Today’s featured song: Psalm 121 (He Will Not Let You Fall) by the Calvary Chapel Worship Community from the 1984 album Psalms Alive 2.

These songs from Tape JM-31 were taken off of (wait for it) … a cassette tape. And, being the frugal person I am, I did not want to waste one inch of tape to leave it blank. So, at some point, the tape on one one side or the other would run out, and what I would do was to record a song that either I already had a copy of, or one that I liked but not so much that it would bother me if it was shortened. That is what this, track 21, represents. However, it really is a good song, and since I did not take it off the radio but added it to this JM tape from the vinyl record album from which it came, I decided to here include the full version (not the one that was cut at the end). (By the way, the fact that I’ve reached 21 tracks on one side of a cassette means that this almost certainly was a 120 minute cassette; most of the tapes I recorded onto were 90 minute cassettes, but a good quality 120 minute tape was very doable.)

This song is also an example of my growing enjoyment of music that was focused on worship and praise. Songs of evangelism, or a clever turn of phrase, or a good tune, these all were still enjoyable to me, but I found that songs like this, and those in the Praise Album series by Maranatha! Music (which long preceded the worship music boom of the 1990s) were much more relaxing and lifting than things by someone who was more pop oriented. At this time in my life, I still enjoyed the pop music of high school and college (by then, they were oldies), although a steady diet of them was eventually wearing to my spirit (it was like having candy to eat all the time; after a while, it got tiresome). The Jesus music featured in many posts on this blog, and for most of what has been on this tape JM-31 so far, was something I could listen to for a longer time, but even this would get old (like having steak all the time). Worship music seemed far more nourishing to my soul, and was ultimately one of the places where I focused my listening as the 1980s wore into the 1990s.

This song is a good example of the worship and praise music that came out of Calvary Chapel during the Jesus music years.

I look up to the mountains
To the hills I turn my eyes
Who will come to help me?
Can I find a place to hide?

The One who made the heavens
And the earth will hear my call
The Lord will come to help me
And He will not let me fall

He will not let you fall
He will not let you fall
He is never weary
And He will not let you fall

He will not let you fall
He will not let you fall
He is never weary
And He will not let you fall

The One who watches Israel
Will His vigil keep
Through the burning sunlight
And in the darkness deep

Constantly beside you
You need not fear at all
The Lord is there to help you
And He will not let you fall

He will not let you fall
He will not let you fall
He is never weary
And He will not let you fall

He will not let you fall
He will not let you fall
He is never weary
And He will not let you fall

So when you are in danger
And by trouble you are found
And your very soul is threatened by
The evil all around

In all of your ways
And in your troubles great and small
Now and ever after
He will not let you fall

He will not let you fall
He will not let you fall
He is never weary
And He will not let you fall

He will not let you fall
He will not let you fall
He is never weary
And He will not let you fall

(repeat)