Response To Daniel Mount’s Distinctive Song Intros
Daniel Mount continues to create lists. His latest “Top 5: Most Distinctive Southern Gospel Song Intros” was interesting enough for me to try to come up with a list of my own in response.
I’d disagree with Daniel’s choice of “Midnight Cry,” if for no other reason than the fact that Gold City eventually grew so tired of the original intro that even THEY changed it. I also disagree that the intro to “Jerusalam” is more recognizable than “Shoutin’ Time.” It may be more unique and therefore qualify as “distinctive,” but it isn’t more recognizable.
For contrast, here’s my list…I didn’t place my Top Five in any particular order.
1. “Oh What A Savior” (Cathedrals) – I agree with Daniel and Tyler’s comments regarding this title in the comment section of Daniel’s article. You’d have to settle on which version. I think there IS a definitive intro to the song, though. Even when it’s a local group using the Cathedrals original track or a copy of the Cathedrals arrangement they’ve had made for themselves, within seconds…in fact, by the time the vocals kick in with what is actually a tag from the chorus (”He gave His life blood for even me”), a concert crowd already has the hammer cocked and ready to fire as soon as the tenor finally gets around to joining “the chorus in that great city.” Many crowds can’t even wait that long. Some will applaud as soon as they hear the intro.
2. “Where Could I Go” (Gaither Vocal Band) – This rather simple bass guitar intro kicks off the song that kicked off the entire Homecoming phenomenon.
3. “Get Away Jordan” (Statesmen/Dove Brothers/Ernie Haase & Signature Sound) – This is nothing but a chord on the piano and four voices building a V7 chord from the bottom up, but it’s enough to immediately thrill a crowd. Even though EH&SS made some fairly substantial changes to the arrangement on their recorded version, they left the intro pretty much the same because they recognized the appeal of keeping it simple (double stacking the vocals on the intro notwithstanding).
4. “I Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now” (Happy Goodmans) – That piano lick catches your attention immediately.
5. “Terrible Time Down There” (Triumphant Quartet) – That gong, the minor key and the chromatic descending piano aren’t something you hear every day in Southern Gospel.
Honorable mentions include:
“Standing In The Safety Zone” (J D Sumner & The Stamps, the Let’s Have Church arrangement by Michael Sykes and Michael Enlish) – “ooo like ah like ah like…ooo like ah like ah like…” I have no idea what it means, but it catches my ear right away.
“Goin’ Away Party” (Jeff & Sheri Easter) – Another Michael Sykes project with a memorable musical hook to draw you in from the very beginning.
“I Saw The Light” (Oak Ridge Boys) – OK…now I’m stuck on CDs Michael Sykes has produced…
“How Deep Is The Water” (Gold City) – Drums, guitar, a bit of harmonica set up this memorable classic by Gold City.
“Jesus Will Pick You Up” (Brian Free & Assurance) – This song may not have been as popular as “Long As I Got King Jesus,” but the intro is more definitive. I think it’s the better song, too.
“Steps” (Booth Brothers) – I absolutely LOVE the arrangement of this song. The piano on the intro with its clashing seconds sets the stage perfectly.
Terrible Time Down There occurred to me as well. I can’t remember whether I gave it honorable mention.
And as to creating lists…well, when you’ve made a commitment to put something up every day, you can’t stick to just one type of post or you will very quickly run out of content!
Keep it up. I enjoy reading your lists.
BTW, Get Away Jordan would definitely have made my top 10 if I’d not been strictly seeking instrumental licks. That is also why OWAS wasn’t on my top 10. (For that matter, that’s why it wasn’t a top 10.)
Daniel mentioned a 2007 song by Triumphant: “I Know I’m Going Home”. I’ll throw my hat in the ring and list a 2006 song: Legacy Five’s “I Have Been Changed”.
I had forgot how good a song “Steps” was untill you mentioned it. Larry Gatlain wrote a great song with that.
Speaking of he Booth’s, “Still Feeling Fine” deserves mention.
I for one can’t stand the later version of “Midnight Cry”. I think they drag out the chorus too long. One thing that attracted me to it in the first place was the arrangement’s crispness.
Jesus Will Pick You Up goes over very well live. Every BFA concert I’ve been to, when they kick off that song, the crowd cheers. Jeremy Lile gives it so much more than what is offered on the CD with Keith Plott (who has some very good solo songs now, I might add).
Going a little old-school here, but what about the Oaks’ classic recording of “Jesus Is Coming Soon”? The lone fiddle (which, even back then, was somewhat of a rarity) and steel guitar tells you EXACTLY what the song is right off the bat (for me, even before the rest of the band comes in).
So effective is this intro that it was kept almost entirely intact when they recut the song in 2004. The only change was that the steel guitar was switched to a dobro, but the licks were identical.