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There Is a River

from Fifty Songs by Nick Morrow

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lyrics

Come and remember the works of the Lord
Stand in His presence, speechless and poor
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know He is our shelter and our guard

There is a river filled with joy
In the city of our Lord
It can’t be shaken or destroyed
And He will reign forevermore

Even if mountains crumbled to dust
Even if oceans swallowed the earth
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know He is our shelter and our guard

There’s no other hiding place
No other King to end all wars
There’s no shelter like our God
The nations tremble at His voice

credits

from Fifty Songs, track released January 5, 2016
Why I wrote it.
There’s a strange tension in Psalm 46 between beautiful imagery (rivers of joy, mountains falling into the sea, and all that), a deep fear of God as cosmic ruler, and the confidence that God will one day make all things right. I hoped to capture some of that without interfering with too much of the evocative imagery. Most of the lyrics are verbatim from one translation or another.

Musical influences.
The Beatles (always), Sufjan Stevens, maybe Rivers & Robot’s “White As Snow”, which has been a repeat a lot for me recently.

Further reading.
Psalm 46.

Interesting fact.
I wrote the song on a banjo, and translated it to guitar later. Which goes to show that sometimes picking up a new instrument can enhance the creative experience. But because I didn’t have a banjo lying around when I demo’d it, I used a baritone ukulele tuned like a banjo instead.

This was also one of the quickest songs I’ve ever written. I usually work for weeks (or months...or years) on songs. This one came out in one 90-minute sitting.

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Nick Morrow Columbus, Indiana

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