1) "Creation Hymn/Song of the Lion" – The accapella nature of "Creation Hymn" came about in an unusual way. It (as well as "Song of the Lion") was written about 7 years ago. There were no vocals at all on it to begin with. It was originally a spacey keyboard intro to "Song of the Lion." When it became obvious to me that these would be good songs to start the whole timeline concept of the CD with, I started messing around with some vocals over the top of this 7 year old inst. piece. I came up with a suitable vocal arrangement and recorded them. Out of curiosity, I decided to pull all the instruments out and see what it sounded like with no background music in it… Pretty Cool! But I still could not decide if I liked it better with music in it or not… I brought a test disc over to my cousin/friend Curt Tomhave’s, and he liked it more without the music... That’s how it became an accupella number. On the "Song of the Lion," Emilia Zellmer, a singer from my church, came over and did a great job. One of only 3 songs on the CD with programmed drums, it seemed to work pretty well on this particular tune. Of course, generally speaking, real drums played by a real drummer are by far superiour… Thanx, Cap’n!

2) "Tree of Knowledge" – When I was on one of those Steve Taylor tours, Mark Townsend (DC Talk, Jennifer Knapp, The Televangelists, solo work) and I came up with the verse "A" section chords and chorus chords; The melody for these 2 sections was fairly in place between the 2 of us as well, but we had no lyrics. We recorded it on a small cassette deck and promptly forgot about it, until the fall of ’99. I was digging around some old tapes and found this old idea that Mark and I had come up with, so I wrote a verse ‘‘B" section, a bridge, then wrote the lyrics, which is basically the dialogue between the Eve and the serpent… It pretty much fell into place. When I recorded it, it transformed from basically an acoustic guitar sort of thing into some pretty huge electric stuff…Rockin’ drums from Chris Dewan, a solid and innovative bass part from Rich Pearson and Kevin Anderson’s "icing on the cake" guitar stuff really brought this thing to life.

3) "The Deluge" - The thing I remember most about writing this song was that it was in the spring of ’99 and it rained and rained, which sorta bummed out Kim and I because we were looking at buying a home (the one we are in now, Praise God!) and it seemed to have a leaky basement, and it looked like it was curtains for our house purchase. I knew I needed a song for the "Noah" portion of the CD, so maybe in a way the heavy rains we were having that spring influenced this tune! On the recording end, the feel that Renee Pester’s congas and shakers provided were wonderful, as was the bass part that Rich worked very hard on… One of my faves on the disc, both as a song and as a recording, two different things to be sure... We occasionally play this one in the "GodsLove" band.

4) "Prophets of Old" – Not much to say about this really, except it was a lot of fun orchestrating the piano, acoustic guitar, bass and synth parts. We have played this in "GodsLove" too, with my lovely wife Kim Wollan playing flute.

5) "Rejoice all ye Nations, Rejoice" – I really wanted to write a Christmas hymn, but adorned with drums, electric guitars, etc. The thing that brings me pleasure in this song is that it is happy and joyful, without a doubt. I think Renee Pester’s congas really added a new dimension to the song. Rich Pearson’s bass parts always bring such a solid foundation to the music I write. Always melodic, yet foundational and always in "service to the song," as I like to say. We play this in "GodsLove" as well, but it’s more "unplugged" sounding.

6) "Prince of Peace" – The recording of this tune turned out substantially different than I had anticipated. After writing the chord progression, melody and lyrics, I was at a loss as to what type of feel to give the song from a rhythmic standpoint… I had recently purchased a new drum module. It had this sort of hip-hop kind of beat programmed in there, and the "Prince of Peace" thing fit perfectly with it. I added the funky synth bass part to it, showed it to Chris Dewan, who elaborated on the drum groove and there it was. For the end of the song, I thought it would be cool to rent the Basilica, throw up some decent mics and record the huge pipe organ for the end of the song, but this proved impractical as well as unrealistic! When all was said and done, I used my plastic – keyed Alesis keyboard and ran it through a Lexicon reverb setting named "Cathedral." We do this one in "GodsLove" too and it takes on a much different character. It seems to work equally well either way.

7) "Our Victory is Won" This is another tune with programmed drums, (as is "Paupers and Kings") but as far as drum samples go, pretty good ones, I’d have to say. The electric guitar fills and solos are, musically speaking, one of my fave things about this track. It almost has an "island" sort of vibe to it…Where in the heck did that come from?!? The reason this song is significant to me personally is that it was right around this time (September ’98) that I began to understand that I needed to put the focus on God as a songwriter, totally. I did and have not looked back since!

8) "The Light on the Face" – We do some gospel at the church where I work and where Kim and I attend; It’s a fun genre and I hope to learn more and more about it! I took a gospel chord progression I had and used it for a verse, then took a more typical GW type of progression and used that for the chorus. I found a decent way to connect them, and thus the song was born. It was also a gas to dust off the B.B/Freddie King and Clapton licks for the middle guitar solo. I used to play slide guitar a lot in my younger days, but as I developed as a keyboard player and singer/writer, it kind of got left by the wayside. But it seems that every 3-4 years or so I get curious about it again and I give it a whirl! It just so happens I was recording this song when the "slide guitar bug" came and bit me! So I threw some slide on the 2nd verse…

9) "To Him who is Risen – I wish I had a real string section or orchestra playing the string parts on this song, but once again, it seemed a tad impractical… Pretty simple track, with just voice, piano and those aforementioned string parts. Like I say in the Timeline, this is about the Apostle Paul’s conversion and dedication to Christ, but I drew from my own conversion and resultant experiences for the heart and soul of the song….

10) "Paupers and Kings" - This was a darn fun track to do… someday I would like to delve more deeply into instrumental music. It was really fun, writing the flute parts and sax parts that were played together by my wife Kim (flute) and my pal Rick Reibel. (sax) They both did a fantastic job! Also I had fun with the nylon string guitar and the electric guitar solos as well. Another very cool thing about this tune: About 20 years ago, when Kim & I were friends & ran in the same circles in Fargo /Moorhead, we talked about doing some music, with her on the flute. It was really just talk then, although I wanted to do it… it just never materialized. Now here we are, all this time later, (having not seen each other in 17 years) married and have this piece of music that we worked on together, along with her participation in the "GodsLove" band! It’s also worth pointing out that I don’t believe this piece would have existed had it not been for Pastor Rick Moe giving me that nylon string guitar… (see story in GUITAR TOUR)

11) "The Final Curtain Call" It was in August or September of ’99 and the timeline concept was firmly in place. I knew I needed a song for the final conflict between good and evil and it just so happened to be that I was reading "Mere Christianity" at this time. (For perhaps the 4th or 5th time in 15 years.) I thought the metaphor of the Author walking out on to the stage when the play was over was just so perfect. I had the chorus chord progression sort of swimming around in my head for a few weeks prior to this. I took an ancient clavinet - type keyboard riff that I have been playing for like 12 years and found a way to append it to the chorus progression. The lyrics that weren’t directly taken from C.S. Lewis just sort of organized themselves into the song structure and that was that! The Rick Reibel sax solo is really honkin’, really enjoyed him on this. I have to give credit where credit is due, my hombre and Nashville resident Brent Little helped to teach me about this sort of bass playing. Not by sitting down and giving me lessons per se’ but just by hanging out, listening and watching him play this sort of stuff, a sort of osmosis takes place if you do it long enough. We were in many bands together for many years, and I count him as a great multi-instrumentalist/writer/producer, but more importantly a great person and friend.

12) "No Eye Has Seen – This is one of my very faves on the whole disc, for many reasons. First of all, the subject matter of having peace with God for eternity is something that continues to give me hope and joy now, in the present. The lyrics have a somewhat interesting origin. I was writing an email to an old friend of mine, pontificating on why I was a Christian. (You can view this document under Apologetics) I began writing with what I believe was divine inspiration and it just flowed out of me. Not because I am a great, or even good writer; But because I allowed God to take over the reins. There is a section in the letter which attempts to describe heaven: "In my Mind’s eye, I can picture a place, a perfect place," etc. that just seemed poetic to me, and I made it the first verse of the song. (With a few minor adjustments.) The rest of it fell into place. I don’t think I have ever used a letter to someone as a starting point for a lyric.

Some musical reasons I enjoy this one: The sax that Rick Reibel plays is great, especially at the beginning. Those soprano licks just poured out of him, and it all happened very quickly as well. The feel Chris Dewan gives it is perfect, the way it intensifies at the key change where the guitar solos start. I have always been a huge fan of English music and it’s many facets… The facet in this case being a certain "English Melodicism" that many guitar players from Britain employ when they play their lead guitar stuff. Some good examples of this are Andrew Latimar from the band Camel, Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Andy Powell, Ted Turner and Laurie Wisefield from Wishbone Ash, Tim Renwick who played with Al Stewart and Mark Knopfler, to a slightly lesser degree. These are the fellows I generally think of when playing lead guitar; the note choices, tones, mixing fast runs with soaring whole notes. I don’t think you could hear one of the guitar licks at the end of this song and say, "There’s a Gilmour Lick!" Or "That’s a Camel riff!" I have learned many of these guys’ guitar stylings in the past, but hopefully these guitar licks are all part of a melding/ mixing pot that, when all stirred together, make up a style that is all my own… Let’s hope so anyway! F.Y.I: That’s a keyboard solo at the very end….

GW - January 2000