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Song #11 of 26 – Jesus Makes Me Glad

Initial BIAB Style – #KEYWEST – This is one of Bob Norton’s MIDI styles

Track #1 – RT521: Bass, Electric, Pop Syncopated Ev 136
Track #2 – RealDrums-JazzFunkGroovin’^1-HHHDSStk,HHSnr
Track #3 – Piano: TruePianos VSTi (Diamond)
Track #4 – Steel Drums: Cakewalk TTS-1 DXi GM Steel Drums
Track #5 – RT1606: Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Pop 16ths Ev 16
Track #6 – Guitar High Pick: Kontakt VSTi with Indiginus Renegade Acoustic
Track #7 – Guitar Low Pick: Kontakt VSTi with Indiginus Renegade Acoustic
Track #8 – Strings: Orchestral Companion Strings VSTi with Ens Strings Espressivo
Track #9 – Trumpet: Kontakt VSTi with Indiginus Blue Street Brass (1920’s Trumpet 1)
Track #10 – Trombone: Kontakt VSTi with Indiginus Blue Street Brass (1908 Trom Vib)
Track #11 – French Horn: WIVI Band VSTi with French Horn
Track #12 – Tenor Sax: WIVI Band VSTi with Tenor Sax

This is another song where I had to use Cakewalk by Bandlab to render some of the audio VSTi’s. But everything was finished in RealBand.

This song was originally intended as kind of a fun children’s song, but we found the adults liked it, too, when we sang it live.

There is a nod to John Denver in the accompaniment of the song. See if you spot it.

Chris sings lead vocals and John sings the harmony vocal; vocals were all run through Melodyne 4 to pull them a little better in tune, with slight reverb using Anwida Soft Reverb Light VST.


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Jesus Makes Me Glad
by Christopher P. Werle and John E. Ford
Copyright © 2001 by Christopher P. Werle and John E. Ford

1 What a lovely day, what a lovely morning.
I'm feeling okay, I'm on my way. Jesus makes me glad.
Let your hearts rejoice, praise the Lord with singing.
He shows us the way to work and play. Jesus makes me glad. (to CHORUS)

CHORUS
Sometimes at night when I'm all alone and feeling blue,
I think about how Jesus cares and saved the world for me and you.

2 Peace to you my friends, flowing like a river.
You'll find it in Him, where joy begins. Jesus makes me glad.
No more clouds or rain, sunshine on my shoulder.
This glorious day I'll walk His way. Jesus makes me glad. (To CHORUS)

3 What a lovely day, what a lovely morning.
I'm feeling okay, I'm on my way. Jesus makes me glad.
I'm feeling okay, I'm on my way. Jesus makes me glad.
Peace to you my friends, flowing like a river.
You'll find it in Him, where joy begins. Jesus makes me glad.

ENDING
I'm feeling okay, I'm on my way. Jesus makes me glad.


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Since I’ve been teleworking since March 2020 (as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic), that has afforded me time at home to work on all the original songs my buddy Chris Werle and I (John Ford) have written. Chris wrote the lyrics, chords, and melody. I then transcribe it into notation, since Chris doesn’t read music. I then write the harmonies, most of the instrumental solos and/or counter melodies, arrange all the instruments, and put everything together.

All songs started in Band-in-a-Box (and some of them are over 20 years old). Then they were worked up in either PowerTracks Pro or RealBand. Since Chris and I live in different states now, I had to rely on previously recorded vocals and his guitar playing from old PowerTracks or RealBand .SEQ files. Because of limitations in RealBand with some VSTi’s, I did have to export the some of the MIDI tracks out of RealBand and render them to audio in Cakewalk (for those that RealBand didn’t render properly), after which I would bring the audio back into RealBand. But most of the songs and the final mix were exclusively rendered from RealBand.

My goal here is to post one song each day until all 26 of the songs have been posted. Some have been posted previously, but I have gone back and reworked all of them, so they are all new mixes and are different from what was originally posted.

Most of the songs are Christian in nature, so if that’s not your thing, that’s fine. But it’s our thing. So without further ado, here is the music.

Really liked the horns--I'm really impressed with the sound you got, and the detailed phrasing. The caribbean style elements added alot to the overall texture. Nice work!!

The backing on "sunshine on my shoulder"--is that the John Denver reference?

You win the Easter egg!

And thanks for your comments. This was a fun song to do. I really like the Indiginus Blue Street Brass Kontakt library. While not perfect, it's one of the closest I've found to "real" sounding.

This morning, on the way to church, I was singing "Jesus makes me glad"...

Not a huge fan of the WIVI brass (I've got 'em, and playing them just makes me sad), but that Indiginus trumpet... super.

Catchier than heck melody, and the steel drums were a pleasant surprise.

Nice harmonies, too!