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archives: april 2011
the story behind the song:light the sky
by jamie rodwell
Last summer thousands of us stood in a tent singing “Light the Sky”, a song written by Jamie Rodwell, Sam Parker and Tim Hughes. Jamie recently came into the office so we collared him to ask him what the song is all about and how the three of them came up with it…
how did the idea begin?
Sam had the first idea during a time of worship/a jamming session between a few musicians in our church. We were playing round the chord progression (A, Bm, F#m, D) and Sam just began singing the chorus: “So light the fire, I want to see it glow, burning brighter still, burning brighter still”.
There was something about the words, melody and phrasing of the chorus which I really liked and thought would be really cool to develop and see where it all ended up. So I spent some time writing and added a verse and bridge, made some slight lyrical changes to the original chorus and came up with a second part to the chorus (shine like the stars…).
what inspired the lyrics?
At the time I had been reading about the Glory of God taking the form of a pillar of fire and leading the people of Israel in the desert at night:
So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea…. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Exodus 13 v 18, 21-22
I really felt like this message was going to be the fundamental basis for the song, but found it quite hard to quote the passage word for word, so I used little ideas and imagery from the verse as inspiration.
how did you develop the song?
Mike P suggested I speak to Tim Hughes to play him what I had so far and to see if he had any ideas about how I could develop it. He had some really helpful melody and lyrical changes, encouragements and ideas for me and Sam to work on so we (Sam & I) met up quite a bit to attempt to finish the song off and eventually came out with what it is today. It took about nine months from the initial idea to the finished product.
what does the song mean to you?
For me the song is a prayer saying that when we’re in our darkness and have wondered away from God, it’s his Holy Spirit, his glory, which beckons us to come back to him. My prayer is: Lord, when I'm in darkness or have lost my way, let your light shine bright so I may see it, get back on the path, and continue to follow you. I also find it really helpful – and necessary - to affirm that I’ll follow God anywhere and everywhere (even to the ends of the earth) so that’s why I wanted that emphasis in the song too.
are you working on any new songs at the moment?
I try and spend as much time as I can working on songs and meeting with people to write and jam, however, school work takes up quite a lot of my time. In spite of this, I have been working on some songs with Sam recently and there are also a few ideas in the pipeline which I’m looking forward to developing in the next few months.
About the author
Jamie is 16 and is studying for his A levels at college. He is part of Soul Survivor Watford church. After much encouragement from his friends, Jamie was forced to cut his hair.
Soul Survivor is a Christian charity that puts on events for young people. Our registered charity no. is 1080720. We are also a company limited by guarantee in England & Wales. Our company registered number is 03991111, which is nice. Thanks for caring.
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