presentsense

Since I Am Broken

Since I Am Broken

©2008 Eli Renner

Since I am broken

Would you come heal me?

Since I am sinking

Would you throw me a lifeline?

Since I am fearful

Would you stay with me?

I come to you the way I am

'Cause I am not ashamed to ask for help

You have never let me down

I am not ashamed to ask for help

You will never let me down

Since I am foolish

Would you please teach me?

Since I have fallen

Would you reach out and pick me up?

Since I am lonely

Would you embrace me?

I come to you the way I am

'Cause I am not ashamed to ask for help

You have never let me down

I am not ashamed to ask for help

You will never let me down (2x)

Have mercy, Son of David

I don't look much like you

Remake me in your image

Make all things new, make all things new (2x)

I am not ashamed to ask for help

You have never let me down

I am not ashamed to ask for help

You will never let me down (repeat...)

Download Broken 

Resolution 2009

Last year, I believe I made two resolutions and posted them here on this blog:

Listening to my iTunes Library all the way through

Not buying anything "brand new"

OK, so on the latter, we did pretty well. I don't have any numbers to crunch on it, and we did lapse a bit at Christmas once again, but throughout the rest of the year we pretty much stayed on target. I can't think of one CD or Book that I actually bought for myself brand new. I did acquire quite a bit of downloaded music and used CDs. But most everything - including this snazzy iMac on which I type - was bought used or refurbished.

So on the former, I did not succeed, but I did not fail. I started the year with some 9,000 or so tracks to listen to, but then I changed computers, and in the process of that, the play counts on every track in my library were wiped out, which left me with 14,000 tracks, all with zero play count. So I started over, and got that number down to around 5,000 by 12/31. Technically, that means I did listen to at least 9,000 tracks, just not the list I had originally identified. So by special dispensation (by me to me), I have carried that goal over to 2009.

As for a new goal - here goes:

I would like to discipline myself to write one new song each month of 2009. That's it.

Who said IU had nothing to be proud of?

a creative day...

Took half day off to work on a song with Steph. Got it mostly tracked. It's missing something, but I haven't figured out what yet. I am trying to be as minimalist as I can, but it always seems like the tracks end up having basically the same 5 instruments, and way too much noise stacked on top of itself. Nature of the beast I suppose. Steph's voice sounds really good, and Garage Band hasn't ceased to amaze me. Did you know it has a rudimentary auto-tune built in, as well as some weird audio-track quantizer? Yeah, well the auto-tune doesn't sound half bad, when locked into the right key, and told to work at about 30-40% of perfect. As for the quantizer, I can guess how it's doing it, but I accidentally applied it to a track, and wasn't very happy. Pitch is fixable, but rhythm takes some serious cutting and pasting.

I can't imagine what it must have been like back when the only editing options were literally a razor blade and tape. I am glad technology has caught up to my lack of patience.  Now I can "see her words" and line them up to the beat. Brilliant.

If anyone knows of a good crash course on mixing (home recording for dummies or something), let me know. I know how the program works and what everything does, but when it comes to style, I tend to stack one thing on top of another until I get a wall of noise.

New Song: Grace for Now

I started writing this song yesterday, and finished recording it today at lunch. Feel free to use it if you want to. The lyrics are a loose adaptation of this post.

Download grace_for_now.mp3  .

Grace For Now
Eli Renner

Father I come
Into Your presence
Asking for help
Come to my defense
My fears are great
You are much greater
I put my trust in You

Your grace for now - Is all I need
Your Spirit-power - my guarantee
I boldly come - I daily feed
Your grace for now - Is all I need

Don't know the plan
Yet I don't fear it
Kingdom at hand
I'm led by Your Spirit
When changes come
You are unchanging
I put my trust in You

Chorus

Two things I know
True are they still
You never change
But everything else will (repeat)

New Year's resolution milestone...

The New Year's resolution was to listen at least once to every song in my library. Today, right now actually, I am listening to song #10,000. That means, after it's done, there will be 9,999 to go. I know the numbers might not jibe from when I started, but that's because when I moved the library from a PC to a Mac earlier this year, all the playcounts were reset. So I essentially had to start over at 14,000-and-somthing. And now, I am having to go into the office more often for work, which cuts down on my rate of listening. I have really got to get cranking on this thing to meet my goal.

As for the winning song, it's at the bottom of the post.

----------------
Now playing: Matt Redman - The Father's Song
via FoxyTunes   

No, it's not just you...

Rush? Check...
Rock Band? Check?...
"Tom Sawyer" on expert? Not so much...

Songs and Scars

Songs and Scars

The most personal of all the songs in the "Our Share of Rain" bunch. A "meta-song" or song about songs, if you will. Entirely recorded in my kitchen in Indiana. (Me - acoustic and electric guitars, bass, vocal. Mark mixed this at his home studio)

I Press In

I Press In

Beth Fox and I wrote this a few years ago, and she recorded it on her album A Little Help Along the Road. I reworked it into a slow swing jazz duet with Mark and Lonnie's help. Oh yeah, and that's my lovely new wife's voice singing with me for the first time. (Mark - guitar, bass, drum programming. Lonnie - piano. Me - vocal. Stephanie Renner - vocal.)

To Don't List

To Don't List

This one didn't really have anything to do with the divorce, but it was written and recorded during the same time period. Listen for my buddy Lonnie Fowler on keys and B3. (Me - bass, vocals. Mark - guitar, sax solo. Lonnie Fowler - piano, B3.)