Song-By-Song // Week 3

For this week’s blog, I thought I would share with you how some of the songs I have written have taken shape. Enjoy!

Not Ashamed

In the summer of 2007, I was leading worship at Soul Survivor and the weather that year was very cold, so cold that I caught a cold. I had to take a day off to recover and to get back on my feet. As I was contained to my room, I got out my MacBook and started fooling around in Garage Band (Great way to record demo’s) I came up with the whoo oooh whooo oooh part whilst fiddling around with drum loops. Then the line ‘Oh no we won’t stay silent, we’ll shout it out from the rooftops singing…’ but I had no idea what should come next. So I took this song to my good friend Nick Herbert who is a great writer and always seems to have great lines and phrases up his sleeve. I started to play the song and showed him what I had so far. After playing the song to him, he said ‘What about Not Ashamed?’ I couldn’t believe it, the theme was so obvious and it just felt right. I wanted this song to declare that we will stand up for what we believe and that we will be fearless in our faith in Christ. Nick and I then began to flesh out the verses and before we knew it, the song was complete.

Jericho

This song has a bit of an unusual theme but I felt like it had to be on the album. This song ties in with the story of Jericho about how the Israelites marched around the walls 7 times, they lifted up a shout and the walls came down. I took that idea and tied it into everyday life. We all have our own Jericho’s in our lives. Everything from drug addictions to being afraid of heights, we all have things that get in the way of us meeting our full potential. My prayer was, and still is, is that this song would be a lifeline for those struggling with something in their life. That they would know that God is on their side and that He will see you through. I think that in Christianity today, we can sometimes shy away from the seriousness of addiction and that it can be a constant battle for a lot of people. So I wanted this song to help people face their addictions or fears in the face and to believe that the walls will come down. This song may not be as congregational as others, but I think we have to also songs that are for the ‘one’, the individual.

Coming Back

Coming Back is a song of confession about coming back to our first love after having experienced all that this world has to offer. I was playing my guitar and had the chord progression, then out came this emotional melody that felt like the chorus. After singing it a few times it felt like a cry of desperation and of surrender. I think the best way to really write from the heart is to sing from the heart and that’s how this song took shape. With the 6/8 bridge section, I had written that on piano and was an idea for another song but then I thought, why not put it in this song? It felt that with the whole theme of coming back, this song really needed to go on a journey and that’s why the 6/8 section really seemed to fit this song. I’m 26 years old now and I have grown up in the church all my life. I am grateful for my upbringing but along the way I have seen and heard a lot of things that have made my faith a struggle at times. This song is cry to come back to our first love, to that time when we experienced his love for the first time.

Remain

John 15:7 - 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

I wrote this song when I had just moved over to the UK at the young age of 21. Moving to a whole new country on my own was a big step for me. I thought I could handle all the change but it did take me a while to settle in. During this time in my life, this song really was in response to that whole experience. All my family were in Canada, everything in life was new, but even though there was a lot of change, He still remained the same!

Running After You

Eph 4v1 – The Message - In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel.

This was Paul writing to the church in Ephesus while he was in prison. Paul was calling those who believed in Christ to run along the path that God had set before them. For me this really summed up the album as well as the song. We need to be running after him with desperation and anticipation. Seek Him, long for him, for his presence. I want to be someone who runs the race because at end of the race, He will be our reward. Eternity spent with our King.

You Alone

I was just about to finish recording for the album and I had not finished this song, but I felt it should be on the album. Time was getting away on me so, again, I played it to my friend Nick. I had the chorus and parts of the verse. But again Nick really helped flesh out the song. I wanted to express how God created everything on this earth and how he was the first and last, yet he would care enough to watch over us. The song is quite mellow but then it goes into the tag section, which really lifts the song to a whole new level. ‘You alone are God whoooaaa oooo whoooaaa oooo’. Yes I used whooaa’s again, but I felt like after a statement like ‘You Alone are God’, it had to be something that was big and that everyone could join in together and sing in response to that statement – You Alone Are God.

Co-writing has really helped me grow as a writer and I would encourage you if you are stuck on a song, take it so someone you trust and someone you feel comfortable sharing your song with. I sometimes find when I am writing a song, I can easily get into my own little bubble and think that this song is next big thing. When actually it’s not at all and someone might have a thought or an idea to make your song stronger.

Ben Cantelon is married to Alice and leads worship at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London. Ben has been involved with the Soul Survivor festivals over the past few years. His songs include ‘Love Came Down’, ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Not Ashamed’.