Behind the Meaning: Keep On Praisin (Close To You)

...this is the last song from my debut Gospel album.  It's definitely THE jam if I may say so myself.  It talks about how in good times, we should praise Him.   In bad times, we should praise Him.  At ALL times we should have the mentality to Keep On Praisin'.

Behind the Meaning: Give You The Praise (Close To You)

This song was a song that God gave me.  It was just a song of praise that I wanted to lift up to Him.  It's hard to add more to this, because there honestly isn't anymore to it.  I think the biggest line that God gave me with this song was the line following the choir that eventually is repeated at the end of the song: "I won't hesitate, I'll give you the praise."

Behind the Meaning: Close To You (Close To You)

So I've been slacking on getting these out, so I'm going to knock out the remaining three of these tonight.  The first song I will talk about is the title track on my album, entitled Close To You.  The reason I wrote this song (and ultimately decided to name the CD after this song) was because this was ultimately where I stood in my relationship with God.  Now to truly understand what I'm talking about, I have to give you a little bit of history.

Behind the Meaning: Amazing Mercy (Close To You)

So I have to be honest about this song.  My only motivation at the beginning of writing this song was to have a song that mirrored (and maybe even combatted) Amazing Grace...lol.  There...you have it...guilty as charged.

Behind The Meaning: I Love You (Close To You)

An incredible God deserves incredible praise!!  That really didnt really have anything to do with anything.  I just felt it on my heart :-).   So thank you for entertaining my digression.

The next song I'm writing about is my song entitled "I Love You." This song was actually one of the hardest songs on my album to write.  I wanted something VERY simple.  Something that would tell the story of how I was feeling, without being too flashy.  My girl Nina Vishwanath actually randomly sent me this raw beat that she made.  It was a short clip, but it was enough to inspire me to create I Love You.

Behind the Meaning: You Were There (Close To You)

What's up family!!  So here is another installment of "Behind the Meaning,"  a segment dedicated on the WHY I wrote the songs that are on my debut album entitled Close To You--which is in itunes today (shameless plug).  This time around, I will be talking about my song "You Were There." It is the 5th track on my album, but actually the 1st song I wrote.

This song was actually inspired by the popular "Footprint In The Sand" poem by Mary Stevenson.  In it, you see a person walking on the beach, each step corresponding to a specific memory or a moment in their life.  It reads on to show a conversation with God where the protagonist (the main character) questions God on why, in the rough times in their life, were their only one set of footprints in the sand.  But in good times, there are two sets of footprints in the sand.  God responds:

Behind the Meaning: Breakthrough (Close To You)

Greetings MD Fans,

Allow me to pause and just thank all of you for the love you've been showing me.  I have to say that it warms my heart to see all this support.  I figured now that all the initial business from releasing an album is over, I can get back to blogging the meanings behind my songs.

The next song on the album is Breakthrough.  This is probably THE most interesting song on the album, because it was literally written in like 2 hrs.  I was going through some things (both personal and professional), and one day the load just got too heavy for me to bare.  I just got SO overwhelmed to where I told a friend at work "you know, i feel like sometimes you just gotta go to Hell and back just for things to go your way....just to break through the nonsense."  Little did I know, I was establishing the foundation for one of my favorite songs on the album.

Behind the Meaning: He Touched Me (Close To You)

This song has a particularly special meaning for me.  I blogged about this a few years ago, but many of you know that my father passed away in 2009.  When I went home for the funeral, I found one of my dad's old mini cassette recorders.  On one side, I heard sounds of him hunting (so it had to be really old).  On the other,  I actually found him singing the old Christian classic "He Touched Me."

Behind the Meaning: My Everything (Close To You)

So this song was inspired by yet another Fred Hammond song (Everything To Me).  After listening to this song, I was on this kick to write about how God was just...MY everything.  I had a few songs that I had arranged previously that fulfilled this desire, but none of them were good enough to put on an album.  I was in the studio with my Producer, Noel, and he played this track for me.  Okay, let me pause here for a second.  So I have to admit something.  This track was NOT originally for me...but after I heard it, I just couldn't let it go.  So yes, someone got Track Jacked.... But dont worry, I added my own flavor to it--rearranged it, added some sounds, added an intro, added a vamp, and made it mine :-).

Behind the Meaning: Close To You...The Album

So I've decided to do something that I've never seen from any other artist (I pay attention to)...I'm going to blog about why I created each of the songs on my album.  I figure I should start by talking about the album as a whole. Well this whole journey was built on two things.  First, I wanted to find my sound (who is Marc Danyell).  Then I had to think about WHY I was making this album.

Wash Me....Then Use Me...

Whats up eWorld (i love calling you guys that...),

So I vow to do much much better than I have with keeping up with this post. The homie, Guil Da, has commissioned me to log my journey, so I will do so.

So this saturday at 6:30pm, I will be opening up for Carl Jenkins & X'Altation at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens (771 Somerset St, Somerset, NJ). I will be singing two songs off of my debut album, Close To You---all shameless plugs. In preparation for this event, I wondered to myself...how can I get myself ready??