old Irish tune, and the second half comes from Severus Gastorius’ “Was Gott Tut” melody from the 1600’s.
Josh played Jew’s Harp, Beni played Bass, and I played Banjo, Recorder, Guitar,
spaghetti-noodle-on-a-cookie-tin brush snare, and kick-the-firewall-of-our-Ford-van
bass. That’s Amos whistling at the end.
Decir Y Vivir
La Verdad
by José
Artura Gleason Espíndola of
Mexico. He taught me this song and we performed it together at the Post-Urbana
International Student Conference, January 2001, along with Dan Lockwood. The
song was entirely in José’s head, so Paula helped me translate it into English
and I wrote it all out with guitar chords and made this recording.
Tiempos difíciles nos ha tocado vivir
We have all gone through tough
times
El mundo avanza y no para de cambiar
The world goes on and it’s always
changing
Y vacío no deja de existir
The void remains – it’s always
there
Y me pregunto ¿qué podemos hoy
hacer?
And I wonder what can we do
today?
Debemos decir y hacer la verdad
We should speak and live the
truth
Debemos orar y nunca parar
We should pray and never stop
Debemos amar sin condición
We should love unconditionally
Debemos ganar a la universidad
We should win the campus for the
Lord.
También tu escuela necesita
del Señor
Your school also needs the Lord
De tu constancia y tu consagración
Your endurance and your
commitment
La oportunidad tienes no la dejes ir
Today you have the chance – don’t
let it go
Dile al Señor conmigo cuentas
de corazón
Stand with me and say,
“My heart is ready, Lord!”
This
came entirely out of son Beni’s head (8 years old at
the time). The drum tracks came from Sonic Foundry, I did the synth and trumpet, and the vocals and stomping were me with
my kids, Josh, Beni, Amos, Peter, Grace, and Irene.
We march north, south, east, and west
Proclaiming Jesus where e’er
we rest.
When we do our best
God will make us blessed!
We march through Yemen, India,
Canada, and through Zambia.
N’er will we stop
‘til Jesus name reaches the lost
We will n’er rest
‘til we reach Jesus nest!
This is
a composition that Josh, Beni, Amos, Josh, and I put together in 2000, cutting
and pasting pre-fab tracks from an industrial music
program called Acid Style.
I just stood Grace (age 3) in
front of the microphone, asked her to sing a song, and punched the record
button. This is a totally extemporaneous composition, typical of what we hear
all day long from our little songbird!
The Magic Farmer
Shortly
after the late Michael Hedges’ Arial Boundaries album came out in 1984, I heard his song “The Magic Farmer” on the
radio and immediately sat down and figured out from memory how to play it on my
guitar. I didn’t even know the name of the song. Some 15 years later, a friend
gave me the album, and when I heard the song off the album and realized it was
the song I had been playing and wondering about for all those years, it felt
like a reunion of sorts! © Windham Hill Records, 1984.
In
memory of Memo, who passed away
Lillian, Lillian
You have left and gone away, Lillian
Though I know you could not stay,
We will meet again some day -
In the sweet bye and bye, Lillian.
Lillian, Lillian
It just looked like you were sleeping,
Lillian
Though we put you in the ground,
Well we knew you’re heaven-bound
Lillian, Lillian, Lillian
Lillian, Lillian
There’s a hole now in our hearts, Lillian
Though we grieve that you are gone
Still we know your fire lives on
Lillian, Lillian, Lillan
This
probably wins the prize for the most tracks I’ve ever used in an song! It’s an
old cowboy classic we first heard from the Flying “W” Wranglers in Colorado
Springs, and we identified with this song because we have felt the same tension
the composer did between our work in Colorado and our family back in the South.
I used Sonic Foundry’s canned drums and played banjo, mandolin, guitar, Jews
Harp, and Bass. My son, Josh, did a fantastic job on the lead vocal, and I did BGV’s.
Sometimes I can
lay there in my bedroll
With the smell of bacon frying on the fire
The morning dew all beaded on my blanket
Slept all night and woke up just as tired
Because my old saddle's not as soft a pillow
As the Summer clouds slowly rolling by.
I can almost make out faces I remember
Staring up at that old Colorado sky
I can see you there by the weepin' willow tree,
Brushing back your hair and laughing at me.
And you're just as clear as teardrop in my
eye,
Starin' up at that
old Colorado sky.
I can sit and sip on my last cup of coffee
Feel the coolness of the gentle nighttime
breeze.
The campfire coals are glowing in the
darkness,
Burning down like some old memories
Then I lay back down and look at the pictures
Being painted by a million stars on high,
And it takes me through the stories of a
lifetime
Starin' up at that
old Colorado sky.
LillySong
I create a special song for each of my children, the first six of which are on my For the Kids album, but this one is for my little Lilly. Thanks to Nathan Clark George for playing banjo and guitar and engineering the recording. ©2002 Nate Wilson.
From the words of Jesus in
Matthew 11:28-29. Melody ©2002 Nate Wilson. Piano and voice by Paula Wilson
Come unto Me all you who labor,
and I will give you rest.
Come unto Me, all who are laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,
For I am meek and lowly of heart.
Come unto Me all you who labor,
and I will give you rest.
Photo by Jeff Hathaway
While reading Hannah Hurnard’s book, Hinds
Feet on High Places to my children, I put some of the poetry to music. Here’s
the tune I made for Hurnard’s versification of
Canticles 8:6-7.
Set me as a seal upon thine
heart,
Thou Love more strong than death,
That I may feel though every part
Thy burning fiery breath.
And then like wax held in the flame,
May take the imprint of thy Name.
Set me as a seal upon thine
arm,
Thou Love that bursts the grave,
Thy coals of fire can never harm,
But only purge and save,
Thou jealous Love, thou burning Flame,
Oh burn out all unlike thy Name.
The floods can never drown thy Love,
Nor weaken thy desire,
The rains may deluge from above,
But never quench thy fire.
Make soft my heart in thy strong flame,
To take the imprint of thy Name.
What A Friend/Praise My Soul
This medley of modern hymns, starts with Rowland Pritchard’s tune “Hyfrydol” (“Jesus What a Friend for Sinners”) and ends with Mark Andrews’ new tune to the classic Lauda Anima (“Praise My Soul The King of Heaven.”) Guitar arrangement ©2002 Nate Wilson.
Photo by Jeff Hathaway
©2002 Beni Wilson. My 9-year-old son, Beni composed this lovely little lullabye - that’s his voice you hear on the recording. I arranged
a piano accompaniment for it, and had both of us sitting on the piano bench to
record the piano part - Beni playing the bass notes and me playing the high
notes. Oh yes, the final phrase is sung by 3-year-old Grace Anne.
Jesus is high above the sky
He feeds his sheep near waters deep
Through sun and rain above the plain
Jesus is high above the sky
Jesus is high deep through the night
He tends his sheep when there’re asleep
All through the night ‘till morning light
Jesus is high deep through the night.
Acoustic Midwifery Album ©2001 Nate
Wilson
