songs we love.

This is something of an edgy song in the way it sounds.  I don’t know that I would call the words edgy, but they are a pretty fantastic set of text.  The pre chorus and chorus claim that “through the calm and through the storm” as well as “in ev’ry high and ev’ry low” God does not let go of us and that since God is with us always we have nothing to fear.  Verse one quotes part of Psalm 23: “Even though I walk / Through the valley of the shadow of death / Your perfect love is casting out fear”.  The message of this song is so universal that it really could be used any time, but I think it could work particularly well during Epiphany which tends to echo the pleas of the people for God’s action in their lives.

I think the real challenge of this song is it’s range, which is pretty wide – it’s about an octave and a fifth.  So regardless of what key you decide to play it in, chances are pretty good that not everyone in your congregation will be completely comfortable singing this song.  I think that having both men and women helping to lead the song and representing several octaves (definitely two and even three where possible) would be really helpful to an assembly singing this song.  That way people who do feel like they need to switch octaves at some point can follow along with that easily.

The melody, aside from having a wide range, is not hard rhythmically to learn.  There’s hardly any syncopation in the verses and absolutely none at all in the pre chorus or chorus.  I think it’s really easy to pick up on and really powerful to sing.  The time or two I’ve played You Never Let Go in worship people have learned it rather quickly and have really enjoyed singing it.  They especially enjoyed belting out the higher pre chorus and chorus.

One thing that I really like about this song is the contrast between the verses and the pre chorus and chorus.  The melody for the verses is really low and is only three or four notes that repeat a lot.  Then the pre chorus starts to get higher and introduces more notes and the chorus just sails above the rest of it all.  I think this reflects the texts of those sections of the song really well.  The verses are the parts that talk about shadows and death and struggles, troubles, and storms.  Then the pre chorus says “I will fear no evil for my God is with me…” and the chorus is the culmination of it all and simply states, “Oh no, You never let go”.  I think the movement of the melody traces the movement of the text really well.

Where to find it:

-          ccli.com (#4674166)

-          praisecharts.com

-          worshiptogether.com

Notable recordings:

-          Matt Redman – Beautiful News

Hear it now:

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