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My first instrument was the ukulele, a toy-like four stringed guitar passed down in our family line. I remember the musty smell of the old mahogany and the simple warm tones resonating in our home when it was played. My next instrument was the banjo, which I played until college. I loved the bright, crisp and just plain fun sounds of the banjo. Regretfully, I sold it for a fraction of what it was worth, spending the money on a couple of biology and physics textbooks now outdated and forgotten. During my architectural studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, I began to learn the guitar on an old 1920's small body Gibson. It was on this old friend (which I still have today) that I entered into the romance between a singer/songwriter and his guitar. The melodies and rhythms in my heart and the life stories spinning in my head could be woven into marvelous expressions, that gift from God we call a "SONG." My first songs were simple worship songs, providing communion with the God that my professors had seemed to have forgoten. In medical school, during a very dry time spiritually, I wrote what I would consider my first good song. After hearing a lecture on evolutionary biology and human behavior, I came home to my apartment confused and dismayed. I wrote the song, "I Believe in You," a heart-felt cry of faith amidst doubt:
Since that time, songs have become a way of conveying stories, ideas, emotions, longings and worship that I could not do adequately through poem or prose alone. My love and adoration for my wife, for example, is expressed in a short and simple song, "Fairest of All." The chorus goes like this:
Unfortunately, most popular music stops here with love songs, even when life seems to cry out for songs about all that is extraordinary, beautiful or even comical. My last ten years of song writing have been heavily influenced by raising three girls. When we lost our first pet, Chester the mouse, Kelsey (my oldest) and I cried together, and that day I wrote the song "Chester's Friend." Reading books to my children, like the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, have inspired several songs – "Aslan's on the Move" speaks of the "dangerous but good" lion Aslan who weaves his unfailing love and unwavering justice throughout the magical land of Narnia. This Christ-like lion becomes so close to the reader that one can imagine stroking his magnificent mane. His shining tears moved me deeply and continue to fill me with courage when life seems too difficult. Reading Lewis also inspired "Shadowlands," "Prayer on the Dawn Treader" and "Surprised by Joy." When I read Lewis, I feel God's pleasure, and I prefer to quote him rather than to explain him. Here is one of my favorites:
One of Lewis' mentors has also become mine, the beloved Scottish storyteller and minister George MacDonald. His stories, like songs, are melodic and beautiful. Reading MacDonald is like digging for buried treasures; not gold or silver, but riches of truth, beauty and relationship with God. "At the Back of the North Wind" was written two hours after reading the book by that same title. I still hear the whispering voice of the north wind blowing and beckoning through a small knothole in the old wooden planks. The breathtaking universe in which we live, from sparkling dew drops to silver stars, continues to stir my eternal longings, and inspire songs of worship to our Creator. Looking out over the shimmering pond nestled in the meadow behind my home, and off to the distant firey sunset in the western skies of Quincy, I wrote the song "O Creator." I pondered the first snow that would come upon this same setting:
Later in the song, my reverie turns toward the Spring:
As a physician, I am often inspired by my patients. The way people face pain, suffering, loss and inevitable advancing age reveals so much about the inner person. Hal Beatty was a patient of mine with the worst, most disfiguring and disabling rheumatoid arthritis any doctor had seen. He always had a way of encouraging me when he would come in his wheelchair and stretch out his crippled hand and ask how my day was going. "His Heart Was Well" speaks of the inner man that is renewed day by day through hope, faith and a walk with Christ. One of my most recent songs comes from the joyful experience of being the first hands to hold a newborn baby. It never grows old (except when there is an emergency), watching the faces in the room turn from distress and fear to relief and inexpressible joy. The song starts like this:
I pray my songs can have a healing influence as they speak to the hearts of people, drawing them closer to the Great Physician. The music can be a refuge from the daily grind of taking care of sick people, it can also be a part of good medicine. Recognizing also that laughter is good medicine, several of my songs are on the lighter side. "Dadio-da-de" was inspired one weekend when my wife went away and I was left alone for the whole weekend to take care of my three daughters. The satire becomes apparent fairly quickly:
I have just recently written a humerous but true theme song for a close friend from medical school. Dr. Nick Yhantides weighed in at 467 pounds until he grew tired of telling his patients to "do what I say and not what I do." He took a wild adventure across the United States, visiting every major league baseball park, but without the hot dogs, peanuts or Cracker Jacks. In one year, with diet and exercise alone, he lost over 250 pounds. Dr. Nick is now a major inspiration to thousands of people and is currently working on a book. I have just writen his theme song, entitled "Half the Man I Used to Be." One of my favorite songs is "God in a Box." As I grow in my faith in Christ, I am simply humbled by just how big and wonderful and beyond our ability to comprehend He must be. By no means does this mean that we can't know Him at all. It's just that we won't ever be able to figure Him out. So often we try to package Him up into what we want Him to be, wrapped up neatly into our comfort zone. My hope and prayer is that my songs will move listeners in the direction toward God; closer to an experience of His genuine presence in their lives. |
Music captured my heart early,
and as a young boy you would likely find me whistling, humming or
singing on my way to various boyhood adventures. My first public solo
was at age five, singing "I Love You Truly" at a wedding. I enjoyed
singing the song, but I covered my eyes when the minister said, "You
may kiss the bride." Apparently, I loved to dance even before I could
talk. In fact, in the archives of our family movies there are clips
of me at age two dressed up as Shirley Temple dancing to some 50's
tune.