Water come a me eye...

"Come back Liza, come back girl, water come a me eye,

Come back Liza, come back girl, water come a me eye."

That was a song I learned in primary school. I'd no idea what the 'water come a me eye' bit was about at that time at all - or even if I'd heard it properly. It certainly wasn't a phrase I'd come across before - so it was one of those songs when I'd just sing something that sounded right, and hope for the best that it was...

You see, I don't know what it's like nowadays, but when I was at primary school, a lot of the audio stuff that was around was recorded by English voices (and we're talking in terms of those big old-fashioned tape players here, with two tea plate sized spools...). And I for one just couldn't get my head round their accents at all - I mean, was I meant to be singing about water, or was it their way of saying 'what a', and in any case, what's 'me eye' when it's at home? So far as I was concerned, it could really only have been 'water come a me eye', or 'what a comma me, I' and neither of these made much sense to me. Naturally I blamed the English voices, reasoning that they should learn to pronounce words properly - as I had done...!

Water has always come to my eyes surprisingly easily. Emotional scenes in films and TV programmes, the sight of members of the royal family on state occasions and now, Long lost family, are all examples of what cause me to absolutely howl! No matter how hard I try to be strong, the tears flow involuntarily, and I end up not being able to even see, so stained do they cause my glasses to become! It is totally daft. I mean, I've never lost anybody, save for through the usual means.

But, back to songs. Probably out of a desire to be sure I know what words I'm meant to be singing, I've always preferred songs whose words come across very clearly and say exactly what they mean. A conversation with a young friend who was particularly taken with Charles Wesley's hymn, And can it be at Roots Scotland last weekend - set to a new tune, has prompted me to reconsider such things - not least because many of my favourites are also of a religious nature.

But not all of them. I think it was William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army, who is credited with the famous saying that it's be wrong to let the devil have all the best tunes; and although I'm not sure I agree that all non-religious tunes have anything to do with the devil, there is something to be said for considering who your audience is, when singing a favourite song.

Take love songs, for instance. You may sing them to another human being - real or imaginary, or a pet - and how about Jesus? If you find a song that says the kinds of things to him that you want to - well, why not? Why not use it as a prayer? Methinks that at times, churches make life a lot harder for themselves than it needs to be...

I've always been more than a little out of date when it comes to musical taste. I don't really remember much of the 1960s (although I can remember Sandie Shaw on Eurovision with Puppet on a String - and Cliff Richard's Congratulations when it was new); but I do like a lot of sixties music - mainly because there were a lot of harmonic groups around in that decade. For the same reason, I enjoy a lot of 1970s stuff, and maybe one or two numbers from the early 1980s - but not much, since!

I developed a liking for The Seekers at an early age. That's the original, Australian group with Judith Durham as the lead singer - I didn't mind The New Seekers either, but their early 70s music seems sickly sweet by comparison, now! I probably enjoyed Judith's group because my mother owned some of their records - you know, those vinyl circular things you used to get... They split up and went their separate ways in 1971 I think, but happily reunited for a season in the early 1990s; and it was as a consequence of that brief revival that I learned one of their lesser known songs that would for me, serve as the most perfect prayer to Jesus, as I prepared to become a soldier of The Salvation Army:

I can't seem to get my sleep now any old night,

Mister Sandman passes by the door;

Life has changed since you've been there to say it's alright,

You taught me to understand what I thought couldn't be

Don't mind losing sleep, if I can see.

Colours of my life, you've got love to fill my heart

Loving you has shown me, colours of my life...

Colours blend with love to show I'm happy with you,

I will never be the same again,

Now my life is looking past the life I once knew

I'll be shedding black and grey, to take on red and blue;

Colours I can see, from loving you.

Colours of my life, you've got love to fill my heart,

I don't need a rainbow, colours of my life...

As for intentionally religious songs - well, I like so many, it would be quite impossible to choose any favourites, but at various points in my life, the following ones have been particularly meaningful:

My original testimony is outlined in a verse of I will sing the wondrous story: I was lost and Jesus found me, found the sheep that went astray; then shortly afterwards I was particularly impressed by the middle verse of Onward Christian Soldiers for a while: Like a mighty army moved the church of God, brothers we are treading where the saints have trod, we are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity...

You see, I was called to The Salvation Army long before I ever went there. I was 17 at that time - and at the lowest point of my life. I had moved from abusive, mental hospital regimes and staff to the care of Her Majesty's Prison service. I felt very strongly drawn to The Salvation Army shortly after my release - but I didn't know it was a church you could walk into on a Sunday, just like any other; because well, it doesn't really say that...! I thought you could only go in you joined up - and I was pretty sure I'd not qualify, and that they'd not want me there...

I was one of four new soldiers who were enrolled together at Gosport Corps 20 years later, in May 2003; and probably because there were four of us, we weren't given the opportunity to choose our individual songs, as we might otherwise have been; and I must admit to having felt a little short-changed by that! I didn't know the song the officer chose on our behalf at that time, but oh, so often its words have reasonated for me in the years since:

If doors shall close then other doors will open,

The Word of God can never be contained.

His love cannot be finally frustrated

By narrow minds or prison bars restrained.

I'll not turn back, whatever it may cost,

I'm called to live, to love and save the lost...

Around 18 months later, the first of several modern worship songs took on some very real meaning, as I attended a vocational discovery type weekend - seeking confirmation of what I'd thought might be a lifelong calling to ministry:

Here I am, wholly available; as for me, I will serve the Lord.

The fields are white unto harvest, but of the labourers are so few -

So Lord I give myself to help the reaping, to gather precious souls unto you...

You see, Christianity's not a personal religion, in the sense that it's not designed to be kept to yourself! For this reason I also particularly like,

Filled with compassion for all creation, Jesus came into a world that was lost;

There was but one way that he could save them, only through suffering death on a cross!

God you are waiting, your heart is breaking, for all the people who live on the earth,

Stir us to action, filled with compassion, for all the people who live on the earth.

Great is your passion for all the people, living and dying without knowing you,

Having no Saviour they're lost forever, if we don't speak out and bring them to you.

From every nation we shall be gathered, millions redeemed shall be Jesus' reward,

Then he will turn and say to his Father, "Surely my suffering was worth it all."

There's just so much in there. For apart from writing stuff like this and talking to individuals when the opportunity arises, I'm no great evangelist: without God's help, I'd be pretty useless in that respect, actually! But I do have compassion - especially for all those people who live and die without knowing him, for that surely is a great waste! Although there are many people in the world today who choose not to relate to a God, they do at least know of his existence and have that choice, hence they're vastly rich by comparison, in my view.

The "Truly my suffering was worth it all" bit deserves its own paragraph. I don't imagine I'll ever be responsible for converting large numbers of people, nor even solely responsible for converting anyone at all. But, if my writing or my conversation - if my example or any other aspect of me makes anyone stop and think twice about these things, then yes - all my effort shall have been worthwhile, no matter what it might have involved.

Some years ago, the Church of Scotland published an addendum to its Church Hymnary, in the form of a little book entitled, Songs of God's People. Above all else, this was probably a response to rapidly declining church attendance numbers - particularly amongst younger people; as it clearly seeks to modernise, as well as restore a few old favourites that had been lost. Including several Taize chants and a number of Iona-type songs that, invariably, seek to raise the profile of justice issues as well as to deepen one's personal experience of God; I used the following as a daily mantra for many months:

Christ be beside me, Christ be before me, Christ be behind me,

King of my heart.

Christ be within me, Christ be below me, Christ be above me,

Never to part.

Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ all around me,

Shield in the strife.

Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising,

Light of my life.

Christ be in all hearts thinking about me, Christ be in all tongues

telling of me.

Christ be the vision in eyes that see me, in ears that hear me

Christ ever be.

Set to the tune of Bunessan (Child in the manger, Morning has broken, etc), I find this adaptation of St Patrick's Breastplate particularly easy to memorise; and it really does say it all...!

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name,

Will you go where you don't know, and never be the same? is another song from the same book, again set to a Scots folk tune, Kelvingrove, which continues to challenge me. As I've said in an article I was asked to write for the current edition of our corps newsletter, in many ways making the decision to get up and follow the Jesus who calls your name is the easy bit - it's the going where you don't know and never being the same that is the real crunch...

Another such song - also from the same book, is Go tell everyone. I first heard this sung by the primary seven class when I was in primary one at Craigie School in Perth; and I was so pleased to rediscover it in this book - for its lyrics are, well - see for yourself...

God's Spirit is on my heart, he has called me and set me apart

This is what I have to do, what I have to do:

He sent me to give the good news to the poor,

Tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more,

Tell blind people that they can see; and set the downtrodden free,

And go tell everyone the news that the kingdom of God has come,

And go tell everyone the news that God's kingdom has come.

Just as the Father sent me, so I'm sending you out to be,

My witnesses throughout the world, the whole of the world.

Don't carry a load in your pack, you don't need two shirts on your back,

A worker can earn his own keep, can earn his own keep.

Don't worry what you have to say - don't worry because on that day,

God's Spirit will speak in your heart, will speak in your heart...

You've got to admit, it does have quite a WOW factor, doesn't it? And yet, I've never heard it used in church! Interesting that, eh...? For me, the third and fourth verses tie in particularly well with my point about going where you don't know and never being the same, in the previous song I've mentioned: they directly challenge our materialistic world and bring it all back to pure faith - and I think that's just wonderful!

Now, I could go on all day - it has taken me three days to complete this post as it is! So perhaps the best thing I can do is publish this one, and maybe I'll resume the subject on another occasion. Thank-you, dear reader, for indulging me, and sharing in these wonderful things. I do pray that you'll also find some blessing within them!