Author: dan

day 5 – [5in5]

[this song was inspired by the photograph above which in turn caused me to do a little study of cathedrals. the thought behind them is that as you walk into a cathedral you suddenly realize how small you are. you look up because of the surrounding beauty. as i continued thinking about it, i wondered if we could be like cathedrals – live beautiful lives that would cause those around us to look up and see our creator. a sincere thank you for helping me look up this week.]

cathedrals
by daniel john

walking in
to the house
of the holy
stained glass windows
tell the story
as the lights
falling down
on the lowly
i can see

deeper
higher

marching by
every life
their own glory
wondering what
has become
of their story
with the storms
reigning over
the lowly
can they see?

we could be
cathedrals

cathedrals [5in5 version] by danieljohn

copyright 2011 danieljohnmusic.com

day 4 – [5in5]

about this song: Jesse wrote all the lyrics to this song after learning about our [5in5] challenge. He wrote the melody line and I wrote the piano part and helped on a few minor rhythms. He wanted to “summarize” the story of the Bible. I think he did well.

god’s favor

in the beginning
god created heavens and earth
he said i’m gonna give a new birth
gonna create a man
in my own image yeah!
i’m gonna call him man
and then name him adam
oh yeah adam
oh oh

then he talked to abraham
he said I’m gonna give you many sons
look at all the stars
and see how far it goes oh

i’m gonna do a favor
gonna send a savior
in your family yeah
in your family (x2)

then a small baby child
was born in a mild place
ooh yeah
you could see his little face
oh yeah
his little face
yeah
yeah

then he started to grow
learn about the holy ghost
later he was was crucified
all the ladies cried
for jesus had died
god even sighed

then they put him in a tomb
it was kinda like his own room
then it was opened
an angel sat on it
then the ladies came
the angel said
he’s not dead
oh yeah
he has risen
he went to heaven
amen
it is finished

copyright 2011 danieljohnmusic.com

The truth is that I really did not expect this [5in5] project to take off like it has. In fact, as Felicity and I were talking it over this morning, we both had assumed that our little group of friends, artists, & songwriters would mostly post songs for each other to hear and comment on. My original hope was that each artist would be encouraged to write 5 songs with the help of the daily deadline. That was my prospect and it was enough motivation for me to start this up. I wanted to encourage us to write and put something out because we needed to do it. I needed to do it. I have known it since I heard this quote at the DreamYear Conference in January:

“80% perfect but out there will change lives more than 100% perfect but stuck inside of your head” – Jon Acuff

So we all took action & began writing the 80%. Then something surprising happened. YOU. Your encouragement, comments, facebook posts, song ideas, and emails have been so amazing. Thank you for listening to us and for prodding & applauding. This has been such a rewarding experience and I needed to stop today to say “Thank You” – from all of us!

I wanted to quickly update you too. To help keep this project better organized and more accessible for everyone (and due to the wonderful response) I have created a page dedicated to [5in5]. You can access it (with all the current links to the songs) up above in the menu bar or by clicking on the [5in5] music sessions picture in this post. Be sure and keep checking back because we are just getting started.

In fact, next week I will begin giving details for a brand new project that will begin here soon! I am not going to give you the details today, but I will tell you that it will be entirely different than the [5in5] music sessions. Come back next week for the run down because I think you are going to love what comes next….

DJ

day 3 – [5in5]

our song
by felicity & daniel john

darkened houses
lonely people
empty churches
crooked steeples

they’re singing out
we need a song
we need a song

every corner
hearts broken
has death
already spoken

they’re singing out
we need a song
we need a song

hope arising
making amends
final chapter
o how love mends

and your grace
will be our song
we’ll sing it loud
until we all sing along

our song [5in5 version] by danieljohn

copyright 2011 danieljohnmusic.com

music & lyrics

If you were wondering – YES, this is what my evenings have looked like lately with Felicity! I am also sure that I am not the only artist who has been working out lyrics and melodies the past two evenings.

I thought to help centralize all the music & lyrical fun we’ve been having that I would post links to all of day 1 & 2’s songs from the [5in5] challenge. Before I post the links I wanted to let you know that we have a new addition (Molly Nickerson…woohoo!) and someone I forgot to mention yesterday (Cameron Kelly….sorry Cam!). Please be sure to go and check out what they are writing and leave a tip (comment).

Here are all the songwriters – enjoy!

Molly Nickerson @mollynick
day 2

Cameron Kelly
day 1
day 2

Ryan and Charity Long
day 1
day 2

Ruth Pingel @ruthpingel
day 1
day 2

Jason Benson @bensonhead
day 1
day 2

Eleanor Benson
day 1
day 2

Eliza Bock
day 1
day 2

Daniel John @danieljohn
Felicity White @felicitywhite
day 1
day 2