I recently found this song from 2005 in my music collection, and on playing it was absolutely caught up in how amazing it is. It brought me back to one of the large Easter services that my church held years ago when I got to be in the worship choir. It was meaningful to me then, and still is today!
When I discovered this song again and started playing it, I could not stop. I had to put it on repeat and play it again and again and again. There are many Easter songs in the history of the Church, and all are important, but this particular one is to me one of the very best!
On this Easter Sunday 2017, rejoice in the certainty that Jesus rose from the dead, and that His life opened the way for us to have life also, both now and eternally!
(Celebrate! He’s alive!)
Let the children sing
A song of liberation
The God of our salvation
Set us free
Death, where is thy sting?
The curse of sin is broken
The empty tomb stands open,
Come and see!He’s alive, alive, alive, Hallelujah!
Alive! Praise and glory to the Lamb.
Alive, alive, alive, Hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, Amen!Let my heart sing out,
For Christ, the One and only
So powerful and holy
Rescued me
Death won’t hurt me now
Because He has redeemed me
No grave will ever keep me
From my KingI’m alive, alive, alive, allelujah!
Alive! Praise and glory to the Lamb!
I’m alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, AmenI’m alive, alive, alive, allelujah!
Alive! Praise and glory to the Lamb!
I’m alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, AmenWorthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! praise and glory to the Lamb.
He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, Amen!He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! praise and glory to the Lamb.
He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, Amen!He’s alive! Forever, Amen!
He’s alive! Forever, Amen!He’s alive!
He’s alive!
He’s alive!(Come on, celebrate!)
He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive
He’s alive, he’s alive!
He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive
He’s alive, he’s alive!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!Worthy is the Lamb, worthy of our praise
Worthy is the One who has overcome the grave
Let the people dance, let the people sing
Worthy is the mighty King!He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! praise and glory to the Lamb.
He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, AmenHe’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! praise and glory to the Lamb.
He’s alive, alive, alive, hallelujah!
Alive! Forever, AmenHe’s alive, forever, Amen!
He’s alive, forever, Amen!
Here are the songs of 1980, as featured on the Jesus Music Timesweep 1980-89:
I tend to do posting here on a sporadic basis, and the last time I did consistent posting was over two years ago. It’s not that I’ve lost any interest in Jesus music and the lyrics for it, but other activities take my attention for a while.
In the past two years, I have discovered the ability of posting some of my unique recordings as videos on YouTube. The audio recordings of The Larry Black Show and the Maranatha! Concerts are now available on YouTube in playlists:
The Larry Black Show:
Maranatha! Concert (Isaac Air Freight, Keith Green, Tom Howard, Randy Stonehill, and the Sweet Comfort Band):
But the project for which I am most excited are two Jesus Music Timesweep videos. I have one for 1969-79, and one now for 1980-89.
What the heck is a Timesweep, you might ask? All of you have heard these in the past for top 40 rock music, even if you didn’t realize that is what it was. On WLS in Chicago, a tradition was started in the early 1970s in which at New Year’s Eve the station played a spliced cut of music in the history of rock, from 1960 to the current year, brief clips that originally lasted about 1 minute for each year of music. As time went by, the Montage become (obviously) longer and more complex, including some of the WLS jingles during each of the eras of music that were featured. Like many others, I enjoyed these, and recorded them when I was able.
When the Drake-Chenault History of Rock ‘n Roll “rockumentary” appeared on radio stations across the country, they featured their own version of a montage, based on the number 1 songs for each year from 1955 to the year in which the History was played. They called it a “timesweep”, and I like that term better.
What I realized last year was that although there were brief little such montages that were used on Christian radio stations for their own promotional purposes, no one (to my knowledge) set up a full-blown survey of the music of the Jesus music era. Thanks to the research tools available on the Internet now in the early 21st century, it became possible for a person like myself who did not work at a radio station or had a huge personal collection to create a montage/timesweep that was as professional as any produced by radio station engineers “back in the day”.
I produced the first Jesus Music Timesweep for the years 1969 to 1979 over a period of several months, and published it on YouTube back in April of this year.
Don’t know why I didn’t promote it here; it just didn’t occur to me, and I did share it on Facebook. However, WordPress has made it easier and easier to share videos with their later revisions, and so putting a video here is no more complicated than including the link.
After recovering from the work of producing the first one, I began to research the next decade of music, and just now completed it.
The work in creating these is not trivial. I first have to combine several different lists of top songs for each year, and then look for the audio of those songs. Surprisingly, YouTube has an incredible amount of music that has been uploaded in the form of videos, sometimes from the record companies themselves. There was some music that I could not find on YouTube, and since I wanted to create a playlist of music for each year, I later uploaded a number of these songs myself.
Once I had access to the songs themselves, it was a matter of capturing a 3 to 7 second sampling of each song, which I then spliced together using Apple’s excellent GarageBand software.
Creating the audio was only a part of the job. Since a video is more interesting if there is something to watch, I decided to create a slide for each song that displayed the album cover for that song, the title, artist, and what place it had on the top songs list.
The final result is something that I myself enjoy listening to, and hope that there are others who also enjoy it.
In the next few posts I will include the links to video playlists for each of the years from 1969 to 1989 that are featured on the two Timesweeps.
Tags: Jesus Music, playlists, Timesweep, YouTube
Today’s featured song: I Don’t Want To Go Back by Alan Robertson from the 1983 album of the same name.
The last track on Tape JM-31 from 1984 is a fun one. In the realm of Jesus music, there were a handful of big names, with multiple hit songs that got a lot of airplay, did lots of touring, and became well known. And there were many thousands of less well-known performers who have ministered through their music for many years, to much less public acclaim. Despite not having the careers or notoriety of an Amy Grant, Love Song, Keith Green, or The Imperials, these people have had a dedicated life of serving the Lord through their music.
The artist I am focusing on today is Alan Robertson. I heard this song of his on KCRO and taped it on this cassette, and must have had a friend who bought the album, as one of my other tapes has a short song also from this 1983 album. He has been singing and ministering to people for over 30 years, and on his web site (where he goes by his full name, Alan Root Roberson), he identifies himself with the great name, a “musicianary”, and has done many things in his years. Until I tried to find something about this obscure album on the Internet, I had not known of work he’s done over the years. Enjoy this song that looks at what life was without Jesus, how it is with Him, and why you don’t want to go back to the way things were!
I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go backI don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go back (back back back)Speeding down the road of life, out of control
Satan was the driver, and he wanted my soul
God knows how I bailed out and I hitched another ride
And when I say I don’t want to go back, that’s no lieI don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
Had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go backI don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
Had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go backLiving in a garbage can with the top on tight
Eating lots of trash and I just couldn’t see the light
The noose around my neck was close to running out of slack
Then God sent me some liberty, and I don’t want to go backI don’t want to go back (don’t want to go)
I don’t want to go back (don’t want to go)
Had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go back (don’t want to go back)I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go backWhen your host is wicked, and treats you like dirt
When the food he feeds you tastes just like an old shirt
When someone comes along and shows He loves you for a fact
It kind of tends to make you never go backI don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go backI don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go backI don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back …
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Tags: Alan Robertson, KCRO
