Easy question for Steve...

[Guest]

What's the origin of the theme music on your Radio show? Is that original? If so, do you have a more extended recording somewhere?

It's quite nice, and gets stuck in my head.

Thanks,
Perry

[Guest]

i have probably been asked 20 times what tune i am whistling.

i can picture clint eastwood's "man with no name" disappearing into the desert haze when i hear that tune.

TK

[Guest]

I've caught myself whistling that too, lol

Good guitar work also...Steve? prolly (?)....

[Guest]

Steve? prolly (?)....

I suspect that's the case. At least that's my general impression. I need to try and work out that chord progression. It's very pleasant.

Perry

[Guest]

I know it's not Steve. I've asked before, but can't remember who he said it was.

[Guest]

Hi Derek,

I assumed it was Steve, thanks.

Perry,

I play also & think Derek does too.
From memory I think it's pretty easy
(but has a maybe-hard classical walk-down thing, like).
If I figure it out I'll post it.

[Guest]

The theme music was taken from an amateur casette tape recording by a friend of mine named John Marr (who has since made better quality CDs, but not including that song). He was a student at the Great Commission School, and later ran the Berean School, in McMinnville, OR. The writes a lot of beautiful songs.

The music with the whistling is the intro to a song John wrote based on my lecture called "Vision for Children." I liked it, because it has the kind of feel I wanted for the radio program. Some people have said that tI should use more "high-energy" music that would grab the audience better. However, it would not fit the homey style of the program to introduce it with a lot of flash and dazzle.

There is another song I have considered using for theme music. It is a bonus cut on Larry Norman's "In Another Land" CD. The song just has one line, sung twice: "Looking for the footprints of the man who wears the sandals..." The rest is instrumental (very Beatlesque--no, George Harrison-esque), and is suited for opening and closing music. Larry is an old friend of mine and gave me permission to use it. Unfortunately, the lyrics are recorded with a phase-shifter or something that makes them more difficult to understand. I was afraid that they would not be clearly heard on AM radio. I really like the song, though.

[Guest]

Steve,
I think the theme music fits the show perfectly. I would really miss it if you changed it.

[Guest]

I agree with Derek. To me, the amature quality of the recording helps suggest that homey feel. I wouldn't change it.

Perry

[Guest]

I remember speaking with a Calvinist friend of mine about various points of Theology and I recommended that he listen to the Narrow Path Radio Broadcast and take a look at the website. He didn’t know which one I was speaking of at first. Then all of a sudden he blurted….”Oh Yeah!! The Whistler!!” I knew right then that the theme grabbed him the same way it does me. Judging by the number of questions Steve gets about the theme song, I would say he made the right decision in choosing it . Flash and dazzle usually make me think of one word, and that word is Gimmick.

Besides, if people are attracted to a flash and dazzle type of format for a Christian radio show, how could we ever be sure that it is the Holy Spirit which is providing the increase? If we have to look to carnal minded techniques to attract the world rather than they being attracted to the message presented (and to the lives of those presenting it), we would be doing a disservice to the things of God. The theme definitely fits Steve’s personality and the feel of the show.

I don’t know much about how an AM radio station operates but perhaps there is a way for Larry Norman's Song to be tested there to hear what the lyrics would sound like on AM without it actually being broadcast over the air first…just a thought.