Congregational Songwriting Praise And Worship Music for Church Study
Waymaker Songwriting Study
We're studying succesful Praise and Worship songs to see if we can find some things that made them succesful. This time we're taking a look at the song waymaker. #3 of the top 100 most popular songs this year.
Click here to start Dave's in-depth study of the top Congregational Praise and Worship Song this year.
Recently I took an in-depth look at the #1 Praise & worship song of the year "The Blessing." This time we're taking a look at #3 on this year's list "Waymaker." Like "The Blessing" this is also a very long song. 8 1/2 minutes. We're seeing a trend toward these very long songs in worship especially. As a Worship Leader, I can tell you that they are draining because there is so much emotion in them. I certainly wouldn't want to ever couple two of these songs back to back. I might pass out in exhaustion. lol! Waymaker is a song I've liked singing and our congregation knows it and loves to sing as well. It's heard in Christian radio and played at a large portion of churches that do modern P&W and certainly should be studied to try and determine what this is. As a songwriter, I love doing this as I have learned a great deal about writing in a particular genre by analyzing the successful songs. So take a look with me and I encourage your input.
Verse 1You are here, moving in our midst
I worship You
I worship You
You are here, working in this place
I worship You
I worship YouHmm, nothing earth-shaking here. I like the line "You are here, moving in our midst" as when I'm worshipping that's exactly what I'm after. I like how the lyric speaks right to the Lord also. That follows with two "I worship You" another line and 2 more "I worship You" so it's quite obvious the thought process. Deep worship. You are here, moving in our midst & You are here, working in this place don't rhyme though and aren't very different though so as a songwriter that seems odd to me. repeat above verse againThis certainly gets a congregation to sing along as there are not many words but the song hasn't gone any further. Where it is, is a good place but as a songwriter, I'm thinking the song should be going somewhere further as those two basic lines haven't taken it very far to this point.