This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
O Lord I need you
A prayer for God's force in my life
O Lord, I need you,
I need your hand upon my life
when I am tempted to follow
in the dark side, the strife;
I need your plan, Lord,
which you ordained for me to walk,
your rule is power, glory, Lord,
and victory, and not just talk.
O Lord, I need you,
I need to know I am your own
when all around me would make me
just like others, a clone;
but you have called me
and set me on a pathway true -
O Lord, direct me, be in me
that I may always be in you.
O Lord, I need you,
I need your force to make me strong
so I can stand and defend myself,
choose right, turn from wrong;
Give me your light, Lord,
your force, O Jesus, your strong arm,
that I can fight all pow'rs of darkness,
and be safe and kept from harm.
Copyright © John Hartley 2005.
Story behind the song
This is a follow-up song to the previous one I wrote for the "Star Wars" service which St Cuthbert's Wrose were holding, following the release of Episode III (Episode III of the new series - the Sith war). I asked myself what sorts of temptations Anakim Skywalker was facing in the film, and what sorts of temptations Jesus' followers face as they try to live by his standards in our generation. The result seemed to fit with the mood of the pleading tune of the "Luke and Leia" theme from "The return of the Jedi", although the tune itself wasn't suitable for singing as it is too complicated.
(There's a slight change to the words in lines 4 and 6 of verse 3, posted on 25.6.05.)
John Hartley
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.