My life is anew in Christ

jimistone

jimistone

long standing member
A gospel song based on Corinthians chap. 5 about having new life in Christ:


I've been renewed and saved today,
The old things have all passed away,
My life is made anew in Christ

I was a slave to sinful things,
Now I'm a slave to the King of Kings
My life is made anew in Christ.

(1st Bridge)
He shed his precious blood,
To save a wretch like me,
His amazing Love
And grace has set me free!
Set me free!

I've been washed and firm I'll stand,
Holding to His nailed pierced hand,
My life is made anew in Christ.

Things are sweeter than they used to be,
Jesus made a change in me,
My life is made anew in Christ.

(2nd Bridge)
I don't deserve the love,
He poured out at calvary,
But He made my sin His own,
When they nailed Him to that tree,
Nailed to the tree!

I will crucify the flesh each day,
And strive to walk the narrow way,
My life is made anew in Christ.

Oh Lamb of God you took my sin,
Now I've been washed and born again.
My life is made anew in Christ.

(Bridge)
He shed His precious Blood,
To save a wretch like me,
His amazing love,
And grace have set me free.
Set me free!
 
Last edited:
jokerone said:
try it with the music of American Pie. It might work.
Click to expand...

Actually, I had the music and melody before I started on the lyric. The reoccuring line "my life is made anew in Christ" flowed really well with the melody and I basically wrote the rest of the lyric around that.
Thanks for checking it out and commenting jokerone, I really appreciate it
 
Lyrics seem pretty good, but for me it is hard to tell without the music behind it. You have a post with the music?
 
I did some tweaking on this lyric:

I've been renewed and saved today,
The old things have all passed away,
My life is made anew in Christ

I was a slave to sinful things,
Now I'm a slave to the King of Kings
My life is made anew in Christ.

(1st Bridge)
He shed his precious blood,
To save a wretch like me,
His amazing Love
And grace has set me free!
Set me free!

I'm bought with blood and firm I'll stand,
Holding to His nailed pierced hand,
My life is made anew in Christ.

Things are sweeter than they used to be,
Jesus made a change in me,
My life is made anew in Christ.

(2nd Bridge)
I don't deserve the love,
He poured out at calvary,
But He made my sin His own,
When they nailed Him to that tree,
He was there for me!

I will crucify my flesh each day,
And strive to walk the narrow way,
My life is made anew in Christ.

Oh Lamb of God you took my sin,
Now I've been washed and born again.
My life is made anew in Christ.


(Bridge)
He cried Father please forgive them,
For they know not what they do.
as He died and said "it's finished"
He gave us life anew!
 
The lyrics have a good flow and the rhyme scheme works well with the way you've got the verse/bridge set.

Nicely done sir. :)

I'd like to hear what you've got for the music too.
 
Just a few VERY minor things. This is a very nice lyric.

Holding to His nail pierced hand,
and Calvary is a proper noun...
The bridge sounds clumsy, but it's really hard to say without the context of the music. And that's only the first time I read it...then I caught on to the meter. :)

Man, that's it. This is beautiful. I love the second half of the first verse. Well put!
You have the same problem I do when writing message based Christian lyrics...a set chorus is almost IMPOSSIBLE. :D
 
Thanks, dog and broken.
I think I will post a sparse acoustic guitar/vocal demo to kind of give some musical context.
I really appreciate the comments!
 
DM60 said:
Lyrics seem pretty good, but for me it is hard to tell without the music behind it. You have a post with the music?
Click to expand...

I'm going to record it when I get home tonight. Won't be any elaborate production but it will put a melody and meter to put the lyric in musical context.
Thanks for the comments
 
Last edited:
BroKen_H said:
Just a few VERY minor things. This is a very nice lyric.

Holding to His nail pierced hand,
and Calvary is a proper noun...
The bridge sounds clumsy, but it's really hard to say without the context of the music. And that's only the first time I read it...then I caught on to the meter. :)

Man, that's it. This is beautiful. I love the second half of the first verse. Well put!
You have the same problem I do when writing message based Christian lyrics...a set chorus is almost IMPOSSIBLE. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right about choruses being tough to compose to message songs. Bear one thing in mind though...a song with a constant refrain line dosen't actually need a chorus! :)
An example is Dylans "Everybody must get stoned"

That one line is a constant refrain and actually IS the chorus.
actually, a chorus would sound out of place in that song and mess up the flow.

That's kind of what I'm doing to the constant refrain: "My life is made anew in Christ".
Will it work?
It's hard to say until I record a demo and listen objectively.
 
Ok...
This isn't even to the cheezy demo level. It's a poor guitar performance and vocal performance with timing issues(caught myself rushing the tempo a couple of times)
I'm only posting it to give musical context to the lyric.
Also, I rearranged order of the verses to give a more coherent message for the song:

I'm renewed and saved today,
The old things have all passed away,
My life is made anew in Christ

I was a slave to sinful things,
Now I'm a slave to the King of Kings
My life is made anew in Christ.

(1st Bridge)
He shed his precious blood,
To save a wretch like me,
His amazing Love
And grace has set me free!
Set me free!

I'm bought with blood and firm I'll stand,
Holding to His nail scared hand,
My life is made anew in Christ.

Things are sweeter than they used to be,
Jesus made a change in me,
My life is made anew in Christ.

(2nd Bridge)
I don't deserve the love,
poured out at Calvary,
where He made our sin His own,
When we nailed Him to that tree,
He was there for me!

I will crucify my flesh each day,
And strive to walk the narrow way,
My life is made anew in Christ.

Oh Lamb of God you took my sin,
And I've been washed and born again.
My life is made anew in Christ.

(Bridge)
He cried "Father please forgive them,
For they know not what they do.
When He said "it's finished"
He gave us life anew!
life is made anew!

https://m.soundcloud.com/jimistone/anew-in-christ
 
Last edited:
The chorus line melody needs a bit more work. It's the "Life" word that isn't doing it for me. I would maybe go lower and add the high note you're singing now as a harmony. The rest is great - being a catholic I can dig these types of songs.
 
Thanks ido.
I agree with you. Upon listening to this after recording it, the refrain is annoying and monotonous sounding ...especially the word "life" as you pointed out.
I agree that going to a high note on "life" dosen't sound good and I had already decided that it needed to be changed.

Sometimes what you hear in your head just dosen't translate.
This is one of those times. I'm actually rethinking on whether or not to strike the entire refrain idea and maybe just do a chorus.
I've learned you can't get too attached to any one idea, concept, or lyric when writing a song. You have to be ready to toss what you made have ...at first...believed to be the best idea you had for the song.
I came up with the refrain "my life is made anew in Christ" over that sustained chord and loved it enough to write a song around it.
Now it's my least favorite part of the tune
 
I think before you tweak too much, rehearse this a few times until it is familiar. A new tune is still be learned even if you did write it. The recording just sounded like you were not yet ready to commit it to tape (as they say).

With that, the natural feeling of the song will come out and give it the presentation it requires.
 
DM60 said:
I think before you tweak too much, rehearse this a few times until it is familiar. A new tune is still be learned even if you did write it. The recording just sounded like you were not yet ready to commit it to tape (as they say).

With that, the natural feeling of the song will come out and give it the presentation it requires.
Click to expand...
Thanks DM60.
You're exactly right bro. I was reading the words as I sang them and basically stumbling through it. I was speeding up and slowing down because at the tempo the verse flows well the refrain "my life is made anew in Christ" is rushed. When it's slowed down enough to make the refrain work the verses drag.
Also, the bridge chords are boring and mundane sounding.
I don't think the repetitive refrain, after every verse rhyme, is going to work at all. It's very hard to sing with a smooth trait ion from verse to refrain.
It's really almost like 2 completely different songs ya know?
I'm going to ditch the refrain line and write a proper chorus and bridge. I already have it in my head.
I think I have some pretty solid lyrics to build upon. With God's blessing this song will soar!
Thanks again man.
 
Looking toward hearing your latest version.
Right now, it somehow doesn't cut it. Its a kind of predictable, if you know what I mean.
Sorry for saying that.
 
StoneJack said:
Looking toward hearing your latest version.
Right now, it somehow doesn't cut it. Its a kind of predictable, if you know what I mean.
Sorry for saying that.
Click to expand...

No need to apologize. I agree with your comment. I'm basically experimenting to see what does and dosen't work with this song.
I probably should have developed it more before starting a thread.

I've seen a lot of people who get to close to ideas for songs and will not loose a verse, change a line, shorten a chorus, or dump the refrain :)
They want to keep every good idea they had even if it's to the detriment of the song.
No me, I welcome critique and it something dosen't work I admit it dosen't work, scrap it, and move on...without a bruised ego.

But don't be criticizing my guitar playing!
:D
 
Was playing around with your lines last night and found that going from the straight E-A E-A if you do E-A/C#-C-D E-A it still fits the vocal. Breaks up the verses. I might have to send you a clip to make that understandable. PM me if you like the thought.
 
BroKen_H said:
Was playing around with your lines last night and found that going from the straight E-A E-A if you do E-A/C#-C-D E-A it still fits the vocal. Breaks up the verses. I might have to send you a clip to make that understandable. PM me if you like the thought.
Click to expand...
Sure broken. I'm open to ideas and suggestions. You can pm me a clip or you're more than welcome to post it here in this thread. Thanks man
 
By the way, I took the 3 differently worded bridges and fashioned a bridge leading into a chorus out of them:

(Bridge)
He shed his precious blood,
To save a wretch like me,
His mercy knows no bounds,
His grace has set us free!
(Chorus)
Though we don't deserve the love,
He poured out at Calvary,
Where He made our sin His own,
Where we nailed Him to that tree.
He cried "forgive them Father please,
For they know not what they do"
there our debt was paid in full,
And He gave us life anew!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top