Ragamuffin Soul - Latest Comments in Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Teresa — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:18:43 -0000

I know this isn't one of your most current topics, but I had to comment. I LOVE this song. And I like the way your band plays it. Not sure what "version" that is. It's funny to read all the comments. My husband and I are going through a little bit of a "testing" right now and have been since you played this song. (Does God test or does He just use circumstances that we get ourselves into to help us grow closer to Him?) ANYWAY! Thank you for listening to God's guidance in playing this song. I feel like He is talking to me when you play it. He's telling me, Strength will increase. WAIT on me. TRUST me. I am your hope. I am your deliver. I actually feel like He's giving me a great big hug and reminding me that He is in control. I started CRYING at the part that says something like ..."you lift us up on wings like eagles.." And I usually don't cry until the end of service. :) So again, thank you for listening to Him.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

justin aka j rocka — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:21:11 -0000

it was ok. the chorus is kind of 90s. wings like eagles pretty meatloaf to me. but music is moving that way again anyway, so might as well be at the forefront if we can.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Snowjunkie — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:55:54 -0000

I did this song for the first time just last Sunday and it was great! It didn't sound 90's at all (to me anyway). The feedback we got about it was great, so it will stay on our playlists for a while I think.

http://snowjunkie.wordpress...

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Chris — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:11:56 -0000

When we do the song I have to really discipline the bass and drum players to fall RIGHT in the groove on the first - if the tempo starts to run away the pre-chorus/chorus sections just sound ridiculous.

We'll usually start with a very simple up-down-up-down strum pattern on guitars and a straight four on the kick to get things moving. We build really nicely on the pre-chorus and just launch into the chorus section.

We've been doing the song for a few months here and every time we do it the congregations just belts it out.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

candyce — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:16:34 -0000

hmm. that's surprising... i love that song. we've been using that one a lot in our church plant (an urban vineyard, mostly folks in the 18-35 demographic), and the larger vineyard that 'sent' us and helped us get started has been using it a lot, both in student ministries and the adult service. people seem to like it. i use sort of a combo of chris tomlin and lincoln brewster's versions (brewster's is faster, a bit more modern, but i don't like the way the 'forever' part gets stretched out on brewster's; picky i know :)) vcc (they post services online) uses a version closer to brewster's. but yeah, to echo what others are saying, some songs 'work' better in some communities better than others, partly from style preferences, partly from what God is doing there. to each his/her own, i guess. :)

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Josh Young — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:54:55 -0000

Dude, I didn't read all the posts above me, so sorry if this has already been said (which it probably has). I just have a sec.

We have been doing this song for a month or two, and our people LOVE it. But I agree with you - the Benton Brown version just doesn't cut it. The version we do is very similar to Lincoln Brewster's version. It's great. Much better in my opinion.

As a matter of fact, I have a recording of our Apex band doing it this way if you're interested in hearing it. Just let me know, and I can e-mail it to you or something.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Los — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:46:33 -0000

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Midway Baptist Church Praise T — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:27:26 -0000

We're coming to kick your ass!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Jason_73 — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:46:58 -0000

You know, my bad. I apologize for reading WAAAAY to much into it. Sorry for the drama. my bad.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

justin aka j rocka — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:36:44 -0000

hey lets do some carmen songs!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Los — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:45:33 -0000

People. Can't we just all get along?
Agree to disagree.
And not get feelings hurt and stuff.
:)

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Jason_73 — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:33:31 -0000

I never referred to him or consider him a "rock star". If someone doesn't agree with you that doesns't make them an immature worship-groupie... I felt that your post and the preceding comments to mine were condescending and vain. Like I mentioned, if you don't like a song you don't need to degrade it and get everyone to pile on.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Paul J. — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:03:02 -0000

Los, God has placed YOU in leadership of your folks. Do the song. If it doesn't minister to your people, let it go.

You know this, of course...I just thought I'd write it down.

For my congregation, the Chris Tomlin arrangement works great. Of course, I lowered it.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Russell — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:22:47 -0000

Lincoln Brewster's version is much better in my opinion. More energy, but then again, I haven't heard the Live version klampert is refering to.

Living in Michigan our demographic is obviously different, but that song was extremely well received when we introduced it last month.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

dpaulo — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:17:05 -0000

i hadn't heard it until a few minutes ago on youtube (brewster version). Has a bit of a 'charles in charge' feel to it, no?

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Red Byrd — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:51:13 -0000

Hmmm I think there's a review out there that brings up this topic as well :) HAHAHA

Yeah we do the Lincoln Brewster version of the tune but after we played it the 1st time we (the band) had the same discussion, something just doesn't click. So we did it again to see if that not clicking was something of our band or of our congregation. But after the 2nd time we still felt the not clicking and we thought it wasn't just us.
It's apparent through this post that some love this song and it works and at other places it doesn't. That shouldn't be too surprising. But I'd give the song a chance on a Sunday morning/evening before making my mind up. See how the congregation responds to it. But I've fallen prey to this, I make my mind up that it's not going to work and I'm gonna shelf it after we've done it this one time and I perform it instead of worship with it and I hate myself afterwards.
Can't wait to hear how it goes!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Crystal Renaud — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:37:31 -0000

i meant amazing not available. dang.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Kari — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:03:35 -0000

We do the song here at The People's Church. Our version is very similar to Lincoln Brewster's. It's a hit with our people. I think it's all a matter of your church culture. Hillsong United doesn't work well with our culture here, unfortunately.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

drew — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:57:01 -0000

"And if that is what it takes to get the people to a place of authentic worship…I’m all about it."

Man, did I need to hear that.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

West Wheeler — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:26:27 -0000

It has an awkward change....and awkward break in the middle (at least the way our chruch has done it...but I'm just the drummer......I play what I need to get the job done). It makes me, personally very uncomfortable to play it. I know it's not about me so I play it IF I HAVE TO and will agree that the chorus is awfully hooky and gets stuck in your brain all dang day.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Jeremy — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:23:44 -0000

The first time we did the song as a special, I could see people that don't normally sing in the crowd bobbing their heads and singing along. They loved it! But it gets a lot of air play around here. Once I saw that, I put it into the regular set. Most of the time I like to sit on the chorus at the end and really let the lyrics sink in. Tomlin did a version on his tour where he NEVER sped it up....took it nice and slow. It was very worshipful. We actually do the version from North Point, but we're experimenting with Brewster's version as well.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Hale-Yeah! — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:14:35 -0000

I've heard great things about Brenton as a person and love his lyrical content, but the style of the songs is not my flava. Our church did it last week and it didn't work for me even more so than the way it sounds on his CD. I was actually displeased with the whole album. Just like how I can't get into Darlene Zscech's stuff @ Hillsong. It just rubs me the wrong way for some reason.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Nathan Gaddis — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:39:04 -0000

If there is one thing I have learned as a "local church" worship leader is that sometimes, my views and opinions have to hit the shelf. I am forced to think about what the congregation likes and what makes them engage in worship the most. Therefore, I can name countless songs that I have chosen to do that I honestly can't stand, but our congregation eats them up. And if that is what it takes to get the people to a place of authentic worship...I'm all about it. The thing about that song is the chorus. No one walks away singing or really remembering the verse and pre-chorus...it is the chorus they go away singing, and it should be, since that is the hook. If you don't do the song, maybe you can incorporate just the chorus into another song or use it as a bridge into the next song. Just a thought.

My advice, if you choose to hear it:

Try the whole song. Regardless of whether you or your band don't like it. And let the congregation have their say. The results may surprise you. Then you have to ask yourself the question, "what if the whole place loves it? Then what do I do with it? What if God does something HUGE through that one song?".

My $0.02

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

todd — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:17:46 -0000

Here are my thoughts on the tune:

First of all, we do it in our church and our folks really seem to dig it. For my band in particular, learning the pre-chorus was great exercise. They normally don't do a lot of syncopated stuff and this song required them to do it, so it was cool.

Secondly, I think that "Everlasting God" is a song where I have to take myself out of the mix. While I may find "Salvation Is Here" or "Marvelous Light" way cooler, the fact is that "Everlasting God" is a very easy song for a congregation to sing. I don't find Brenton's song goofy, but if I did, I think I'd still do it because it's such an easy song for people to join in. We all do this on a regular basis - putting our personal preference aside for what will encourage, convict and motivate our people.

Thirdly, I really like Tomlin's version. (Although it's four steps too high for a normal human being. Somebody's gotta' tell that dude to start making his stuff more congregational.) What I like about Tomlin's take is its smoothness. While Brenton and Lincoln do rock it, Tomlin's version is a great transition tune that's big, but smooth...a song that can easily move worship from big rocking celebration to more mellow adoration.

That's my take.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

klampert — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:25:03 -0000

I actually like this song. If you look on youtube for brenton singing it for the worshipleader magazine it's way better. The Tomlin version is week. Lincoln Brewster makes it pretty modern but honestly the closest to 2007 I've heard it is brenton doing it live.

As far as Shine Jesus Shine. I just resurected that because the words rock. But I made it 2007. I use a regular capo and a cut capo playing in D position in Key of G. and slow it down big time. It ends up being a very crowder like worship song in the vein of God of Wrath...Try it sometime.