Michael W. Smith Comes To Myrtle Beach!
by John A. Wilcox
This has been a stellar year for Michael W. Smith fans so far! 3 fantastic new songs: Arms Around The Sun, Your Love Is A Flood, and the latest - Kingdom Come. All are full of fresh energy that's got listeners absolutely captivated!
I had the opportunity to talk to Smitty about how Arms Around The Sun came together: You know what? It was really Michael Olson. Michael used to be an artist on Rocketown Records. He's now a worship leader in Jacksonville Florida. He's a really dear friend of mine. He's a grrrreat writer. We've written some songs together in the past. He knows that I'm sort of enamored by space and the cosmos. I can just look up in the sky at the stars and have a God moment. I've always been that way. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Just fascinated by it all. And Michael's always known that.
So I kinda had this little melody. I wasn't sure if it was right. I said "Michael, what do you think?" We started talking about space and whatever. So he sends me some of these lines from the song and I kinda had it in a shuffle (Sings shuffle rhythm). Kind of that 123-456. It's so weird. I went and found the old demo of it and it kind of worked with his lyric but I didn't think it was right. Then I sent it to him and he sends something back. Then all of a sudden he's got this line: "I can't see the wind, but it's filling up my lungs. Providence before the beginning had begun. I believe you are a love that never ends. But trying to get my head around You. Is like trying to wrap my arms around the sun." When he sent me that section I straightened out the music and all of a sudden I just finished the music and I thought "Oh my gosh! I think we have something here!" So it was more going back and forth texting-wise. Going "Hey - what do you think about this?" Sending voice memos. Which is not always the case when I'm writing with people. But boy it sure works with him and I'm extremely, extremely happy with the song! I think he just penned an amazing lyric.
Smitty recently shared his thoughts online about Your Love Is A Flood: I've been sitting on this musical idea for a long time. For Your Love Is A Flood. I mean quite a while, actually. It's just the image of God's love. Not as something we barely reach for, but for actually something that completely overwhelms us. The line that says "You overflow my cup when you call my name" - I mean that is amazing and I want this whole thing to stay rooted in worship. It obviously has a pop element to it. Has a cinematic element to it. But it's focused on the presence and power of God. But I also felt drawn to explore a sound that was a little different. So it's a little different than what I've done in the past. Something more rhythmic, more layered. Something that captures the rush and movement of that kind of love.
Kingdom Come is a magnificent piece with a very strong message. Michael W. Smith shared its creation with me: It's what I pray every day. I pray the Lord's Prayer. You've got to look at the world. It's a mess and you're sitting there going "Oh God, may your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." I've kinda always wanted to write something - Kingdom Come. I thought it would be a more worshipful thing but I never could just figure it out. I kept trying. I'm not just going to just beat this thing to death. And then I wrote this piece of music. I wrote the music first. I wrote the whole stuff. I wrote the whole music before we had a lyric. Then I called Michael. We had just finished Arms Around The Sun. I go "Michael? I've got this piece of music that I really, really love...and I think it might need to be called Kingdom Come." So, again, texting back and forth. Voice memos. That's how the whole thing came to be. It was that simple.
Then, what I love most about the song from a musical standpoint - I learned this from John Williams, who's my musical hero. In a lot of these big orchestral pieces he will modulate - not up a half step or a whole step. Either down a step and a half, which is a lift that's unbelievable, and he does it going up a step and a half. Which is very, very unusual for a pop song. It works orchestrally and cinematic-wise all the time. But he does it so well. When it goes to that modulation after I sing that second chorus, I modulate a step and a half up. Everybody I play it for, it's just shock and awe! John, they say "What just happened here?" We didn't just modulate half a step or a whole step, we did it a step and a half. There's just something about that lift. And then we go into this big chant. It's kind of like a Coldplay arena whatever. It just is a lift - my favorite part of the song.
All of these and much more are part of Smitty's Beyond The Far Horizon tour. The new songs will join fan favorites like Place In This World, Agnus Dei, Secret Ambition, and of course Friends. Treat yourself to an unforgettable night out at the Carolina Opry! Bring friends & family!
Michael W. Smith
Saturday, October 18, 7:00 PM
The Carolina Opry
8901 N Kings Hwy
Myrtle Beach, SC 29572
(843)913-4000
The Carolina Opry
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