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latest songwriting contest: "Blue Like Jazz" | |
status: voting (25 votes so far) | |
| The challenge: write a song inspired by the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller | |
| The specifics: must have at least two verses and a chorus | |
| The deadline: Monday, August 22, 2005, by 8:00 A.M. | |
Entry from Ichabod's Fortune: Pursue MeThis song basically came from something that kept popping up in "Blue Like Jazz". It's probably something that Donald Miller never really intended to place much emphasis on, but I couldn't help but notice it regardless. I couldn't help but see in just about every story Donald told that God was relentless in His pursuit of those He loves (everyone). In every story we would see how God would try to teach truth and how He would offer salvation only to have the needy one flee. The flight might be physical, emotional, or intellectual, but everyone found some excuse or another not to believe. Despite the chase, God always caught His prey in the end. I suppose that is the main inspiration for "Pursue Me". -- Ichabod's Fortune |
Entry from ShadowMoses: SalesmenIn reading the book, I was especially struck by chapter 11, in which the author details a "confession booth" he and his friends set up at Reed College during Ren Fayre. Dressed as monks, they waited for unwary wanderers to come in, and then proceeded to confess to their visitors the sins of Christendom and their own. I loved the idea, and for several years I've been very sensitive to generally how terrible Christians are at making their own faith appealing. And, conversely, how good they are alienating and attacking outsiders. This song explores what sort of God would put sinful man to be His primary advocates, and the lunacy of our using the God of the Universe to further our own particular agendas. -- ShadowMoses |
| Pursue Me - 5:54 • 2.7 MB Ogg Vorbis file • 3.5 MB mp3 • lyrics | Salesmen - 4:39 • 2.1 MB Ogg Vorbis file • 2.8 MB mp3 • lyrics |
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These songs are ©2005 Brothers Frail and are distributed (and distributable) under a Creative Commons license. | |
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The "best" version of these to download are the Ogg Vorbis files, which give very good sound quality in a small file size. If you can't play Ogg Vorbis files, or you're not sure, then get the mp3s instead, or you can try to download and install the DirectShow filters, which will enable Windows Media Player to play Ogg Vorbis files, as well as a few other audio formats. After installing, you may have to reboot the machine to get Windows Media Player to notice the new codecs. | |
How to vote: First, if you know how, please save us bandwidth by downloading the files to your hard drive rather than just listening to them online.
To hear the (slightly) higher-quality Ogg Vorbis versions, install the DirectShow filters for Windows Media Player, or use a player like Winamp that supports them out of the box.
Then read the blurbs associated with each song. Open up the lyrics and read them while you listen to each song. Ideally, you'd listen to each song more than once. Consider lyrics and melody of the song, and decide which one you think is best.
Finally, email both of us ('paul' at this domain, and 'graham' at this domain) with your preference. We'll each keep a tally, and in a couple of weeks (or once we get a certain number of votes), the voting will close and we'll declare a winner.
By popular demand, we've just added mp3 versions of the songs. They are larger and lower quality than the Ogg Vorbis files, but they should be easier to listen to for folks that couldn't get the DirectShow filters working.
Also, whichever one of us is Ichabod's Fortune has uploaded a newer "take" of Pursue Me, with a better-sounding vocal track.
And what's with the psuedonyms? Most of you who have heard either of us sing in person know darn well which song is sung by whom. But for the rest (most of Graham's students, for example), having the songs be somewhat anonymous helps reduce unintentional bias.
If you can tell the difference, though, that's not a problem either. Just don't go telling the world and ruining the game for the rest of us.
Actually late Tuesday night....
The files for the "Blue Like Jazz" songwriting contest are now up. One of them is Paul's and the other is Graham's. Download both to your hard drive, listen to both, and decide which you like better. Then email both of us with your preference.
Yes, we know this site looks a lot like grahammitchell.com at the moment. We'll work on a better site design later.