Lord, you are my all (My everything)

During 2006 I have been working with Esther McCarthy, a young singer/songwriter form Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk,
recording her debut album. (check out www.esthermccarthy.co.uk )

Right near the end of this process (which has just finished as I write this) we talked about writing a song together. I went away and worked on the music and a couple of lyric hooks, and gave Esther a CD with my ramblings on the following week. Over August, Esther worked on the lyrics and when we re-convened in September to finish the album, we recorded the song - and it works !!!

The song is a little challenging in that it modulates up a semitone of every verse into the chorus - starting in D, then Eb, then E, then F
It has a real gospel feel and the chorus needs the alto and tenor harmonies to feel 'big'
(I will post the chorus S-A-T harmony sheet here at some point here)

The bridge can be missed out for use in worship - it was written as a bit of a tongue twister fun (the word 'forever' continually moved around rhythmically and appears at almost every point in the bar over the 4 bar sequence !)

Lord, you are my all, You are my everything
And I'll forever praise you
Lord, you are my joy, The reason that I sing
And I'll forever praise your name

When times are good, When times are bad
My times are in your hands
And I know that If I can praise, despite my place
Your love will lift me through Will lift me through

When friends are here, When friends are gone
When friends keep moving on
I know if I can trust when things get rough
Your love will lift me through Will lift me through

When faith is high, When faith is low
When faith is all I know
I found if I can sing in spite of everything
Your love will lift me through, Will lift me through

I’ll forever praise you, I’ll forever praise your name,
Forever I’ll praise you forever, I’ll will praise you, praise you

Andrew Rayner & Esther McCarthy
© 2006 Wendy House Music

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