Hello and welcome
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to 3ABN's Praise
Him Music Network.
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This is, You Can Write A Song,
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and our featured songwriter
is none other than Lanny Wolfe.
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Yay!
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Hi, Yvonne, so good to be here.
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Oh, Lanny,
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you are so
preeminently qualified
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to be our featured songwriter.
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You have done so much.
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What's special about
this program for you?
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What's special is the fact
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that even though
I've taught songwriting
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as a two-year course in
colleges for over 26 years,
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and the students
have then gone on
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to write their own songs.
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I'm a songwriter.
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I'm a songwriter and a
teacher, so I love to teach.
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A lot of good songwriters
are just songwriters,
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but I'm a teacher.
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And so it's great for
me to have the opportunity
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to take what I
know about songwriting
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and some of the
corn that's in the crib,
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and teach people who
think they have no idea
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about how to write a
song, but really could and can.
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Well, I've got my pad here.
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Ready. And I'm ready, so teach.
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Let's go.
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We're going to talk about
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simplicity and repetition today.
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Wonderful.
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Fabulous. Can't wait.
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You may have never thought
of yourself as a songwriter.
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You love gospel music.
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You may sing in a church
choir or on the praise team.
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You have a 40-hour week job.
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You are a stay-at-home mother.
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You are a soccer mom.
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You're trying to get
your kids through school.
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You may be in your summer years.
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You may even be
in your winter years
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and have never
given a second thought
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to the fact
that your involvement
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in gospel music would
go beyond just loving it.
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I'm here to tell
you that even though
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you don't play an instrument,
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and even though you know
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nothing about
the music part of it,
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you can write a song.
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So you can take care
of the word part of it,
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the lyrics part of it.
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Let's talk about some folks
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who have not
thought of themselves
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as a songwriter or
have not followed in a path
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to produce
either lyrics or music.
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Frances Jane Van
Alstyne, 1820 to 1915.
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At six weeks of age, she
incurred an eye infection
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and was treated
by a quack doctor
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who applied mustard
poultices to her eyes,
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causing her to go blind.
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She wrote her
first poem at age eight
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about being blind and refused
to feel sorry for herself.
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Oh what a happy soul am I
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Although I
cannot see I am resolved
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that in this world
contented I will be
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How many blessings I
enjoy that other people don't
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To weep and sigh
because I'm blind I cannot
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and I will not and I won't
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This young blind girl
zealously memorized the Bible.
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Yes, you heard me right.
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She memorized
five chapters a week.
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Even as a child,
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she could recite the Pentateuch,
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the gospels,
Proverbs, song of Psalms,
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and many Psalms
chapter and verse.
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At age 15, she was sent
to the New York Institute
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for the Blind,
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which would be
her home for 23 years,
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12 as a
student, 11 as a teacher.
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She at age 23 was
addressing Congress.
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At 44, she met a
well-known composer,
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William Bradbury, who told her,
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"I think you can write hymns."
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He suggested that she attempt
to write a hymn for that week.
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And in three
days, she returned home,
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submitted her first sacred song.
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So she did not
write her first hymn
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until she was 44 years of age.
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And only because a
well-known composer said,
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"I think you can."
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Sometimes she would
compose seven hymns in a day,
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dictating them to her
husband and her half-sister,
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reportedly dictating 40
hymns in one particular day.
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Over the next 51
years of her life,
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she wrote 8,000 hymns
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and used over
200 pseudonym names,
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so that she would not
bring too much glory and honor
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to any one name.
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And, yes, you
know some of her hymns.
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Pass Me Not O Gentle Shepherd,
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Savior, Safe in
the Arms of Jesus,
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Near the Cross.
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You probably recognize
her by the name Fanny Crosby.
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Mrs. Knapp came
to her house one day
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and Mrs. Knapp said,
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"I have a new tune
for you, Ms. Crosby."
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And so Fanny got
down into a rocking chair.
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And head down into the
chair, knees on the floor,
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and Mrs. Knapp played.
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And when she finished,
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Fanny lifted herself up
from the floor and the chair
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and she simply said,
"That's blessed assurance."
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Fanny was brought
before presidents in her day.
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One president
thought he would ask
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a really clever question.
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And he said, "Fanny, if
you could have one wish,
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what would that be?"
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Without even flinching,
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she responded that
I would not receive
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my sight on earth,
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as I want the face of my Savior
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to be the very first
thing these eyes see.
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And now you understand
why she would write lines
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in her songs such as,
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visions of
rapture burst on my sight.
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She lost her young daughter
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and she stood by the graveside
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with her husband
holding his hand.
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And she stood
there and she sang...
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This is my story
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This is my song
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Praising my Savior
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All the day long
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That was Fanny Crosby,
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the greatest hymn
writer of all time,
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and she never
wrote a note of music.
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She wrote all the
words, 8,000 hymns.
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John W. Peterson, 1921 to 2006.
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He was an air force
pilot in World War II.
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When he was 31, he graduated
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from the American
Conservatory of Music
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and he started writing songs.
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He wrote 1000
songs, 35 cantatas.
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They impacted the church
from the 50s through the 70s.
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He wrote songs.
You know some of these.
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It Took a Miracle, and
surely goodness and mercy
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shall follow me,
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and how rich I am
since Jesus came my way.
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Bill and Gloria Gaither,
they were school teachers.
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Majored in
English. She taught French.
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And so Bill
Gaither wrote the song,
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He Touched Me when
he was 27 years old.
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It was not until he was 39
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and received a
Dove Award for the song,
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Because He Lives and
songwriter of the year,
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that he decided
to quit his day job.
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All that time that
he was writing songs
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and the Bill
Gaither Trio were traveling,
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he was still keeping the day job
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in Alexandria, Indiana.
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So next person,
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you're looking
at him, Lanny Wolfe.
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Good at math, good at art.
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I got a scholarship
to Ohio State University,
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thought I
should be an architect.
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I thought I was going
to get Frank Lloyd Wright,
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I can't even say his
name, a run for his money.
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And so I started taking
lessons when I was nine.
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Took two years. My
piano teacher left.
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He said, "Oh,
I'm going to move."
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I don't think he moved.
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So he just got rid of me.
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So I started improvising.
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Actually, I
learned how to play chords
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from John W. Peterson's books.
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And so my first song
I wrote when I was 15,
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didn't think of
myself as a songwriter,
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was God is Wonderful.
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Taught in
Columbus Public Schools,
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went to teach at a Bible college
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on the West Coast.
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Went back to
school, got a third degree.
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The first two were in business.
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And now I'm
going back to school,
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getting my first
degree in music education.
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Because I felt like
if I'm going to teach
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young people at a college level
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how to be ministers of music
and songwriters and musicians,
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I need to know
what I'm talking about.
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So we got a contract
with the Benson company
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and moved to St.
Louis, Missouri in 1968.
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Was there for six years.
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All the time I was there,
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I was going to night school
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at Southern Illinois University,
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getting my second masters,
this in music education.
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I taught students.
You know some of them.
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Geron Davis, He
wrote Holy Ground.
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Dan Dean,
Phillips, Craig and Dean.
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Jeannie Tenney,
artist and singer
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of the song she wrote,
One Night with the King.
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You may have seen the movie.
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Her husband, Tommy
Tenney, wrote the movie.
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Vicki Yohe, she appears on
TBN and Benny Hinn crusades.
00:09:51.62\00:09:56.46
Vonnie Lopez sings
with the Kurt Carr Singers.
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Recently featured on
CBS as the world's best.
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Chris Degen,
presently worship leader
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for World Harvest
Church in Columbus, Ohio.
00:10:04.63\00:10:07.20
And lastly and
certainly not least,
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she was a shy pastor's
wife in Brooklyn, New York.
00:10:09.87\00:10:13.44
And the church started
small on Atlantic Avenue.
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I was there and now you know
the church is a mega church,
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Brooklyn Tabernacle.
00:10:21.08\00:10:22.92
And you know the
Brooklyn Tabernacle choir.
00:10:22.95\00:10:25.05
So I went to Carol Cymbala.
00:10:25.09\00:10:26.82
And Carol, she doesn't
know what she's playing,
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she just plays it.
00:10:29.16\00:10:30.63
She might be playing this chord.
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And I'd say, "Carol,
that's a such and such,
00:10:37.83\00:10:39.70
that's an E augmented 11."
00:10:39.73\00:10:41.50
She has no idea what that is.
00:10:41.54\00:10:43.44
Her gifting is
just, she plays by ear.
00:10:43.47\00:10:47.04
She has this wonderful ability
to voice voices chorally.
00:10:47.11\00:10:51.51
So I went to Carol and I said,
"Carol, you can write a song."
00:10:51.55\00:10:55.88
And you know what?
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She did. And
she started writing.
00:10:57.32\00:10:59.85
And since then, she's
written so many songs.
00:10:59.89\00:11:03.73
He's Been Faithful.
00:11:03.76\00:11:05.19
Carol Cymbala wrote the
song that so many churches use
00:11:05.23\00:11:07.86
at Christmas time,
Happy Birthday, Jesus.
00:11:07.93\00:11:10.73
So I'm telling you, yes,
you, you can write a song.
00:11:10.77\00:11:15.24
"Well, but, you
don't understand.
00:11:15.27\00:11:18.07
I'm too old."
00:11:18.11\00:11:19.44
And no, you are not too old.
00:11:19.47\00:11:21.51
Let me tell you
about what some folks did
00:11:21.54\00:11:23.81
and accomplished at certain ages
00:11:23.85\00:11:25.68
in what you might call
your summer or winter years.
00:11:25.71\00:11:29.28
Harry Truman didn't even
take an active part in politics
00:11:29.32\00:11:33.42
until he was 51
00:11:33.46\00:11:34.82
and ended up being
president of the United States.
00:11:34.86\00:11:37.79
Stradivari,
00:11:37.83\00:11:39.49
the most famous
violin maker of all time.
00:11:39.53\00:11:42.93
He didn't make his first
violin until he was past 60.
00:11:42.96\00:11:46.77
His violins sell
for millions of dollars,
00:11:46.80\00:11:49.30
one violin.
00:11:49.34\00:11:50.94
U.S. Grant was a
failure at the age of 40.
00:11:50.97\00:11:54.61
A few years later,
00:11:54.64\00:11:55.98
he was president
of United States.
00:11:56.01\00:11:57.88
General Douglas
MacArthur came out of retirement
00:11:57.91\00:12:00.85
at the age of 61
00:12:00.92\00:12:02.65
to lead the allies to victory
in the Pacific in World War II.
00:12:02.68\00:12:07.46
You know the
name, Grandma Moses.
00:12:07.49\00:12:10.23
She didn't begin painting
until she was 78 years old.
00:12:10.26\00:12:14.66
And her paintings are so
costly of her landscapes.
00:12:14.73\00:12:18.73
She was painting
until she was 101.
00:12:18.77\00:12:22.00
Michaelangelo,
his great work of art,
00:12:22.04\00:12:25.64
St. Peter's Cathedral,
00:12:25.67\00:12:27.04
the largest church in the world.
00:12:27.08\00:12:28.64
He didn't even start
this project until he was 72,
00:12:28.68\00:12:32.61
and he was still
working on his masterpiece
00:12:32.65\00:12:35.08
when he died at the age of 89.
00:12:35.12\00:12:38.79
John Thompson,
a New York banker,
00:12:38.82\00:12:41.46
he founded the Chase
Manhattan National Bank
00:12:41.49\00:12:44.93
when he was 75.
00:12:44.96\00:12:46.43
Yes, and every month I pay
my mortgage to the Chase Bank,
00:12:46.46\00:12:50.23
and I pay my credit
cards to Chase Bank.
00:12:50.30\00:12:52.03
Thank you, John Thompson
00:12:52.07\00:12:54.17
for founding this wonderful bank
00:12:54.20\00:12:56.67
that owns the
company store and my life.
00:12:56.74\00:12:59.64
Henry Ford took
over the presidency
00:12:59.67\00:13:01.98
of the Ford Motor Car Company
00:13:02.01\00:13:03.85
for the second time
at the death of his son
00:13:03.88\00:13:07.75
when he was past 80.
00:13:07.78\00:13:09.12
And, lastly, Benjamin Franklin
00:13:09.15\00:13:12.99
helped frame the Constitution
of the United States
00:13:13.02\00:13:15.59
when he was 80 years old.
00:13:15.62\00:13:17.89
You are not too old.
00:13:17.93\00:13:19.39
You are never too old.
00:13:19.43\00:13:21.06
So today, I'm going to teach you
00:13:21.10\00:13:23.23
about how to write
the easiest gospel chorus
00:13:23.26\00:13:26.50
you can write.
00:13:26.53\00:13:28.14
Remember, I want to remind you,
Fanny Crosby only wrote lyrics.
00:13:28.17\00:13:32.61
So I'm not
concerned about the music side
00:13:32.64\00:13:35.11
of the equation.
00:13:35.14\00:13:36.48
I'm only concerned
about lyrics at this point.
00:13:36.51\00:13:39.15
She wrote 8,000 hymns. Wow.
00:13:39.18\00:13:42.25
Songwriting is a marriage
00:13:42.28\00:13:43.65
between the
lyrics and the music.
00:13:43.69\00:13:45.39
We will
concentrate on lyrics today.
00:13:45.42\00:13:48.16
Some songs have a collaboration.
00:13:48.19\00:13:50.59
We say co-writing.
00:13:50.63\00:13:53.36
Some songs that you hear today
00:13:53.40\00:13:55.76
have five and six
people co-writing.
00:13:55.80\00:13:58.23
Some of them are the writers.
00:13:58.27\00:13:59.60
Some of them are
the music people.
00:13:59.63\00:14:01.40
So I read this
once where it said,
00:14:01.44\00:14:04.57
"To be successful,
study successful people."
00:14:04.61\00:14:08.61
So as a novice songwriter,
00:14:08.64\00:14:10.75
I studied a lot of
successful songwriters.
00:14:10.78\00:14:14.02
Probably one of the
strongest influences
00:14:14.05\00:14:16.05
on my early writing career
was Bill and Gloria Gaither.
00:14:16.08\00:14:21.12
So I'm going to teach you
what I learned from the Gaither
00:14:21.16\00:14:24.33
what I call the AAAA format.
00:14:24.36\00:14:28.23
So Bill is going to
write a song, one idea.
00:14:28.26\00:14:32.17
Get all excited
go tell everybody
00:14:32.20\00:14:34.57
that Jesus Christ is King
00:14:34.60\00:14:39.27
Well, now what do I do?
00:14:39.31\00:14:40.88
And Gloria said, "Well, I mean,
00:14:40.94\00:14:43.14
if you can't
think of anything else,
00:14:43.18\00:14:44.55
just repeat it."
00:14:44.58\00:14:45.91
Okay.
00:14:45.95\00:14:47.28
Get all excited
and go tell everybody
00:14:47.32\00:14:49.62
that Jesus Christ is King
00:14:49.65\00:14:53.72
Well, I got two
lines out of a chorus.
00:14:53.76\00:14:57.09
Okay. I need a
third line, Gloria.
00:14:57.13\00:14:58.99
Well, it worked two times.
00:14:59.03\00:15:01.73
Try it again. Line three.
00:15:01.76\00:15:03.70
Get all excited
go tell everybody
00:15:03.77\00:15:06.40
that Jesus Christ is King
00:15:06.43\00:15:10.51
Okay, line four.
00:15:10.54\00:15:12.34
Gloria, she interrupted me,
00:15:12.37\00:15:14.54
"No, no, no,
Bill, you're pushing.
00:15:14.58\00:15:16.64
Line four cannot
be the same thing.
00:15:16.68\00:15:19.58
It's going to get monotonous,
it's going to be boring.
00:15:19.61\00:15:21.95
And so he had to
come up with what I call
00:15:21.98\00:15:23.89
an extension of the idea.
00:15:23.92\00:15:25.75
Jesus Christ is
still the King of kings.
00:15:25.79\00:15:30.13
So line four is
not a whole new idea,
00:15:30.16\00:15:33.16
it's an extension of his
idea of the first three lines.
00:15:33.19\00:15:36.97
So AAAA prime.
00:15:37.03\00:15:41.60
And so Bill is going
to write another song.
00:15:41.64\00:15:44.21
It's going to be like.
00:15:44.27\00:15:46.01
All God's children
00:15:46.04\00:15:52.35
Gloria says,
"You know what to do."
00:15:52.38\00:15:54.32
All God's children
00:15:54.35\00:15:59.62
Bill says, "Now
I know what to do."
00:15:59.65\00:16:01.56
All God's children
00:16:01.59\00:16:08.16
And Bill is thinking,
"I know what not to do.
00:16:08.20\00:16:11.13
"So I've got to have an
extension of that idea."
00:16:11.17\00:16:14.24
To be God's children
You've got to be born again
00:16:14.27\00:16:18.84
So that fourth line
is not something new,
00:16:18.87\00:16:22.71
dramatically new.
00:16:22.74\00:16:24.08
It's just an
extension of the idea
00:16:24.15\00:16:26.55
of what the first three
lines are talking about.
00:16:26.58\00:16:29.95
So Bill Gaither, I
love this chorus he wrote.
00:16:29.98\00:16:32.92
Jesus, we just want to thank You
00:16:32.95\00:16:39.16
Now I know what
he's going to do.
00:16:39.19\00:16:42.10
Jesus, we just want to thank You
00:16:42.13\00:16:47.70
I know what he's going to do.
00:16:47.74\00:16:49.74
Jesus, we just want to thank You
00:16:49.77\00:16:55.04
And I know what
he's not going to do.
00:16:55.08\00:16:57.68
But what he did is,
00:16:57.71\00:16:59.08
Thank you for being so good
00:16:59.11\00:17:02.88
So you understand
what I'm talking about.
00:17:02.92\00:17:05.09
Line four is just not the
same as the first three lines,
00:17:05.12\00:17:08.86
but it has some relationship
with the first three lines.
00:17:08.89\00:17:11.46
It extends the thought.
00:17:11.49\00:17:13.03
So here I am.
00:17:13.06\00:17:14.86
I'm going to be a songwriter.
00:17:14.93\00:17:17.07
I got this thought.
00:17:17.10\00:17:19.43
Jesus, be the Lord of all
00:17:19.47\00:17:25.04
In the back of my mind,
I can hear Gloria saying,
00:17:25.07\00:17:28.24
"Just repeat it."
00:17:28.28\00:17:30.05
It's all okay, Gloria, I will.
00:17:30.08\00:17:31.78
Jesus, be the Lord of all
00:17:31.81\00:17:36.32
And because I'm a good student,
00:17:36.35\00:17:37.69
I know what
Bill Gaither would do
00:17:37.72\00:17:39.05
on the third line.
00:17:39.09\00:17:40.46
Jesus be the Lord of all
00:17:40.49\00:17:46.19
The kingdoms of my heart
00:17:46.23\00:17:50.93
So my line four is
just a continuation
00:17:50.97\00:17:53.80
of that thought
completing the sentence.
00:17:53.84\00:17:56.14
So now Lanny
Wolfe is a songwriter.
00:17:56.17\00:17:58.04
Hello?
00:17:58.07\00:18:00.71
I wrote my first song at age 15.
00:18:00.74\00:18:02.58
And so here I am.
00:18:02.61\00:18:03.98
I'm writing choruses
like, Jesus Be The Lord Of All.
00:18:04.01\00:18:08.62
And I'm here to tell you
00:18:08.65\00:18:10.85
that song ideas
are just everywhere.
00:18:10.92\00:18:14.79
In the Bible,
just read scriptures.
00:18:14.82\00:18:17.66
I have what I
call a moment of truth.
00:18:17.69\00:18:20.13
That scripture has
been there all the time,
00:18:20.16\00:18:21.93
but you may read
it on a certain day
00:18:21.96\00:18:23.87
and it just jumps out at you.
00:18:23.90\00:18:25.70
And that's what
this scripture did.
00:18:25.73\00:18:27.47
This scripture was,
00:18:27.54\00:18:29.04
"Greater is He that is in me,
than he that is in the world."
00:18:29.07\00:18:32.24
Whoa!
00:18:32.27\00:18:34.51
Greater is He that is in me
00:18:34.54\00:18:38.18
Greater is He that is in me
00:18:38.21\00:18:41.95
Greater is He that is in me
00:18:41.98\00:18:45.45
Than he that is in the world
00:18:45.49\00:18:49.59
I didn't even have to come
up with a thought on line four.
00:18:49.62\00:18:53.70
It's just scripture.
00:18:53.73\00:18:55.40
And I'm sure if Bill
Gaither would have had
00:18:55.43\00:18:57.23
that same moment of truth,
00:18:57.27\00:18:59.07
he would have
written that chorus.
00:18:59.10\00:19:00.77
And you and I
would have written it.
00:19:00.80\00:19:02.14
He would have
written it the same way
00:19:02.17\00:19:03.87
that Lanny Wolfe wrote
it thinking Bill Gaither.
00:19:03.94\00:19:07.98
Greater is He that is in me.
00:19:08.01\00:19:10.21
Wow.
00:19:10.28\00:19:11.61
You know, and so
this song was pitched
00:19:11.65\00:19:16.35
to the Oral
Roberts organization.
00:19:16.38\00:19:18.72
They used it as
their official closing song
00:19:18.75\00:19:22.69
for six years,
120 stations a week.
00:19:22.72\00:19:27.30
So I've written 700 songs.
00:19:27.36\00:19:29.36
I've written 14 musicals.
00:19:29.40\00:19:32.27
And some of those songs
have had great visibility.
00:19:32.30\00:19:36.81
More than Wonderful
got song of the year.
00:19:36.84\00:19:39.07
Sandi Patty and Larnelle
Harris gave it great visibility.
00:19:39.11\00:19:42.91
Surely the Presence of
the Lord is in this Place
00:19:42.94\00:19:45.85
has been sung
all over the world.
00:19:45.88\00:19:48.22
And so what happens is,
00:19:48.25\00:19:50.89
some of these songs
00:19:50.92\00:19:52.25
have had greater
visibility than others.
00:19:52.29\00:19:54.59
But of all the songs
00:19:54.62\00:19:55.96
that Lanny Wolfe
has ever written,
00:19:55.99\00:19:57.33
probably Greater Is He
00:19:57.36\00:19:59.23
has had the
strongest financial impact
00:19:59.26\00:20:03.20
in terms of the music
catalog of Lanny Wolfe songs.
00:20:03.23\00:20:06.80
And to think
00:20:06.84\00:20:08.37
I didn't even think of the idea.
00:20:08.40\00:20:11.24
I didn't even write the lyrics.
00:20:11.27\00:20:13.54
They're already there
in the Bible scripture.
00:20:13.58\00:20:16.21
Now, I want to
talk about a variation
00:20:16.24\00:20:18.91
of the AAAA prime format.
00:20:18.95\00:20:21.72
Okay?
00:20:21.75\00:20:23.08
You got it in your
head what you're going to do
00:20:23.12\00:20:24.45
with AAAA prime.
00:20:24.49\00:20:26.39
And so this format is
what I call AAAA prime
00:20:26.42\00:20:31.43
and it's doubled.
00:20:31.46\00:20:33.76
I'm gonna love Him
00:20:33.80\00:20:37.13
I'm gonna love Him
00:20:37.20\00:20:40.10
I'm gonna love
Him All of my life
00:20:40.17\00:20:46.81
So that's not all the chorus.
I'm just going to double it.
00:20:46.84\00:20:49.08
I'm gonna love Him
00:20:49.11\00:20:52.21
I'm gonna love Him
00:20:52.25\00:20:55.62
I'm gonna love Him
00:20:55.65\00:20:58.22
All of my life
00:20:58.25\00:21:03.63
So this is
actually still AAAA prime,
00:21:03.66\00:21:09.96
and all I did was double it.
00:21:10.03\00:21:12.97
So I want to push
the envelope here.
00:21:13.00\00:21:17.07
See, I'm not sure
I can actually write
00:21:17.11\00:21:19.07
that chorus AAAA prime.
00:21:19.11\00:21:22.58
That may be
00:21:22.61\00:21:23.95
a little too challenging for me.
00:21:24.01\00:21:25.35
Well, if so, I've
got an easier chorus
00:21:25.38\00:21:30.55
that you can write.
00:21:30.59\00:21:31.92
The format is
00:21:31.95\00:21:33.42
AAAA.
00:21:33.46\00:21:39.39
You can't make it
simpler than that.
00:21:41.33\00:21:44.23
Four lines all the same.
00:21:44.27\00:21:45.60
Now I have not done this often.
00:21:45.63\00:21:47.60
And I'm saying
that I don't do it often
00:21:47.64\00:21:50.17
because if you're not careful,
you can push towards monotony.
00:21:50.24\00:21:53.91
It can get boring.
00:21:53.94\00:21:55.31
So I wrote this song
called, Lord, I Want To Go Home.
00:21:55.34\00:21:58.81
All of these choruses
that have this simplicity
00:21:58.85\00:22:01.52
and repetition in the chorus,
00:22:01.55\00:22:03.22
especially with
AAAA prime format,
00:22:03.25\00:22:06.76
all of the nitty-gritty
details are in the verses.
00:22:06.79\00:22:10.99
Like in Greater Is
He, all the details.
00:22:11.03\00:22:14.63
Satan's like a roaring lion
00:22:14.66\00:22:16.63
roaming to and fro
Seeking who he may devour
00:22:16.67\00:22:19.43
the Bible tells me so
00:22:19.47\00:22:20.90
Many souls have been his
prey to fall in some weak hour
00:22:20.94\00:22:23.91
I'm so glad...
00:22:23.97\00:22:25.31
So all of that detail,
if you have a simple chorus,
00:22:25.34\00:22:28.38
then the verses are
not crying to be simple.
00:22:28.41\00:22:30.81
The chorus is
simple, the verse is not.
00:22:30.85\00:22:33.15
I think of the verse as like
a six-week or six-month trial,
00:22:33.18\00:22:38.09
where you've
got all the lawyers,
00:22:38.12\00:22:40.22
all of the
witnesses, all the testimonies,
00:22:40.26\00:22:43.22
all of that going
into six months maybe.
00:22:43.26\00:22:46.46
And then you have a
five-minute rebuttal
00:22:46.49\00:22:49.40
right before the jury goes out.
00:22:49.43\00:22:51.23
So an AAAA prime chorus
is the five minutes summation
00:22:51.27\00:22:56.30
that the lawyer wants
to make sure that you,
00:22:56.34\00:22:59.84
innocent, innocent, innocent,
00:22:59.87\00:23:01.94
innocent,
innocent, innocent, innocent.
00:23:01.98\00:23:04.61
That's all he
wants you to think about.
00:23:04.65\00:23:06.25
Innocent,
innocent, innocent, innocent.
00:23:06.28\00:23:08.78
I repeat,
innocent, innocent, innocent.
00:23:08.82\00:23:11.62
You've been listening
to six months of boring
00:23:11.65\00:23:14.09
as far as testimonies come.
00:23:14.16\00:23:16.09
But before you go to that room,
00:23:16.12\00:23:18.19
innocent, innocent,
innocent, innocent, one.
00:23:18.23\00:23:21.63
Innocent,
innocent, innocent, innocent.
00:23:21.66\00:23:23.93
So that's exactly what
these choruses are doing
00:23:23.97\00:23:27.00
with this AAAA prime.
00:23:27.04\00:23:30.67
For a Realtor, it's
location, location, location.
00:23:30.71\00:23:34.94
For a songwriter
writing the easiest chorus
00:23:34.98\00:23:38.11
we can write, it's repetition,
00:23:38.15\00:23:40.95
repetition,
repetition, repetition, prime.
00:23:40.98\00:23:44.65
Hello.
00:23:44.69\00:23:46.02
So this chorus the song
is, Lord, I Want To Go Home.
00:23:46.05\00:23:48.89
All the details
are in the verse.
00:23:48.92\00:23:51.73
And so the chorus, all
four lines are the same.
00:23:51.76\00:23:55.33
Take a listen.
00:23:55.36\00:23:56.80
Lord
00:23:56.83\00:23:59.50
I wanna go home
00:23:59.53\00:24:04.81
Lord
00:24:04.84\00:24:07.38
I wanna go home
00:24:07.41\00:24:12.55
Lord
00:24:12.58\00:24:15.18
I wanna go home
00:24:15.22\00:24:20.36
Lord
00:24:20.39\00:24:22.89
I wanna go home
00:24:22.92\00:24:27.50
Now I don't often
use this technique
00:24:27.50\00:24:29.70
because if you're not
careful, it won't work.
00:24:29.73\00:24:32.33
It works in this case
00:24:32.37\00:24:34.20
because the
music is interesting.
00:24:34.24\00:24:37.31
The music has the magic.
00:24:37.37\00:24:39.01
The progression is
there and it's driving,
00:24:39.04\00:24:41.71
it's driving, almost militant.
00:24:41.74\00:24:44.38
So that's why it
works in this case.
00:24:44.41\00:24:46.45
So using this
what I call AAAA prime
00:24:46.48\00:24:51.69
for most of the examples
00:24:51.72\00:24:53.15
we've been talking
about, you, yes, you.
00:24:53.19\00:24:56.49
It doesn't
matter how old you are,
00:24:56.52\00:24:58.33
how young you are.
00:24:58.36\00:24:59.73
Doesn't matter if
you've never even thought
00:24:59.76\00:25:01.36
you could write a song.
00:25:01.40\00:25:02.73
You, you can write a chorus
00:25:02.76\00:25:05.73
using AAAA prime.
00:25:05.77\00:25:09.64
Take any idea, any
phrase, any scripture,
00:25:09.67\00:25:12.67
plug it into this format
00:25:12.71\00:25:14.54
and come up using
simplicity and repetition.
00:25:14.58\00:25:17.78
And remember, write, write,
00:25:17.81\00:25:21.02
write, write, write, write.
00:25:21.05\00:25:23.82
Do you realize that
most classical composers
00:25:23.89\00:25:27.26
threw away more than they kept?
00:25:27.29\00:25:30.43
Because they kept
writing until they felt
00:25:30.46\00:25:32.63
they actually
had what they wanted.
00:25:32.66\00:25:34.83
So write, write, write.
00:25:34.86\00:25:36.63
Throw away,
throw away, throw away.
00:25:36.67\00:25:38.43
And for sure,
don't quit your day job.
00:25:38.47\00:25:41.84
Don't come back
next session and say,
00:25:41.87\00:25:43.51
"Oh, I wrote this chorus.
00:25:43.57\00:25:44.91
I'm going to quit my job."
00:25:44.94\00:25:46.27
No, you're not.
Hold on to your day job.
00:25:46.31\00:25:48.18
If God gives you
a gift, protect it.
00:25:48.21\00:25:50.35
Don't listen to
your mother's praise.
00:25:50.41\00:25:52.15
"Mother, I just
wrote this new chorus."
00:25:52.18\00:25:53.88
Don't listen to her.
00:25:53.92\00:25:55.25
She'll think that you
are the greatest thing
00:25:55.28\00:25:57.05
since peanut butter and
certainly than Lanny Wolfe.
00:25:57.09\00:25:59.72
So you can't listen to
anybody in your family.
00:25:59.75\00:26:02.19
They think you're fabulous.
00:26:02.22\00:26:03.89
"Oh, you should have been
a songwriter 20 years ago."
00:26:03.96\00:26:07.76
So don't listen to
your family's praise
00:26:07.83\00:26:10.40
and always have paper,
00:26:10.47\00:26:14.30
pencil, cell phone handy,
00:26:14.34\00:26:18.11
ready to write or record.
00:26:18.14\00:26:19.94
Because remember, you,
yes, you, you can write a song.
00:26:19.97\00:26:25.18
That was such
great information, Lanny.
00:26:30.72\00:26:33.02
This whole idea
of the AAAA prime.
00:26:33.05\00:26:38.09
It's so simple.
00:26:38.13\00:26:39.46
Simplicity and repetition.
00:26:39.49\00:26:41.43
Simplicity and repetition
and anybody can do it.
00:26:41.46\00:26:44.60
You don't have to
play a guitar or piano.
00:26:44.63\00:26:47.64
All we're worried
about right now are lyrics.
00:26:47.67\00:26:49.64
Yes, that's awesome.
00:26:49.67\00:26:51.01
Now you have an assignment?
00:26:51.04\00:26:52.71
I do have an assignment. Okay.
00:26:52.74\00:26:54.28
Your assignment for
this next session coming up
00:26:54.31\00:26:57.68
will be to pick any idea,
00:26:57.71\00:27:00.45
pick any
thought, pick any phrase,
00:27:00.48\00:27:03.92
pick any scripture.
00:27:03.95\00:27:05.29
If you can't
come up with your own,
00:27:05.32\00:27:06.65
read your Bible and
pick out a scripture
00:27:06.69\00:27:09.09
and give me about four
or five of those phrases
00:27:09.12\00:27:14.00
in four or five
different choruses
00:27:14.03\00:27:16.26
where you're using
AAAA prime and that's it.
00:27:16.30\00:27:22.17
Get your pen out and
get to work right now.
00:27:22.20\00:27:23.94
That's awesome.
00:27:24.01\00:27:25.34
What are we going to
learn in the next program?
00:27:25.37\00:27:26.71
Next program,
we're going to talk about
00:27:26.78\00:27:28.34
the power of repetition.
00:27:28.38\00:27:30.45
Oh, that's awesome.
00:27:30.48\00:27:32.21
Power of
repetition. That's awesome.
00:27:32.25\00:27:33.95
I'm so looking forward to this
00:27:34.02\00:27:35.52
because I really want
to learn how to write.
00:27:35.55\00:27:38.89
And I know that
there are so many of you
00:27:38.92\00:27:41.09
who are saying, "You
know, maybe I can do this."
00:27:41.12\00:27:44.33
Maybe you can.
00:27:44.36\00:27:45.69
Maybe there's something
that will allow me to do this.
00:27:45.73\00:27:49.20
God will give us what
we need if we just ask.
00:27:49.23\00:27:52.83
And then we have structure.
00:27:52.87\00:27:55.67
Absolutely. Thank
you so much, Lanny.
00:27:55.70\00:27:57.67
Been a pleasure.
00:27:57.71\00:27:59.04
Know that you
too can write a song.
00:27:59.07\00:28:02.98