Shortly after our Granddaughter, Chloe Nelson, asked for a link to a song about her, I recognized there are 5 of the 17 Grandkids I have not written a song specifically for yet. This is the third of those new songs. This one is about our Salt Lake Grandaughters, Gwendolyn Ivy Olson.
On August 9th, 2020, while Gwen was visiting us, she went to help me water and weed the garden. In those days, Edwin and Beverly Gurr, who own and live in Grandma’s house, had two goats: Bonnie & Clyde. Gwen was captivated by the goats. She made horns, like she was a goat, and she fed them greens from the garden and a branch I pulled of one of the trees for her. It was really fun to watch her interact with the goats, and so it only made sense to have this be the theme for her song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Our Granddaughter, Chloe Nelson, asked for a link to a song about her. I recognized there are 5 of the 17 Grandkids I have not written a song specifically for yet. This is the second of those new songs. It is about one of our Texas Grandaughters, Halle Nalise Wright.
The words came from looking at photos of Halle (see https://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/05_JaredMelanie/03_Halle_Nalise). Note, there is an extended image behind each of the images on this site. So if you click on Halle in the leaves, you will see where the name of this song came from. Also, you may wonder about the word veil. It rhymed better than “Endowment,” “Marriage,” or “Death.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Our Granddaughter, Chloe Nelson, asked for a link to a song about her. I had not written a song specifically about her, yet, and so I did over the last 2 days. It is based on recent memories from our 15th Annual Nelson Grandkids Summer Science Camp at Teasdale Jewel, Utah. My cousin, Eric Krueger and his wife Annette, have a lovely vacation home they rent out next to Capitol Reef. The theme this year was Math. And one of the things the kids liked the most was the trampoline. Especially Chloe and Karson. Karson Nelson lives across the street, and is the grandson of my first cousin Paul Nelson. My cousin’s son Kendall reported for his mission the same day Chloe’s Dad, my son Paul Nelson, did. Since the Kendall and Wendy live across the street from the Teasdale Jewell, they clean it, and their 3 kids, Karson, Ashlyn, and Madison, joined several of our Science Camp activities. It was a fun summer get together.
As a side note, two of the things we teach the kids is to always drink a lot of water, and never go off on your own. A couple of weeks after Science Camp, Doug Grimshaw, Kevin Kilcoyne, Andrea, and myself went to Peter’s Leap South to replace a monument which had rotted and fallen down. After most of the work was done, I took off, without water and alone, to cross the ravine and get coordinates for the Peter’s Leap North Monument, for SUP’s ongoing documentation. It was hot, I had a long-sleeve SUP levi shirt on and was wearing levi’s. I got dizzy on the way down, fell and got a coupe of nice bruises. On the way back I could not climb up part of the steep hill. Doug found me disoriented and with heat exhaustion. Andrea called 911. Doug and Kevin moved me to a little more shade, and took off my levis and SUP shirt. Doug took my hat to the creek, filled it with water, and poured it on me, several times. Three groups of fire fighters and others came, and put an IV in, and monitors on. They said it would take 2-hours to carry me out. So they called in a helicopter and moved me about a quarter of a mile. I’m fine, and my thanks go to Doug, Kevin, and Andrea, who saved my life so I could write Chloe’s song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
096: water water water, wax whacks wax, way way weigh whey weigh, ways weighs, we wee whee, weather whether:
097: weave weave, we’d weed weed, week weak, well well well well, we’ll wheel wheel, were were whirr wear wear ware:
098: wet whet whet, which witch, Whig whig wig, while wile, whorl whirl, wine whine:
099: whirled world, wit whit, who’s who’s whose, woood would, why Y, son sun Xun Son:
100: right Wright right right write, yoke yolk, you U, you’ll yule, you’re your yore, Zion Zion Sion:
I have long had a fascination with homophones, not even knowing they were called homophones. Maybe it is because so many homophones are used as Dad Jokes, and the groans after a Dad Joke are often better than the joke.
“Homophones are words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling. These words may be spelled differently from each other (such as to, too, and two), or they may be spelled the same way (as in quail meaning ‘to cower’ and quail meaning a type of bird.” (Google search which used https://www.merrian-webster.com).
This effort was started in 2020, and I completed a first pass document by 26 November 2022 during a visit to Melanie’s family in Bulverde, Texas. There was a second pass document by 09 April 2023, and then I started adding definitions for the project to be more “whole.” The document was “completed” 26 June 2024. And, of course, it is not complete. For instance, in coming up with 100 six-line verses, where each line is a set of homophones, I forgot to add “pi” and “pie,” even though I had made the image of “pies” and “pi” for this song back before the 2nd pass document in 2023. Also, I do not have the homophones “quail” and “quail,” which came up in the definition used when “Homophones and Quilts” was posted as Grandkidlet #24.27. There are at least 2 lines where homophones were repeated on other lines, starting with another spelling. I discovered this when recording the verses. And there are at least 2 sets of homophones, which I entered at the end, and which are not alphabetical, and thus do not have definitions. Too much work to add them, and then move each line to keep all of the homophones alphabetical.
Do, there are 100 verses, or 600 sets of homophones in this work. A lot of Dad Jokes. There are 1,577 definitions, which should mean there are at least 1,588 words which are homophones. This means there is an average of 2.628 homophones per line in the song. It was hard to sing some of the verses, because the sentences are often so random. So, some verses were recorded a dozen times to get the version used. The merged version of 100 verses is 38.8 MB in size and lasts over an hour. I recognize I am probably the only one in the world willing to listen to this whole thing. Oh well! This is not unusual for some of my more off the wall projects, like filling our yard with rocks from Southern Utah or turning each chapter of The Book of Mormon into a 4 line stanza, and then putting all of the stanzas to “music” (see https://www.psalmscountdown.net/?p=5611).
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Our son Robert Llewellyn Nelson submitted key words to an AI song writing company, Suno, and generated this Song on 01 April 2024. The words, music, and recording came from AI (Artificial Intelligence). The image comes from the AI post. The chords for the pdf file are my attempt to reverse engineer the AI. Isn’t exactly right, and it works for me. With this new AI music generation technology, it only seems logical to add an AI generated song to this site.
The lyrics:
[Verse 1]
H. Roice Nelson, a man with a plan
Hidden deep in his heart, like a flickering flame
He wandered the valleys, scaled the highest peak
With fingers on his guitar, secrets, he would speak
[Verse 2]
Cedar Point Mountain, a place unknown
Whispered tales of magic, in winds that blow
With each fingerpicking note, a story would unfold
The secret of the mountain, H. Roice Nelson holds
[Verse 3]
In the still of the night, under a moonlit sky
H. Roice Nelson strums, his melody to comply
The cedar trees sway, as ancient secrets awaken
They dance to the rhythm, their silence, he’s taken
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The words for this Song came froma FaceBook Post by Larry Hatch on 19 January 2024. Larry reposted it from LDS Scriptural Insights, Jeff Shoell. The words are basically the same as the post. The image comes from the post. The music for the chorus is my version of “Amazing Grace.” The Hard parts of church are chords with a 7th. The Benefit parts of church are chords without a 7th.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
I spent about 406 days working on the text for this Song. The words come from hours of meditation about assignments as aTemple Woker in the Cedar City Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
390 Nelson Cabin “Taylor, Colby, Grant, and Ethan here once again”
The morning after we got to Texas for Taylor’s Farewell, 17 September 2023, I did my normal exercise routine and then singing 2 songs or psalms. One was these was Psalm 141 – Incense, which is Song 236. It was a unique song not tied to one of my Songs. So I reversed the process, and used the tune from this Psalm as the music for Taylor’s Farewell. I also used verse 2 of Psalm 141 as the Chorus for Taylor’s Farewell. I like it, and when I sang it for the family in Texas, Taylor seemed to really like it.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The Science Camp theme for 2023 was water. However, the big surprise was Christmas in July. The kids cut down an Aspin twig and decorated it with Christmas Tree Lights. We had a puzzle we had put together for each family. Each puzzle was wrapped as a Christmas present. Each family picked a puzzle, and then they had opportunities to trade what they selected by taking away someone else’s puzzle. This was repeated with some white elephant gifts. Then the last 9-years of Andrea’s work putting together photo albums were made available. The idea was to look through the books and use Post-It notes to note things that were wrong or needed to be changed. Andrea will make the changes, and then we will get each of the books scanned. It is a really big project, and Andrea has been very diligent working on it. We hope all of this effort is appreciated. This song’s chorus is about Christmas in July, and the verses discuss things that happened at Science Camp in 2023. This is also described in Grandkidlet 23.29
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Isabella is Audrey’s second daughter. When we went to Virginia Beach once, Grandma taught her to do crocheting. She became extrordinaire. The pictures show a few of her creations, including minions and octopi. She also sells these on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Izzymays.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Sage Maura Beckmann is currently (and likely forever) our youngest grandaughter. Her Mom and Dad came early to Science Camp in 2022 and stayed at a place near the east entrance to Zion. We babysat. I wrote this song. When everyone came back from hiking in Zion, I sang what I wrote for them. Ryan Beckmann was the videographer. The place they were staying was wonderful. There was a deer that sat down just outside a large picture window, and it looked like a wall sized painting.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
During Preparation Meeting for our shift at the Cedar City Temple on Thursday 1 Morning, President Brough said, “There Art Thou, …, wouldn’t that be a good title for a song.” So I wrote the title down on my swallow sheet, and later that morning I told him I would send him the results. Andrea was babysitting in Salt Lake Saturday morning. One of my two morning song to sing was Psalm 113. I liked the tune, and used it with the title President Brough gave in Preparation Meeting and the first line he gave in the Marriage Waiting Room. I sent the results to him Saturday morning, 17 September 2022 at 10:53, and he responded at 2:11 PM with “Absolutely love it. Thank you for sharing.”
Like many of my “songs,” this “song” chords with the Travis Picking that Quentin Reed taught me so long ago in Denver, Colorado. I shared this song with Steve Engst and Andrea on our way home from church on Sunday the 18th of September when we stopped to catch up after our three-week cross-country trip. Steve said, “This should definitely be one of Roice’s Top Ten Songs.” Nice compliments.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
During the COVID-19 Lockdown, Andrea suggeted I might enjoy reading Ralph Moody’s book “Little Britches – Father and I were Ranchers.” I loved it. It reminded me of the happy times of working with my Dad in Nelson Meat Packing Plant and on the farm. it also reminded me of the words to , “If Kids Grew Up On Farms.”
Like many of my “songs,” this “song” is someone else’s words, put to a tune and supported by chords with the Travis Picking that Quentin Reed taught me so long ago in Denver, Colorado. I do think this message is especially relevant today, with all of the people who have grown up knowing nothing more than public welfare and not having Dad’s to teach them how to work. The good news is each of my kids, and each of my step-kids, know how to work, and are contributing to society. We always need to count our blessings.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
When sorting all of the 115 boxes that ended up at SUU’s Special Collections, I found a song I had written in about 1984. It consisted of words about Landmark Graphics put to the music of “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy.”
This song is included in an effort to be complete. It is interesting in an historical context. I like some of the words: “Let our story now be told, To the four corners of the earth” in the chorus; “seismic interpreters, LImited to colored pencils” in verse 2; and “Demos show our present status, which improves from day to day”. I have no idea where this was sung. Expect it was at our office on Highway 6 in West Houston, before we moved to Cypress Run.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
On 17 September 2020 I wrote I had a vivid dream. I do not remember the dream. I do know that on that day I wrote a 4-line stanza summarizing I Nephi Chapter 1, and gave a name to the stanza. The next day, the 18th of September 2020, I wrote 4-line stanzas summarizing I Nephi Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4. The date of each stanza is noted in the footnotes. The last entry was on 10 November 2021 summarizing Moroni Chapter 10 as a 4-line stanza.
Below are merged recordings for the Preface, then each chapter in each Book in The Book of Mormon, and The Way:
It has been fun to watch the project evolve over about 14 months. The idea of having a 1-word summary of each chapter was part of the project from the beginning. The first time chords were put to the stanzas was when the Purpose was summarized as a 4-line stanza on the 6th of January 2021 from the Title Page. This is my 2021 Christmas Present to our kids and grandkids and friends who are interested.
I’m sure the recordings will be redone, and the project will evolve a lot more over coming years. In an effort to make each chapter available to those interested, the song for individual chapters are linked in the directories below:
Now the individual chapters are assigned a NAME and had a 4-LINE STANZA, they can be reorganized into any order desired. If you look at The Book of Mormon as teaching the Plan of Happiness, the order can be reorganized as Creation, Prophets, Christ, Churches, Genealogy, Temple, and Nations (see 1.0_Creation – 7.0_Nations). Sup-topics describing each of these categories can be selected, and a process model (Knowledge Backbone sm) generated for the entire Book of Mormon. Here is a first cut Plan-of-Happiness Process Model:
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Purpose1 Nephi 1:1-222 Nephi 1:1-33Jacob 1-7, Enos 1, Jarom 1, Omni 1, Words of Mormon 1Mosiah 1-29Alma 1-63Helaman 1-163 Nephi 1-30, 4 Nephi 1Mormon 1-9Ether 1-15Moroni 1-10The Way 1
Recorded on i-Phone with Voice_Memos and merged on PC with https://audio-joiner.com
Science Camp 2021 was at the Warner Cabin. Aunt Luana had offered their cabin to us before it was burned down in the Brian Head Fire, and then once they had it rebuilt. Andrea and I went to the cabin to check it out when Claude, Ivan, and Eric were there. What a beautiful place. The original cabin was very rustic, and some of the wives did not enjoy going there. Now it has washers and driers, showers, beautiful beds, and the cabin is a world class destination.
Some of what we did is captured in this song. We used the cabin as our home base for visits to Big Rock Candy Mountain for zip line and river rafting, Bryce Canyon for hiking and a nice meal, and Panguitch Lake, for fishing and paddle boarding. Our theme this year was gravity. We did water rocket launches, had a hydrostatic water pressure tube test, and used clear tubing to show how to map out a constant elevation contour. Paul brought a projector and large screen and we showed “Home Alone” one night. Every time the grandkids saw the effect of gravity, they yelled “GRAVITY” and there were candy prizes for first and most original. There was sill time to play games, hike, sing songs, cook and eat good meals, and to write this song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Glen Reed Longhurst and his wife were in charge of the Cedar City, Utah Family History Center for several months before the pandemic. As Hillcrest Ward Family History Leader, I interacted with Brother Longhurst regularly. He arranged for us to have several monthly Family History Consultant meetings at the Family History Center. The words for this song were on the program for Brother Longhurst’s funeral.
Brother Longhurst was very tall, probably 6 feet 5 inches. At his funeral I met several members of his family, all over 6 foot 5 inches in height. His Bishop summarized the size of the Longhurst Family by saying he feels really small around them. Based on the comments at the funeral, he was a big man spiritually and intellectually as well as physically. Brother Longhurst died from pneumonia issues after contracting COVID-19. Sister Longhurst was so calm and peaceful at the viewing. Yes, he left early. However, he will prepare a place for her and for their family. Death is a natural part of life. Choice, which is what Brother Longhurst’s poem is about, is all about how we choose to respond to the issues and challenges we face. His family definitely handeled his unexpted early passing with grace and with love. Oh that all would choose to do so well.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Roice has spent several months working at SUU Special Collections on Wednesdays to sort through the 114 boxes of materal donated. Lots of interesting things found. Some fulfilling. Some very sad. There were:
44 boxes of Landmark Geotech material, white numbered tags, west stationary shelves
7 boxes of Landmark Business material, green numbered tags, west wall shelves
14 boxes of Walden 3D/Walden Visualization/Advanced Structures/entrepreneurial material, green numbered tags, east moving shelves
28 boxes of Hypermedia Corporation material, yellow numbered tags, west wall shelves
2 boxes of Dynamic Oil & Gas and Dynamic Resources Corporation, pink? numbered tags, west wall shelves
16 boxes of family and personal material, blue numbered tags, east moving shelves
2 boxes of church material, pink numbered tags, east moving shelves
1 box of school material, yellow numbered tags, east moving shelves
Plus some 90 maps and Posters
Somewhere in all of this was a single sheet of paper with some writing Marti did about Farm Kids. As I was just about ready to catch up posting new songs, it seemed like this would be a good last post for a while. Do not remember seeing this before. It shows there was more going on behind the desire for divorce, than I realized. Sort of even helps me reconcile and put aside feelings of failure. Oh well!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Grandpa and Grandma drove from Bulverde, Texas to Austin see Sage Beckman, our new granddaughter, and Sara and Bobby’s daughter. Then we drove to Houston and had dinner with Matt’s fiancee Tess’ father and family. Then we drove to Vidor and stopped to see Jared’s family. Then, after a couple of family history stops we were in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Roice was privledged to baptize Lauren Rachel Waldron. Good spirit. Special experience. Made the 6,901 mile drive worthwhile. It is so rewarding to see another descendant follow the path we have attempted to blaze through this modern world.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Grandpa and Grandma drove to Bulverde, Texas for Colby Wright’s missionary farewell talk before leaving for Chile. What a wonderful job he did. What a fine young man he has turned out to be. It is so rewarding to see a descendant follow the path I have attempted to blaze through this modern world.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
“Troubling Times” words are thoughts tied to the political issues surrounding the 2020 Presidential Election and follow-up events. It is amazing how much change there has been in such a short time. Is the welcoming of immigrants the way the Lamanite descidents will be positioned to build the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri? Is it simply a political power grab, like the plan to pack the Supreme Court? Certainly evil is being called good and good is being called evil, just as the scriptures prophesied would happen. It is so surprising how fast these changes are coming. Troubling Times.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
On the 20th of November 2020 President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gave a talk on the healing power of Gratitude. The 23rd and 24th of November, Roice Nelson took the words of this talk and put them to music to create this song called Gratitude. What a wonderful message from a living prophet, who is both a man of science, and a man of faith.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
What is truth? Pilate asked Christ this question. Steve Engst, who moved to Cedar City from New Jersey with his family asked Andrea the same question. This song is 27 verses quoting scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, answering this question. The expanded photo shows Professor Engst with 8 students he took to a national business competition, and won. The search for truth is a universal quest.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Two Types is an attempt to capture the binary nature of life. Geophysicists classify everything. For example, Type 1 or Type 2 AVO (Amplitude vs. Offset). So the thought was how about all of the parts of our life. What is the binary choice behind most things in our life? How does this relate to a stereoscope? How does it relate to 2 views necessary for binary vision? So the photo is of a stereoscope purchased on Portobello Road in London when I was on my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which I have donated to SUU (Southern Utah University) Special Collections. The result of this thinking are 41 verses, describing about 80 binary choices, each exploring this idea of a binary universe.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The wind blows in Cedar City. This is a fun song written to capture this fact and to share examples of when the wind has blow in Cedar City, at our condo across from the lake, on the farm, at Ray Gardner’s house, at SUU, and back out of the farm next to Gateway Acadamy.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and studying the Pioneer magazine from The Sons of The Utah Pioneers (SUP). 2019 Volume 66 Number 4 provides The History of Pioneer Magazine. On page 4, is a replication of the first page of Volume 1, Number 1, and it is the poem shown in the image and the expanded image: Sons of The Pioneers. As I have done with other poems, I put this poem to music. I like how it turned out. Enough that I shared the music with the National President of SUP, Wayne Hinton. Wayne is in the Cedar City Chapter of SUP, which I am president of this year. He was also my history teacher at Cedar High.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Financially, the last few years have been hard. Lightning technologies have developed nicely technically. However, there have not been very many sales, and finances have been very tight. This song was my Christmas present for Andrea last year. Not much, and hopefully it shows I love her.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song, like my life, is not finished. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has encouraged us, as members, to study the gospel together daily as families. Andrea and I are each quite independent. We do study the gospel individually. It has been harder to study the gospel together. This song is about that journey. We are doing pretty good at reading The Book of Mormon together each day. We still do not do a very good job of studying “Come Follow Me” together. Like life, it is a process, and I expect we will get better with time. The photo is of us at “The Nautalus” and “The Wave,” sandstone structures west of Kanab, which were shown to us by Brother and Sister Kowallis on a Saturday escape from the quarantine and social distancing requirements tied to staying home because of COVID-19.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This is another song about Nephi, in The Book of Mormon. In thinking about “The Tree of Life,” my mind went to my Great-Great Grandmother, and the statue Frank Nichols made commerating her first winter at Iron Springs. The picture is of a float we made for the 2019 24th of July Parade showing an image of this statue. Frank is in the background. It reminds me of other songs I have written, and of therelationship of these other songs to my long-time friend Randy Shirts. Randy is Andrea’s brother, who is my age. We have been friends since his family moved to Cedar City from Iran when we were in 4th grade. When Randy visited me at the University of Utah, I wrote a song I called “Randy’s Song.” After our 30th High School Class Reunion, he had me come down to his Mom’s house to say hello to my “‘nother mother” (see Maxine Memories). His wife Katheryn went across the street and brought Andrea over, and that is when we remet. When Andrea and I visited Randy and Kathryn at their place in Provo in 2003 I wrote Nephi’s Vision, a song about part of The Book of Mormon I was reading at the time. In the subtitle, I refer to this song as Randy’s birthday song. There is a lot of history under this bridge.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is the last of the songs defining geologic processes I originally defined after watching the honeybee dance. In this case, it is describing intrusions. There are a lot of intrusions in Iron County. The largest iron deposit in the United States is an intrusion. The photo shows an iron fin, which was iron ore that intruded up an ancient fault. This intrusion is on Frank Nichol’s property out by Iron Springs west of Cedar City.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is another one of the songs defining geologic processes. In this case, it is describing what are typically carbonate reefs. The term reef also refers to a lateral change in geology, which is why Silver Reef, which is a sandstone change, is called a reef. The image shows clam shell deposits in Fiddler’s Canyon north east of Cedar City. It is often hard for people to accept there were shallow seas in ancient Southern Utah. There were. These clam shells are Cretaceous Age, from about 150 million years ago.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
As mentioned in the previous song introduction, Andrea and I went to Bulverde, Texas (just north of San Antonio) for the Tenth Annual Nelson Grandkid’s Summer Science Camp the summer of 2019. While there I wrote songs for Kendall and her sister Avalyn. This is Kendall”s song. It describes how she painted the tips of her hair purple. It can not describe her deep voice parady. It can not describe how she can put her feet around her head while on her tummy. It can not describe her smile and her enthusiasm and interest in Science Camp. It can not describe how much I love her and her brother and sisters.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
We went to Bulverde, Texas (just north of San Antonio) for the Tenth Annual Nelson Grandkid’s Summer Science Camp. While there I wrote songs for Kendall and her sister Avalyn. This is Avalyn’s song based around how she painted the tips of her hair red, and describing Science Camp, our experience at i-Fly, going to “The Cave Without a Name,” swimming in The Guadalupe River, and going to San Antonio, where I wrote “Jets overhead remid us we are not part of Mexico, Thanks tho those who died at The Alamo.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is another in the list of songs about geology I came up with when we went to Patti Merideth’s SUU Dance Concert about honey bees. I think they make a pretty intereting set of songs. However, I recognize I am a geologist. It will be interesting to see if they are ever picked up on, and if there are dances done to demonstrate geologic processes.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was written in March 2019. I’m not sure what was going on to lead to the words. Whatever was happening is documented on my swallow sheets. Maybe someday everything will be indexed and it will be easier to answer the question: “What was going on in my life at this time?”
The questions are very personal:
Maybe I’ll learn to follow Jesus And be satisfied being loved Maybe I’ll learn to follow Jesus And be satisfied with gospel truths Maybe I’ll learn to follow Jesus And find love by loving Maybe I’ll learn to follow Jesus And find joy, happiness, and rest.
Maybe these are just questions we each need to ask ourselves.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was written after a verbal commitment from a potential investor in Las Vegas to fund the Humoldt County, Nevada gold exploration project I have been working on for several years. He not only committed to fund this project, he committed to get off of the Board of 3 other companies and to focus on working with me on this gold exploration project as well as other ideas I have. This was just before Valentine’s Day in 2019, over a year ago. Has not happened yet. No wonder Andrea gets frustrated with my handling of finances. Oh well!
About the same time, the Southern Utah Rock Club went on a rock hounding trip to Babylon, across the I-15 Freeway from Silver Reef. It was a neat trip, and Andrea found some full sized petrified trees in the Chinlee Formation. The photo shows us sitting in front of 2 logs, and the extended photo shows a full tree she found. It was a fun rock hounding trip.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
It is Memorial Day, 25 May 2020, and I have not posted a song since 01 January 2019. This song, written by Chris Rice, was used as the music for Psalm 149. When we lived in Houston one of my friends lost weight by walking 10 miles a day. So I started walking through George Bush Park. This was when I first heard this song. I loved it. And would sing it as I walked through the park. I was struggling with work and not making enough money, and this song provided a lot of comfort.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
It seems logical to start of 2019 posting a new song, as there might not be another song posted until January 1st 2020. The creative process is hard to predict. I have been so busy the last few years getting all of the past songs documented, that the creative process seemed to always be in front of me. There are many of the recorded Songs and psalms which need to be re-recorded including Psalms 21, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 47, 50, and Songs 361, 362, 373, and 385. There are probably others, and as I strive to review one post each day for the next 411 plus days (I can not review the 43 chapters of Job, recorded twice, in a day) I expect to find many errors to correct. So maybe it is just fantasy to talk about completeness. We will see when I complete re-recording these 12 Psalms and Songs. On the 16th of December I wrote in Grandkidlet 2016.50: “Yesterday I ‘completed’ a Christmas present for you and for your parents I have worked on at least 6 days a week for almost 3 years, and, if you go back to the origins of the first song recorded, back 51 years ago to June 1st, 1967, when The Beetles recorded “When I’m 64,” which I called “When I’m 68” in my posting at https://www.psalmscountdown.net/?p=5090. Thank you in advance for pointing out errors you see, which I will fix, while I am still alive. I hope, within the next 51 years, you will find hope, faith, love, and forgiveness (if not a form of completeness) in this effort.” I sat down and wrote the song because Audrey “liked” Grandkidlet #50, and because Andrea was at Relief Society President meetings at the church. Again the creative process is hard to predict, and it will be interesting to see how many more Songs and Psalms will be documented here before and/or after I stop paying for the website address or I die, whichever happens first.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
I slowly worked my way through St. Augustine’s “The City of God” this last year. On page 220, the translators wrote: “No matter how short a life may last, we cannot in truth call it eternal, if at length it must have an end. Since life merely implies living, whereas eternal means having no end.” The words caught my imagination, especially since they were written only a few hundred years after Christ died, and before the Koran was written. So I searched the scriptures and captured 68 references to eternal life. These references provide the words of the song. Finally, note this eternal song is 19:36 minutes long, I close with a quote on page 437 of “The City of God” where it says: “The City of God holds that eternal life is the supreme good, and eternal death is the supreme evil, and that we should live rightly, in order to obtain the one, and avoid the other.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
When you get as old as me, you will probably lose your parts of your memory and have kidney stones too. I remember my Grandma Nelson had kidney and gall bladder stones. It is not fun! She was 76 when she died. Grandpa Nelson was only 56 when he died in a farm accident. Grandpa Hafen was 61 when he died from being a downwinders to the nuclear tests. Grandma Hafen was 94. Mom was 74 when she died, and Dad was 80. I thought The Beatles song was ”When I’m Sixty-Eight”, and since as a member of the Cedar High School Class of ‘68 I will no longer be 68 next time I write a Grandkidlet, it seemed logical to let you read and listen to these words I listened to as a youth, even if I didn’t remember it was 64 and not 68.
Love,
Grandpa Nelson
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This song is based on the Ballad of Jed Clampett (The Ballad Of Jed Clampett – Lester Flatt ,Earl Scruggs (1962) – YouTube). Shortly after we started Dynamic Measurement we participated in a Texas A&M University Venture Capital Forum. One of the students we worked with included a version of the Ballad of Jed Clampett in his presentation. Byron Arnason told me about a “Shark Tank” SEG was having at the 2018 Anaheim Annual Convention, I contacted the organizers, and they invited Dynamic Measurement to participate. So I made my own version of the Ballad of Jed Clampett, and called it the Ballad of Dynamic Measurement. This song is a recording of the results. The pre-animated PowerPoint file as presented at JaWS (Juice a Winning Startup) is shown on the video below.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
I remember being fascinated with Voltaire’s Candide when I was talking a philosophy class at the University of Utah. Think about adding the message of Candide to the words I was often told when growing up, “This red dirt gets in your blood, and you have to come back home.” Is there any question why this is Andrea and my third year to have a garden in back of Uncle Willis’ and Aunt Shirley’s (Grandma Nelson’s) house on the farm? The summary on the last page of the book says it all:
“I also know,” said Candide, “that we must cultivate our garden.”
“You’re right,” said Pangloss, “because when man was put in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ‘to dress it and to keep it,’ that is, to work; which proves that man was not born to be idle.”
“Let’s work without theorizing,” said Martin; “it’s the only way to make life bearable.”
The whole group entered into this commendable plan, and each began to exercise his own talents. The little farm yielded abundant crops. Cunegonde was very ugly, it is true, but she soon became an excellent pastry cook. Paquette embroidered, and the old woman took care of the linen. Everyone made himself useful, even Brother Giroflée: he was a good carpenter, and he even became an honest man.
Pangloss sometimes said to Candide, “All events are interconnected in this best of all possible worlds, for if you hadn’t been driven from a beautiful castle with hard kicks in the behind because of your love for Lady Cunegonde, if you hadn’t been seized by the Inquisition, if you hadn’t wandered over America on foot, if you hadn’t thrust your sword through the baron, and if you hadn’t lost all your sheep from the land of Eldorado, you wouldn’t be here eating candied citrons and pistachio nuts.”
“Well said,” replied Candide, “but we must cultivate our garden.”
Candide by Voltaire, Bantam Books, 1988, page 120.
It was very easy to come up with a personalized version of this summary.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 390 – Nelson Cabin and is about our first Science Camp not in Cedar City. It was actually our 10th Science Camp and was held in Buena Vista, Colorado, where my friend Scott Bowman and his wife Maria have a beautiful cabin. This cabin sits on detritus eroded from the mountains to the west (see Song 386 – Erosion). Scott thinks a lot of the detrital material came from glaciation. There are obviously large faults (see Song 397 – Faults) between the large 14,000+ foot mountains to the west of Scott and Maria’s cabin. Chorus 1 refers to these mountains: “Antero, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, Looking down on me, As I do my morning Tai Chi, Looking across the beautiful valley.” Verse 1 states “Scott and Maria Bowman, Are living the dream, A medieval Mansion, On 40 acres to be seen.” Chorus 2 repeats the first 2 lines of Chorus 1, and adds “As we cook pancakes, Which strong bodies make.” Verse 2 states “Eighteen came to Science Camp, The first four days of July 2018, An annual family togetherness lamp, It’s wonderful Grandkids still are keen.” The last 2 lines of Chorus 3 are “As we pack our garbage in the car, Because we don’t want to carry it that far.” Verse 3 sates “The Fourth of July Parade, In Buena Vista, Colorado, Then Dallin did more than wade, In the dunking pond-o.” Then the last 2 lines of Chorus 4 are “As I watch last year’s youngest, Avalyn, bond with a new friend.” Verse 4 states “Izzy and Avalyn could not be separated, As they wanted to be in the same car, While everyone also waited, To go to the continental divide far.” The last 2 lines of Chorus 5 are “The oldest three slept in the tree house, While everyone else was in tents.” Verse 5 states “Quinton rolled all over his space, He was even sitting up asleep, Looking at each bug, it was not a race, Eating 3 pancakes was a big leap.” The last 2 lines of Chorus 6 are “Melanie wanted to be with the crew, Watching how all the kids grew.” Verse 6 states “Kendall was a trooper, Acting older than her age, There was not a blooper, Pulling her own tooth out of its cage.” And Chorus 7 says “Antero, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, Looking down on me, As I watch my Grandkids grow, In the beautiful valley.” The image to the left shows all of us in front of the teepee we put up the second time around, with Mount Antero in the background. The extended image is a panorama view showing a couple of the mountains.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by and is based on the music of Song 124 – Oh Well! and is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. I had a duplicate file referencing Numbers 21:17, and did not realize Song 124 had already been written. So, on the 13th of April of 2018 I pulled out the Glossary of Geology by Bates and Jackson and looked up the definition of a thrust fault. I then used the tune which was written back in November of 2006, added a third line to the chorus: “As cuttings repeat when pulled from the well.” With overthrust faults, the same layers can be repeated several times. This line is intended to catch the fact the layer broke and was pushed on top of itself at least 1 time, to create an overthrust or a repeating layer in the subsurface. In order for this to be recognized, Verse 1 points out “the well bore must have passed through an unexpected fault with a dip less than forty-five degrees, where the hanging wall moved upward relative to the footwall.” Verse 2 teaches “This means there has been horizontal compression, Where we expected simple vertical displacement, Making this prospect much more complicated, Than we thought when we made the initial maps.” From a regional perspective, Verse 3 teaches “During the formation of the mountains, The faults are somewhat arcuate, Generally linear and orthogonal to, The direction of plat tectonic compression.” These over-thrusted layers only occur within what Verse 4 defines as an orogenic (mountain building) belt, “With displacement towards the interior, Contrary to the general direction Of tectonic transport.” I realize this is a funny thing to write a “song” about. Going back to the origin of these thoughts, I can still see in my mind dancers with different colored outfits, where each color represents a layer of earth. One layer, say the blue outfits, can be shown by dancers lying next to each other on the stage. The next layer, say the red outfits, can be shown by dancers standing in back of the blue dancers. Then as there is compression from the edges of the stage, there is a buildup in the center of the stage, until it breaks, and the blue and the red are made to look like they are moving across and on top of the blue and the red that is being overthrust. The original idea was to use dance to teach basic geological principles, just as dance was used to describe the activity in a honey bee nest when I got the idea. Following the dance, the audience could be taken up Cedar Canyon, to see the layers right under the Red Hill Navajo Formation so see a beautiful and world class example of a back thrust, which is a variation of a thrust.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referred to by Song 400 – Good and Bad Teachers. Today we daily see the “fake news” rewriting history. Why? To pursue an agenda and to get more power for the spokesperson’s agenda. The sad fact is the “fake news” is not just liberal. “History is often rewritten, Welcome to yesterday.” There is no question that “Life is full of surprises, Welcome to today.” Sometimes we forget, “We can create our future, Welcome to tomorrow.” This song is typical of my attempts at rhyming: Roice and choice, believe and weave, challenges and hinges, up and sup; history and story, instance and enhance, fruits and boots, killed and Cambodia; unhinged and singed, had and bad, roots and fruits, courts and forts; test and best, know and grow, sow and go, and lastly garden and pardon. These words were selected to share a message. We do have a choice. I choose to believe. I choose to weave my life’s fabric. I like history. History teaches us the fruits of communism: dictator’s boots, and millions killed in Russia, China, and Cambodia. I made several trips to, and spent time with Muslim’s in Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Today, there are millions of those people who are being re-educated. Scary tactics. I’m glad we did not find out the tactics Hillary Clinton would have used in The White House. I do not write these words as justification for Donald Trumps’ tactics. However, in my mind economic fruits and the Supreme Court Justice confirmed and the Supreme Court Justice nominated justify my vote, even in spite of Trump’s failings, and the disruptions from liberal and the media agendas. I selected a scan of the “Iron County Today” magazine for the image, because it has an article on the impact of The Boy Scout’s choosing to leave the principals behind why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the first and eventually the religious organization with the largest implementation of the Boy Scout program. Taken in total, these songs are basically an expansion on songs I wrote about Boy Scout Camps. Now, there will be a new worldwide youth program in the church, one which honor’s gender and the ten commandments. It is sad to see changes, and yet the new programs will be better. I recognize I did not spend enough time with my girls, doing thing like Philmont, which I did three times with my sons, and the many other Scout High Adventures I went on. Hopefully the new program will help eliminate this type of disparity. The expanded image is a scan a few pages further on in the Today magazine, describing my support of my Sister, as Sara attempts to bring joy to people with her Last Friday musician presentations. “Life is a test, it brings out our best, We can not know, everything to grow, From the seeds we sow, where time’s arrow will go, So, we tend our garden, believing the Lord will pardon” our mistakes of yesteryear. And we do our best to welcome today.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Mark Vincent is a quiet member of our ward. He is the CFO for a GAF, a company in town that manufactures a plastic sheeting which goes underneath shingles on roofs to waterproof roofs. His wife, Laurie Vincent, was our first Ward Choir Director, a previous Hillcrest Ward Relief Society President, and a very proud descendent of my Mom’s Great Grandfather, John George Hafen. I do not remember how it came up, possibly at a Ward Dinner Group, but I found out Mark likes to write poetry. Andrea told him I like to put poetry to music. He provided me copies of several of his favorite poems. I selected one about the Pioneer Cemetery where John George Hafen and many of his descendants are buried. It has been less than a year ago when I put this song to music. I have sung the song to myself several times since then, and I made a recording of it and sent it to Mark. My reaction to the words and the music has been the same as Mark’s: “I cried when I listened to it.” It is special to reflect: “To walk among these windswept stones;” where “a pioneer, interred beside his bride;” and “a woman works with tender, loving care;” at “this hallowed knoll out on the edge of town;” were “here, row by row, ancestors rest in peace;” in this pioneer cemetery. The image to the left shows me playing my guitar, reading the music which was taped to a monument, and singing the song while Andrea recorded it (the video), shortly after I wrote the song. This was on our way home from a Southern Utah Rock Club rock hounding trip to the Hurricane Mesa where we collected a lot of petrified wood, which is now outside my office window. The photo, the movie, and the extended image of the entrance to the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery were taken at Virgin, where one of Andrea’s ancestors is buried. Like the cemetery in Santa Clara, it is a Pioneer Cemetery.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
At one of our lunches, over a year before the eclipse, Ray Gardner asked me if I was going to go north to see the full eclipse. It was in July 1991 when Ray, Susie, Bill Bavinger, Roice, and myself went to Oaxaca in southern Mexico with Carolyn and Gary Sumners of the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see an eclipse at Monte Alban. It was a really neat experience, even though Roice got Montezuma’s revenge and spent a lot of time in the motel. I took an electronic surveying system with me. We surveyed the key corners of the ruins. Bill Bavinger had one of his students build a CAD model of the ruins at Monte Alban. Monte Alban was the center of the Zapotec culture from the first century B.C. to the 8th Century A.D. This overlaps the Book of Mormon time frames, and fascinated me. These ruins have the oldest Mayan calendar. They have Building J, which is shaped like an arrow, and points to where the monkeys on the calendar come from, which could be “the land of the first inheritance.” Gary took a 360o panorama photo from the center of the ruins. Carolyn and Gary created a show in the Burke Baker Planetarium based around this photo. The photo of the ruins came up all around the base of the planetarium. Then the photo faded into a line drawing of the ruins with all of the stars coming out like you see in a planetarium. Then the earth was taken back in time, and alignments between certain windows and certain viewing positions we identified were shown at the time the ruins were built. It was really fun. Ray and Suzie have gone on many eclipse trips, all over the world, since that trip in 1991. Paul independently asked if we were interested in seeing the eclipse. He has a friend with a cabin at the Palisades Reservoir in Southern Idaho, which was in the main path of the eclipse. Roice and Sarah, Sara and Tim, Rob, and Paul’s family all decided to join us on our eclipse trip. The images of “Tiny World” used for bulbs on the Christmas Tree in Song 008 – The Fallen Angel, were from Roice’s Tiny World movie of this eclipse. This was the first full solar eclipse in North America in 99 years. The regular video is on-line at this link, and the tiny planet video on-line at this link. Even though the song does not mention the eclipse, because I got up early the morning of the eclipse, went outside (locked myself outside, slept in the back of the car for a while, and wrote the song) before anyone else was up, I loved our 2017 eclipse trip.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
In many ways I have become my Dad. He never recovered from the financial disaster associated with the government shutting down Nelson Meat Packing Plant (see Song 360 – A Man with Values, Song 112 – Reckless, Song 078 – Rain, and Song 011 – Howard Nelson). I have yet to recovered from the financial disaster associated with shutting down HyperMedia Corporation (see Song 369 – Live in the Present and Song 076 – Job). Dad was very emotional. I am very emotional. Dad liked to be alone on the farm. I like to be alone, thinking, or taking care of our little garden in back of Grandma Nelson’s house. Dad woke up early. I wake up early. The big difference is I left home in 1969 to go to the University of Utah, and only came back to visit. Dad left home to go to Utah State University, came home, and never left. Maybe, at least in my mind, I never left? After all, I was often told when growing up the red dirt in the irrigation water gets in your blood, and you have to come home to buried in it. This song talks about “Quiet times in the mountains, Reflecting on the things we’ve done.” At Science Camp in 2017 we were at the Nelson Cabin and I woke up a couple of hours earlier than anyone else. “Quiet times in the mountains, Lit by rays from the morning sun.” Verse 1 talks about how “We congregate once a year.” Year rhymes with deer, fear, and mirror. Verse 2 talks about “Muscles aching from a strenuous climb.” Climb rhymes with dime, rhyme, and times. Verse 3 talks about “Sheep baa-a-a-ing in the distances.” Distances rhymes with incense, repentance, and instance. Verse 4 talks about “Kids sleeping in today.” Today rhymes with play, say, and rays. And verse 5 talks about “Rain threatening muddy roads.” Roads rhymes with loads, toads, and abode. One thing I have provided, which Dad did not have the tools to provide, is quiet times in the mountains for my grandkids.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
These Songs often discuss religion. However, there is not much discussion of the other untouchable topic, namely politics. This song, and Song 404 – Welcome to Today, present some of my views on political hot topics. Some might choose to be offended by these words. It is not my intention to be offensive. Remember, it is a choice to be offended. One strategy is to simply skip these songs, especially if you are into agenda driven science, like Al Gore’s climate change theories, or socialism, and especially communism. In Song 404, I wrote “Go back in history, recall each story, Communism, for instance, workers lives would enhance, Look at the fruits, dictator’s boots, Millions killed, in Russia, China, and Cambodia.” To stress my thoughts about teachers, the image is of tree roots in Cambodia. What are the roots your teacher is drawing from? If the roots are a desire for power ad control, there are likely serious issues with the lessons. The expanded image is edited with skulls from the Cambodia killing fields added in the room underneath the roots. The song talks about agenda driven science, and focuses on absurd climate change theories. When Al Gore made his famous movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” in 2007, he said sea levels would rise over 6 meters in 10 years, i.e. by 2017. The inconvenient truth is sea levels have continued to rise about 3 mm per year. At this rate, the 6 meters sea level rise will happen in 200 years. Even the most pessimistic predictions show 2 meters sea level rise by 2100. So I wrote about how the Egyptians created the Sahara Desert and created climate change. Deaths in Cambodia were miniscule compared to deaths of viable human beings through abortion. I am impressed how Hillary Clinton stuck by her husband. I am terrified by the power and control reasons behind her decision to do so. So what is my suggested solution. Comes back to religion: “There is a safe answer, We have known from our youth, Turn to Jesus, for he truly knows, When we’ve been mislead or, Bought into the advisory’s lies. Call on Jesus, and he will forgive us, When we repent and come to him. Trust in Jesus, and find happiness.” Avoid the bad, and seek the good teachers.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. In talking about eruptions, it seems appropriate to write about ongoing lava flows from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. The photo to the left and the extended photo come from Business Insider. Even though eruptive activity is “probably” over, this stretch of Hawaiian coastline has been dramatically altered by lava flowing into the ocean after the initial eruption on January 3rd, 1983, and more recently by the eruption between May 17th, 2018 and August of 2018. This area is likely to remain unstable for many months, if not for years. The images of this ongoing eruption help us to understand the tremendous power of a volcanic eruption. Those of us who remember the eruption of Mount Saint Helens on July 22nd, 1980 have a little more feel for the power of a volcanic eruption. The Krakatoya Eruption which occurred on Sunday afternoon on the 26th of August 1883 was one of the largest eruptions in recorded history. By Monday, the 27th of August, 70% of the island and its surrounding archipelago were destroyed, as it collapsed into a caldera. An 1888 lithograph shows a view of the eruption. The year following this eruption Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures fell by as much as 2.2°Farenheit. The Mount Tamora eruption of April 5th, 1815 on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia resulted in an extremely cold summer in 1816 in Vermont. This was when Joseph Smith’s family moved to New York, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was restored. Based on the amount of ejected material from eruptions from the Yellowstone caldera (see description and map in Song 071 – Yellowstone), all of the above eruptions were very small. Then think of the impact of the eruptions and pyroclastic flows from the volcanic activity just before Christ came to ancient America, as recorded in The Book of Mormon (see the description of Song 395 – Sing Together). The song takes this concept of a volcanic eruption, as defined in the Glossary of Geology by Bates and Jackson (pages 222-223), and summarizes what is known about eruptions.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
In one of our phone calls, I was complaining to Rob (see Song 017 – The Tank) about how I can not remember when everyone’s birthday is. He said, “Just write a song with everyone’s birthday in it, and then you will be able to remember. So, this song is the result of Rob’s suggestion. Only problems are, the song does not have a memorable tune, the words are convoluted, there are too many names and too many dates, and so I still can not remember everyone’s birthday. At least there is one place I can go to look them up now. Verse 1 is about Andrea and my parent’s birthdays. Verse 2 is our kid’s parent’s birthdays, including Rick and Marti. Verse 3 is our kids’ and their spouses’ birthdays. Verse 4 is our Grandkid’s birthdays. It only makes sense for the photo to be of the family matriarch blowing out her candles on her 95th birthday. Andrea misses her Dad. I miss my Mom and Dad. Seems like we miss many birthdays. We send cards (usually late) and call (too often late), and we don’t get to attend birthday parties very often. Oh well! Hopefully everyone can put up with our weaknesses, and still know we love them. August 2018 was special because Sara Ellyn called back after I had left a message for her birthday. I have a harp sound on my phone for Sara’s phone number, and when she calls it is always so nice to hear the sound of a harp. Brings back good memories of family birthdays.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. This is the most technical of the geology songs I have written so far. The chorus is pretty simple: “A fracture or a zone of fractures, Where there has been displacement, Of layers on either side of the fault.” Verse 1 talks about geometrical classifications, and defines the first of these: “the rake of the net slip.” Verses 2 and 3 defines the second geometrical classification, “the relative attitude of the fault and beds.” Verse 4 defines the third geometrical classification as fault patterns. Verse 5 defines the fourth geometrical classification as being based on the angle of the dip of the fault. Verse 6 defines the fifth geometrical classification as the apparent movement of the beds on either side of the fault. Verse 7 describes an alternative genetic classification, which is based on the nature of the forces involved in faulting, starting with thrust faults. Verse 8 describes strike-slip faults. Verses 9 and 10 describe how faults can be classified based on absolute movement, including five kinds of gravity faults. Verse 11 describes five kinds of thrust faults. You cannot learn all of these classifications listening to this song once. You need to study the concepts and even draw them out, in order to understand all of the different classifications of faults.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Rob (see Song 017 – The Tank) has been faithful in calling, asking about how things are going, recognizing problems I was having with my computer, and getting all of his siblings together to chip in and purchase me a new computer for a Christmas present. He had asked me a series of questions, and I wrote him a long e-mail (sort of like these descriptions of these songs). Then I lost or accidently deleted the e-mail I sent him. I remembered thinking it had a lot of good information in it. So the next time I talked to him I asked him to send it back to me, if he still had a copy. He did have a copy, he did send it back to me, and I took the words and used them for the words of this song the day after my birthday in 2016. I was asking him for feedback on our new website for Dynamic Measurement. “Messages, floating through the air, Reminding me, Life’s not fair, And yet I now know you care.” The Walden website is obsolete. I do add a new box every once in a while, like links to public presentations on lightning, Linked-In Posts, Stand Back Up, these Songs and Psalms, The Book of Mormon Spread-Sheet, and thoughts on the agenda driven science behind climate change arguments. Rob offered his server. I told him I was satisfied with the support I get from InfoWest. I told Rob Dynamic Measurement plans to use more Social Media. The note mentioned two Facebook accounts, and my goal to separate business and personnel. It would be nice to “hire or find someone to monitor, manage and notify me of people to respond to.” I pointed out how “I am still trying to recover from the rejection of divorce, and my feelings of inadequacy as a father.” I pointed out how I liked the move to Utah, except for not seeing the Austin kids as often as I want to. I like The Master’s Singers, The Southern Utah Rock Club, and my weekly lunches with Ray Gardner. I enjoy being a Cedar City Temple Worker, a Temple and Family History Consultant, collecting rocks and replacing rocks around our Townhome, and converting The Book of Mormon to spread-sheets. In August 2018 Andrea posted on Facebook how much she loves our garden. I do enjoy going out to the farm a couple of mornings each week to water, weed, and pick vegetables. This was written before Matt moved back to Utah. Now he is back in Houston. On November 4th, 2016 I wrote “I’m concerned there will be serious problems in Houston in the coming months or years.” This was 9 months before Harvey devastated Houston and the surrounding area. I closed telling Rob Kathy Haggar received the Best Paper Award for the GCAGS (Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies) two years in a row, and how I agreed to talk at The DHI Consortium (Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator Consortium) and hoped to spend a couple of days with him and his siblings. And all of these words were under the guise of “website stuff.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song and Song 399 – Eruption. It was only 10 days after writing a song from III Nephi 4:29-33 I wrote a song from III Nephi 20:34-46. This chapter records when Jesus provided the bread and wine miraculously to the people who were at the temple after the great destruction described in III Nephi 8:5-25 (see the wonderful description of a pyroclastic volcanic flow, as written by BYU Geologist Bart J. Kowallis for FARMS, titled In the Thirty and Fourth Year – A Geologist’s View of the Great Destruction in 3 Nephi). After providing the sacrament, Jesus told them “the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you this land, for your inheritance” (verse 14). The Lord promises the people he will “establish this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which (he) made with (their) father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem” (verse 22). He promises the people “they shall be a scourge unto the people of this land” (verse 28), and “the time cometh, when the fullness of my gospel shall be preached unto them,” (verse 30). “And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name” (verse 31). Then they sing the words of this song, which I put to music again here, and which is recorded in verses 34-46. The words of this song are wonderful, teaching us to “sing together” (verse 34), “the Lord has comforted his people” (verse 34), “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Father” (verse 35), “O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments” (verse 36), “Shake thyself from the dust” (verse 37), “Ye shall be redeemed without money” (verse 38), “My people shall know my name” (verse 39), “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them” (verse 40), “Touch not that which is unclean” (verse 41), “Ye shall not go out with haste nor go by flight” (verse 42), and (see Song 362 – The Move) “The Lord will go before you” (verse 42), “my servant shall deal prudently” (verse 43), “His visage was so marred” (verse 44), “The kings shall shut their mouths at him” (verse 45), and “All these things shall surely come” (verse 46). And all these things did come to the Nephites, including a visit of the Savior, and surely the scourges talked about are coming, in our personal lives, and in the lives of our people, and in our nation if we do not repent. Hopefully we learn to sing together.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The words are from III Nephi 4:29-33. This was written on October 21st, 2016 at Paul (see Song 014 – Paul’s Song) and Kate’s house in Providence, Utah. This Chorus is from verse 32: “Hosanna to the Most High God, Blessed be the name, Of the Lord God Almighty, The Most High God.” Then there is a song verse for verse 29, verse 30, verse 31, and verse 33. This song was sung after many thousands did “yield themselves up prisoners unto the Nephites, and the remainder of them were slain. And their leader, Zemnarihah, was taken and hanged upon a tree, yea, even upon the top thereof until he was dead. And when they had hanged him until he was dead they did fell the tree to the earth, and did cry with a loud voice.” And the words they said, are applicable to us today: “May the Lord preserve his people in righteousness and in holiness of heart.” And “May the God of Abraham, And the God of Isaac, And the God of Jacob, Protect this people in righteousness.” And “They did break forth, All as one, in singing, And praising their God.” And “Their hearts were swollen with joy, Unto the gushing out of many tears, Because of the great goodness of God.” And “They knew it was because, Of their repentance and their humility, They had been delivered, From an everlasting destruction.” Oh that we could learn to cry Hosanna to the Most High God in our day and time!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
About the same time Jane Crane gave me Bob’s poem (see Song 392 – No One To Call Me Son), we went to a Temple and Family History Consultant’s Fireside, where Craig Barrick shared a poem written by his 5th great-grandfather’s, David Walton’s, daughter-in-law, about her child who died. Brother Barrick had a granddaughter named Katlin who unexpectedly died when she was 4 years old. I got Brother Barrick to give me a copy of the poem, The day after I heard this poem, on August 29th, 2016, I wrote this song on my i-Pad. “This lonely heart now bids me speak, Of my poor Emma Jane, She died in tender infancy, Though from exceeding pain.” Grandma Nelson’s first name was Emma. I was very close to Grandma Nelson when I was growing up (see Song 374 – To Me, My Farm Is). The poem was obviously already tearing at my heart strings. We had heard Michael and Amy Barrick talk about their ongoing pain from losing their daughter Katlin. Because of this I knew Craig Barrick’s pain. “A reflection across the ages, Of a grandfather’s pain, Innocence rages, Like thunderstorms and rain” (see Song 078 – Rain). As I read the words, I can feel the pain of baby Emma Jane who lay in severest agony for five weeks. “A grandmother’s pain.” Only 15 months and “She just began to lisp the words, Her tender parents taught,” “A parent’s pain.” Even her “young and thoughtless” brother found “a brother’s pain.” “To her father she reached her little hands, With countenance so mild,” “a father’s pain.” Imagine “Them tender arms around my neck, O’ how can I forget,” “a mother’s pain.” Seeing death draw nigh describes “a sister’s pain.” “In the cold grave her body was laid, Her spirit gone to heaven, Trust we all will meet her there, When the clouds of life are risen, A reflection across the ages, Of a grandfather’s pain.” There is so much we can learn from words of the heart written about someone only 15 months old, like Emma Jane.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Andrea was born in Provo, spent a few years in Iran, while her Dad was helping set up a Women’s College for the Shah of Iran, and spent much of her life on 580 West in Cedar City, Utah, across from Cedar High School. The lady who lived in the corner house was Jane, who had children Andrea’s age, whose husband died, and who remarried Bob Crane. Bob wrote the poem this song is based on. Since we have been here, Bob and Jane have lived in the unit at the east end of the street in front of our townhome. So, of course, I have got to know Bob and Jane at the mailbox and at church. For some reason, in the middle of 2016, Jane mentioned to me that Bob had written a wonderful poem called “No One To Call Me Son.” This sounded interesting, and so I asked for a copy. She provided me a copy and I put the poem to music. When Andrea was out of town visiting kids in Salt Lake, I moved the step ladder into the living room and recorded the song for Bob and Jane. I gave them three versions of the video recording. I think this was the first time I recorded a song on my cell phone in our new house in Cedar City. To give context, let me mention Andrea is not very fond of the time I spend playing the guitar and working on my songs and psalms. Her first husband, Rick or Eric Nielson, took the family to California so he could go to a guitar school. After a few years back in American Fork, he wanted to go back for additional guitar schooling. Andrea basically told him, he needed to figure out a way to pay for 3 children and her, while he went to school, or not go to school. There is a lot of emotion tied up with the guitar. One interesting thing is because Andrea was a Nielson, she had to give up an “i” to marry me. Another is I record songs when she is not at home, and upload them and build the web pages when she is doing other things. I do enjoy this project, and I do not want to do this work in a way which is offensive to her. She sort-of puts up with my openness, and my willingness to write about personal things, like this diversion from writing about Bob Crane’s poem. I really like the poem. It highlights the importance of family and family relationships. It highlights the special bond there is between parents and those whom they call their “son.” Over the years, since Matt was 11-years-old, and moved to Texas and to 1307 Emerald Green, it has become a joy and an honor to call him “son.” There are those who do not seem to want to be a member of my family, either now or in eternity, and still, I am honored to call them my “son.” I feel like I let them down, and yet I do not understand how I let them down. Oh well! Maybe I did not say “shape up Son” enough. Hopefully as they grow up they will see I’ve “learned quite a bit.” It is true “I worked hard,” and yet not a fraction as hard as my Dad. One of the nice things about moving back to Cedar is random discussions with old family friends who point out how “proud” Mom and Dad were to have me as their son. “But when my mother passed away, I felt lost and sad, But she really needed, To go and be with Dad.” “They’re both gone now, Their jobs all done, There’s no one left on earth, Just to call me “Son”.” “It fills my heart with so much pride, And makes me feel so glad, When my grandkid’s call me “Grandpa,” And my daughters call me “Dad.” I love to watch them grow, Learn and play and have a lot of fun, But there’s no one left around, Just to call me “son”.” I find the last verse particularly touching: “One day he’ll call my name, And catch me on the run, I pray to see once more the ones, Who called me “Son”.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Andrea’s Dad, Morris Alpine Shirts, wrote a poem titled, “A Soldier,” when he was away from home for World War II. Andrea has spent the last few years putting together all of the information, letters, and photos her Dad had collected during his life into large binders. When she showed me this poem, it made sense to turn this poem into a song. So, I did on the 23rd of July 2016. The last verse says “Because ‘Jim is Home’ He’s been gone for a while, And because of his efforts, We can live, love, and learn, In peace and happiness, For now and evermore.” The implication is the poem is about a friend named Jim. However, the other 4 verses and choruses are all about him: “A soldier though far away in some distant land, Harbors in his mind memories of home, The squeak of the front gate, The touch of mother’s gentle hand, The trickle of the brook, The hills he used to roam; Remember the time he came from school, A black eye he couldn’t explain? Yes, he’d heard of the golden rule, But when his toes were stepped on, It’s meaning he didn’t retain; He never did anything great nor harm a soul, Just a plain ordinary lad, With a heart made of gold, With shoulders and stride just like those of his Dad.” The poem reminds me of some of the things I have written, which are implied to be about others, and which are really about me. As I have learned more about Morris Shirts, I have become more and more impressed with him. A large part of this being impressed is the way his 4 boys and Andrea reverence and respect him. I certainly did not generate this kind of response from my children. Yet. The good news is I have lived long enough to see a lot of intelligent people, with and without spiritual roots, recognize addiction and other sins, enter recovery programs and find how much they are loved, especially by Jesus Christ, repent and receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, and remain faithful to their testimony the remainder of their lives. This is a much healthier approach than continuing an addiction or other sin, or believing you are so bad you are going to purgatory, and there is no hope of escaping this fate. As I wrote on the 26th of August 2018 Grandkidlets #32 – Wounded:
“In Scripture, those who oppose God’s rule, not by nature but by sin,
are called His enemies. They can do no damage to Him, but only to
themselves; their enmity is not a power to harm, but merely a
velleity to oppose Him. In any case, God is immutable and
completely invulnerable. Hence, the malice by which His so-called
enemies oppose God is not a menace to Him, but merely bad for
themselves - an evil because what is good in their nature is
wounded. It is not their nature, but the wound in their nature,
that is opposed to God - as evil is opposed to good.”
City of God, St. Augustine, An Image Book, 1958, page 247, completed in 426 A.D.
I have been slowly reading St. Augustine’s book for several months,
and came across this passage this week. It is hard for me to
comprehend the depth of thinking and the genius of this man.
I certainly do not think through such metaphysical concepts and
state them so succinctly as he did about 1600 years ago. I did
not even know what “velleity” means (the weakest act of willfully
choosing, a mere wish). I hope each of you will read the classics
and teach yourselves to prayerfully think things through.
Love, Grandpa Nelson
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This is another Science Camp Ballad (see photo with Song 104 – Three Little Men, Song 160 – Science Camp, Song 375 – Dallin, Space Cadet, Song 376 – Saint Sophie, and Song 406 – Looking Down on Me. It describes how Joshua drove from Salt Lake to Scipio to pick up Sophie and take her to London. Paul made it to the tri-annual Nelson Reunion, and we collected rocks at Bloody Ridge and worked on the rocks in the rock shop. It was Jared’s first Science Camp and first time to The Nelson Cabin. Thirteen hundred miles with five kids. I remember those days. Ben and Ethan flew to Science Camp from Mexico, where they went to a friend’s wedding. Andrea made a lot of cookies. Dr. Robert Eves arrangeed for one of his professors to teach the kids about html programming. “Grandpa Nelson is in heavenly bliss, Seeing past and future years of Science Camps.” This annual gathering has definitely turned into one of the worthwhile activities associated with life and truly living.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image to the left is Moses receiving the tablets of the Law as painted by João Zeferio da Costa, 1868, which shows a face to face communication with God. An early (1508-1521) artistic representation of face to face communication with God was Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, which is used as the extended image for this song. Back in May of 2009 I started to write a song quoting scriptures which talked about talking to God, or to the Lord, or to angels face-to-face. In June of 2009 I had a brief theological discussion with Steve and Manuel Engst. When I saw the song I had started, I decided I needed to do a search of the scriptures for the term “face to face.” I did, and found a whole series of references to “face to face” in the scriptures, including: Abraham 3:11; Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:11; Numbers 14:14; Deuteronomy 5:2-4; Moses 1:1-2; Moses 7:4; Deuteronomy 34:10; Judges 6:22; Ezekiel 20:35-36; Alma 36:26; Alma 38:7; Matthew 3:16-17; I Corinthians 13:12; Moroni in Ether 12:39-40; D&C 17:1; D&C 50:10-12; Joseph Smith History 1:16-17; and D&C 76:19-24. I find it absolutely wonderful and compelling how consistent the message of the restoration of the gospel is across the Standard Works, or canonized scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have spent 10 months capturing the names and attributes (created, grant, granted, justify, knowing, knoweth, knows, knew, remembereth, remembrance, will, wisdom = mind; ask, confess unto, cry unto, heard, hear, pour out, pray, prayer, prayers, praise, said unto, thanks unto = ears; beheld, behold, eyes, piercing eye, glance, looked, see, sight, wept = eyes; nostrils = nose; answered, answer, called, call, commandments, judgments, mouth, promise, said, saith, saying, spoken, speak, spake, taste, voice, word of God = mouth; face = face; arm, make bare = arm; hand, hands, right hand, left hand, stretched forth = hands; stand = legs; he, his, him, himself = gender; etc.) of God, Christ, The Holy Ghost, Angels, and Satan in The Book of Mormon, and I am almost through Mosiah. I strive to extract this information from at least 5 verses every day. Sometimes it takes an hour to do 5 verses. The concepts tied to the nature of God are so simple an artist (see image to left and extended image) and Primary children can understand them. The concept of face-to-face discussions with God, Christ, and angels fits this same simplicity. Why do the sophisticated have to make everything so complex? Remember what Jesus said in his Intercessory Prayer (see Song 379 – The Great Intercessory Prayer) as recorded in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
After a year of being in Cedar City full time (for our first year we had an apartment in Houston and spent half the time in Cedar and half the time in the Apartment at the Barker Reservoir [see Song 114 – Barker Reservoir, Song 350 – Downsizing, Song 351 – Enjoy the View, Song 353 – New Wood Floors, Song 355 – Shadows, Song 356 – Snow Falling, and Song 362 – The Move]), it was time for the annual Fathers & Son’s Campout (see Song 028 – Fathers & Sons) for the Hillcrest Ward. This tradition is tied to the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey by the resurrected John the Baptist. We did not have a conflict, and so I put my sleeping back and guitar in the car and drove to Yankee Meadows campground. The campground is a few miles downstream from Yankee Meadows Reservoir, which is what the photo and the extended photo are showing. This song was in the same spirit as all of the scout campouts I went on when in Nottingham Country Ward. It is a ballad, recounting each of the major things I remembered from the campout. Klaus Mans, my Home Teaching Companion, went up early and saved the place. Dustyn Johnson and his son Cole took me in their car to go fishing. James Froyd, who was in my High School Class, cooked hamburgers for dinner. Michael Barrick, who is our dentist, told funny stories about fireworks falling over and shooting at their neighbor. Little boys found a femur and a jawbone and were running around chasing each other like The Flintstones. Kelin Bleazard flew his drone. I sang my song about Fathers & Sons to James Froyd. Bishop Orton bore testimony of the restoration. I slept in the car, and when I got up to go to the toilet, set off my car alarm, and woke up the entire camp. Oh well! Good memories. And we never know when they will come back to us. Grant Siebert was recently awarded his Eagle in the Katy Stake the first part of August 2018. He was asked who influenced him and who he wanted to give the Eagle Mentor Pin to. He said “Roice Nelson, because he played his guitar and sang” when Grant went through his Webelo’s Bridging or Crossover Ceremony from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Who knows the impact we have had? Now all of the trees at Yankee Meadows have been burned down because of the Brian Head Forest Fire. We never know what will come back to us.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. This is another of the geology songs, talking about the astrophysical process of worlds colliding. I remember when I first heard of a book called “Worlds in Collision,” by Immanuel Velikovsky. As I recall, the account I read talked about how the moon was formed when another planet crashed into the earth, and pulled the moon out. This was a new concept to me, and it rang true. I still have not read the book. Now this concept seems to be well accepted by the scientific community, and is known as the “Giant impact hypothesis.” To quote from www.space.com, where the image to the left comes from, “The prevailing theory supported by the scientific community, the giant impact hypothesis, suggests that the moon formed when an object smashed into early Earth. Like the other planets, Earth formed from the leftover cloud of dust and gas orbiting the young sun. The early solar system was a violent place, and a number of bodies were created that never made it to full planetary status. One of these could have crashed into Earth not long after the young planet was created. Known as Theia, the Mars-sized body collided with Earth, throwing vaporized chunks of the young planet’s crust into space. Gravity bound the ejected particles together, creating a moon that is the largest in the solar system in relation to its host planet. This sort of formation would explain why the moon is made up predominantly of lighter elements, making it less dense than Earth — the material that formed it came from the crust, while leaving the planet’s rocky core untouched. As the material drew together around what was left of Theia’s core, it would have centered near Earth’s ecliptic plane, the path the sun travels through the sky, which is where the moon orbits today.” Maybe these concepts excite me because LDS Doctrine teaches us we are each destined to create our own worlds. Maybe this is why I like geology so much. And thinking about these things, it is easy to conclude “The universe is old, The universe is cold, And from what I’m told, The universe will fold On itself over time.” “Then comes the collision of two worlds, as time and space merge together.” After all, “They are things to be acted upon.” “Why do I sigh? Because Earth may die, By itself over time. Colliding with the Earth, It gave birth, Creating lunar girth, Something of great worth.” More recently, “The dinosaurs were lost, At an asteroid’s cost, Who am I? Just planetary dust tossed, Quickened with spirit over time.” To me, these are exciting concepts, tied to and derived from a collision of worlds.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. It is based on a definition of erosion, and is intended to teach about geology. Erosion is a beautiful example of the fractal nature of geology. You can look at erosion of sand in the backyard, and see the same pattern you see when you go to a stream and look at how erosion occurs. These, of course, are the same patterns you see when you look at how sediments erode at the base of a mountain. “First there is a crack, Then a piece breaks off, Erosion is an active process, Mechanical destruction of the land.” “Wind and rain and ice beat on the ground, Breaking up the rocks gravity then pulls down, Changing landscapes across the world, New vistas slowly are unfurled.” “Loosened or dissolved or simply worn away, Materials in the crust moved to another place, Natural processes all around us, Slowly weathering down mountain tops.” This is certainly true in Southern Utah. “Weathering, solution, corrosion, and frost, Wearing away the land around us, Transported by streams, wind, waves, or glaciers, A gradual retreat of all the valley walls.” Then at larger temporal cycles, “Milankovitch Cycles change the sea level, 250-450 meters across geologic time, Global eustatic changes cut deep incised valleys, when glaciation drops sea levels.” “The geologic record shows unconformity surfaces, Separating older rocks subjected to erosion, And the younger covering sediments, Leaving remnants standing above land surfaces.” I really can see a dance troupe taking this description of geology and converting it into a performance. Time will tell.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image is from a bible study web page. II Nephi 15:1-30 is where Nephi was teaching his brother Jacob the Books of Isaiah, and quotes Isaiah 5:1-30. The first part of verse 1, “Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard,” is not quoted in the song, just the rest of the chapter, the song itself, is quoted. It was a song. I’ve made it a song again. I really like this song. I like the message about building a business, planting the choicest thoughts, building a tower to watch over the business, only to find the business brings forth “wild grapes.” So, the Lord of the business counsels with his co-workers, to find what he could have done more. He prophesies the evils of sprawl and of joining house to house until there can be no place to be alone, and how there shall be great and fair cities without inhabitant. He talks about music (the harp, the viol, the tabret, and the pipe) and wine and how these keep people from finding the Lord. He warns of vanity, and those that call evil good and good evil, who drink wine and strong drink, and justify taking away the righteousness of the righteous. Their root shall be rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up as dust for leaving the law of the Lord of Hosts. Hills will tremble, and he will lift up an ensign to the nations (the restored church). Soldiers shall fly to the Middle East and none shall slumber nor sleep, nor the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes broken. Their arrows shall be sharp, their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs like flint, their wheels like a whirlwind, and their roaring like a lion. They shall carry away safe, and none shall deliver. Behold darkness and sorrow. How could anyone, other than a prophet who has seen our day, write these words hundreds and thousands of years ago?
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced in the description of Song 357 – Steve Lovell, as one of two songs written about my Sister, Sara Penny (see Song 380 – Driven for the second one). When we were growing up and Sara was learning to play the violin I hated it. I love the concerts she is involved in now, both with The Orchestra of Southern Utah and with small groups. I have gone to several of her Suzuki Concerts since moving back home, and it is neat to watch the little kids play the violin. Music can have such a lasting simpact on someone’s life, even if it is only “sort of music,” like too many of my songs. In February of 2016 we went to one of these Suzuki Concerts, and as I listened to the kids play one of the songs I heard over and over as a youth, I came home and decided I needed to create my own version of this song. In effect, this meditation is an exercise in rhyming with night (right, fight, light, flight, quiet, and sight), hike (bike, like, and mic [for microphone]), mind (find, signed, and kind), futile (doodle, detail, and retail), sound (bound, hound, found, around, mound, and wound), and sight (kite, might, height, plight, white, and light). Pulling one line from each verse, the song says “Practice day and night, come into the light, record it with a mic, make sure it is signed, God is in the detail, digitize the sound, find what can be found, look beyond your sight, found in pure light.” I’ve never been that good at remembering names or using words, and so this type of effort is an effort to exercise that part of my brain which is not used in my daily life (practice day and night).
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
When I was in China with Gary Jones, we would have dinner alone in the Zhou Xian BGP Guest House. Our conversations wandered. Gary is a very good piano and organ player. We had interpreted 3 alluvial fans in the Ji Ji Basin, where we were working on seismic data with the Landmark system. I drew a treble clef across a sketch of these three alluvial fans, and Gary named it “Three fans in D-Major.” Ever since those discussions I have been fascinated with the possibility of turning 3-D seismic surveys and geological cross sections into musical scores. So this song was a simple attempt at doing this by looking at the relative topography as you trace from the lowest part of I-15 south of St. George in the Arizona “gulch” (represented by an E and A chord), up to Leeds and Silver Reef (represented by D and G chords), up to Iron County, Kanarraville, Cedar City, Enoch, Summit, and Parowan (represented by G and C and F chords). I-15 goes from Mexico to Canada, or from San Diego to Alberta, starting down low and climbing the heights. The song goes on to Beaver, references Milford, down to Manderfield Road and Cove Fort, Meadow, Filmore, Holden, Scipio, Nephi, Mona, Santaquin, Payson, Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Sandy, Murray, Salt Lake, Bountiful, Farmington, Ogden, and Brigham City. I would like to explore this concept with 3-D lightning analysis maps, detailed topography, etc. Someday?
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
It is hard to believe I have been posting one song a day for 14 months. This song was originally posted as Psalm 156. And the good news to me is I will finish up this phase of this project in just 1 more month. It is nice to have a 15-month project, instead of a 15-year project, like Dynamic Measurement is turning into. Of course, writing the songs began before 1970, and so in reality, this project, like most of my other projects, is at least 50 years in the making. To post this song, like the other Psalms which were previously posted, I simply need to have a reference, without an image and a description. However, it has become a habit to write a bit of a description. This Psalm, from Judges 5, is brutal. Even if he was a tyrant, it celebrates murder. So, I did select an image based on justice. The image is of a statue of the lady of justice with the scales of justice and a sword from an offering on ebay in the UK.
This song was a meditation about the coming of another year: “Welcome to the New Year.” It talks about 1. parents, 2. us, 3. kids, 4. grandkids, 5. work, 6. koyaanisqatsi (a Hopi word meaning “life out of balance, disintegrating, life in turmoil, going crazy,” it is “a call for another way of living, for time to think, ponder and be lazy”), and 7. the church. Some of these songs are almost impossible to reconstruct when I sing them, after not singing them for over a year. It is like I am not sure what the chord progression was, or some of the chords are different, and not what I regularly use, and it takes time to reteach my fingers to do something they have forgotten. Guess this is one of the reasons I have been working on getting all of these songs recorded. There are several of them which are probably quite different in these recordings than they were when I first wrote them. Oh well! At least there will now be a record of these meditations, and who knowns, maybe somebody will pick up some of them and keep them alive. Then the New Year will not “bring a new tear,” nor “challenges to match our fear.” Even as we watch Maxine get older, it is inspiring to see her be “like the good soldier, they keep going simply living bolder.” I picked photos of a snow storm for this song, because of the line in the first verse “The snow outside shows it’s colder.” We get older, and get sick, and mostly keep on living meekly. “The kids are living their own lives, we watch as best they let us,” and hope they will be wise. “The grandkids live in a different world,” a world I see as becoming unfurled, and that they do not see the consequences. “Thankfully for me work will always be here, challenging my mind keeping me in gear” and filling up my year. “All the while the world changes faster,” sin’s blaster, turning from the master and his plan. “Thankfully the church provides us an anchor, better than any provided by a banker,” as I justify not having enough savings by saying finances, in the end, simply canker. I think it would be good for each of us to meditate on the new year and how we will improve.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
It is really sad when people die who are younger than me, especially a first cousin who was 10 years younger than me. Jeffery Paul is Uncle Glenn’s oldest son. A truckdriver and construction guy who had seven-years reprieve after getting leukemia. Our Grandpa, Paul Hafen, also died of leukemia. Grandpa’s disease was a very aggressive form of leukemia the Doctors had never seen before. I remember Grandma Hafen on National Public Television explaining how Grandpa ran cattle northwest of Mesquite, Nevada. How he came home one day and told her “They set off another one of those damn bombs today.” He was close enough to the Nevada Test Site he could see the flash of light, hear the atomic boom as it echoed across the mountain ranges, and feel the hot dust as it passed over him and his herd of cattle. Grandma told how she told him to go have a bath, and he replied, “No damn dust is going to hurt me.” It did. It is a reasonable assumption it also hurt his Grandson, Jeffrey Paul Hafen, who had worked in the same dust building houses in St. George. It also hurt my Dad. Dad died of a rare kind of upper bowel cancer, which was also attributed to the nuclear tests. Knowing both Dad and Grandpa were “Downwinders,” and knowing when I was not in school I was typically with one or the other of them, I have always expected to die from some rare kind of cancer. This type of opinion can truly impact one’s life and lifestyle. I’ve often wondered if it is why I have been an overachiever, attempting to get the most possible out of life, as long as I can remember. I think this song nicely captures how a similar attitude was shared by my cousin Jeffery Paul Hafen.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is based on the music of Song 155 – Help Me Set Us Free, and is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. After putting The Book of Job (twice) and The Psalms to music, now when I discover a reference to singing, or a song in the scriptures, it has become second nature to put the verses to music. This song is very short, and it has a good message, especially for those of us who believe in the first 4 of The 10 Commandments:
And they sing
The song of Moses
The servant of God, and
The song of the Lamb,
Saying, great and marvelous
Are thy works, Lord God Almighty;
Just and true are thy ways,
Thou King of saints.
Who shall not fear thee,
O Lord, and
Glorify thy name?
For thou only art holy;
For all nations shall come
And worship before thee;
For thy judgments
Are made manifest.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Forget when I went to my first Hafen Reunion at Pinto. It was a after Mom’s stroke, and I think it was after she was moved into the St. George Facility, which means it was probably after Dad died in 1996. Once, when I visited, Mom mentioned the Hafen Reunion each year at Pinto. She explained it was a pot-luck lunch, and how Hafen’s love chocolate German cake. So, every time I’ve attended, I’ve bought a chocolate German cake for my part of the Pot Luck. I took Mom the first year she told me about it, and several years after that. Several times I went alone. My cousin Diane Hafen Cluff helped with the 2000 Reunion. I remember taking Sara and Melanie one year. I took Neil Nelson with me to help with the pole walks for the 2008 reunion. I took my guitar once. Maybe that same year. I enjoy Hafen Reunion’s, even though I don’t know the folks very well. I enjoy talking to Arlo and Ramona and their kids, to John, to LeRoy, to the Mosses, to the Kessler’s, and others. I’ve overcome enough of my introverted tendencies to get to know several of the folks over the years. Turns out they rotated who was responsible for sending out the announcement, the games and activities, setting up for the feast, and running the testimony meeting. I know I fulfilled this role at least twice: 2000 and 2008 (click here to see the announcement put together for the 2008 reunion). Adolph and Nellie Hafen have 13 children, a couple of the sisters shared, a couple of the brothers died early from alcoholism, and the two reunions I have records of organizing were 8 years apart. I think Andrea and I have only been twice since we moved back to Cedar City. We did come up from Houston several times to attend. Since moving home, I’ve been in charge of the Blood Drive for Hillcrest Ward (even though they will not accept my blood because I was in England too much during the Mad Cow Disease outbreaks), and so I need to hand out sign-up sheets during church meetings. Andrea also had a conflict last year, and we only have one car. Whatever the case, every year my heart is with my cousins over Labor Day Weekend, as I know they are celebrating the legacy of Adolph and Nellie Hafen at the Hafen Reunion in Pinto.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Since I had written a song for Dallin, it seemed appropriate to write a song for Sophie, who was also at her first Science Camp in 2015. Neat chord progression for the chorus, with a neat beat. Typical last word rhyming: quaint, faint, ain’t, and saint. As I came up with the chord progression, I looked over and saw the poster Andrea framed for me of the ByzantineDeesis mosaic (1261) of Jesus in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, which image is my theme for this work (see image for Psalm 002). The halo around Jesus made me think of Catholic saints, and so this was probably the first word as I looked for words that rhymed with it for the chorus. Then the name of the song became Saint Sophie. It ties to a beautiful little statue Rachel and Garrett gave us after their trip to Spain. They visited the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary, which is identified by some as the location of the Holy Grail in Arthurian myth. Verse 1 talks about Sophie and Dallin starting Science Camp off right with their respective baptisms. The second verse talks about the baptism party in the park, and her Dad, Joshua Waldron, teaching the kids to shoot a gun at his company, Silencer Co. On Sunday morning we went to see Music and The Spoken Word at the Conference Center, and then went to the Utah Science Museum up above The University of Utah. Sophie was bugged by the boys when she tried to go to sleep. When we got to Boulder, Utah there was a rope between two trees at the American Indian Museum. Sophie was very good at walking between the trees on the rope (cable). She drove me crazy singing 99 bottles of milk on the wall. We went to Parowan Gap and saw a sun dial and a big rattlesnake. This song talks about shooting off bottle rockets, double rainbows and Aunt Sara’s and Uncle Des’ place, and our regular trip to the swimming pool. Is Sophie a saint? Yes! She is a Latter-Day Saint.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Dallin’s song was written just after Science Camp 2015. The song started out being about how often Dallin needed to stop to use the bathroom as we drove from Bryce Canyon to Boulder, Utah through the beautiful Navajo sandstone scenery. This road also goes along the crest of a mountain, where there is a thousand foot drop off on both sides of the road. It turns out Andrea’s Grandpa, Morris Shirts, was working for the Utah Department of Transportation when this road was built and was in charge of the construction. Deep roots in Southern Utah. Andrea’s Dad, Morris Alpine Shirts, was a historian, and documented Southern Utah in two books: “A Trial Furnace;” and “Silver, Sinners, and Saints.” Andrea’s Great-Great Grandfather, King Darius Shirts, helped build the road called Johnson’s Twists, which is now a four-wheeler road between Hurricane and Virgin, down by Zion. Dallin was watering the road between Escalante and Boulder. “Thin and wiry, fast and fiery, Dallin is adept, Son of a rocket scientist, A real space cadet.” When I sang this song at the 2018 Science Camp in Buena Vista, Colorado, the Grandkids all had a good time remembering what happed from the words: “Time and time and time again, Bladder control did not last, He can whip it out so fast, The car behind did not pass, Pointed at Grandpa down the hill, They were having a blast, Timing how long to open the door, and then shut it fast.” The next verses are the ones important to me: “The youngest cousin at science camp, lighting his own lamp, Self-professed to not think through, Before getting a clue, But I watched as the time flew, And saw a young genius’ view, Always watching for the new, Seldom acting blue, As time passes through life’s queue, Expect to see how Dallin flew.” It is so exciting for me to see kids discover the world. It is even more exciting when these kids are my Grandkids. Then to top it off, Dallin is a boy, and he will carry on Dad’s family name.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 115 – Enough. The image for Psalm 12 and for Psalm 13 are of the garden in back of Grandma Nelson’s house (see image for Psalm 96). This garden was an important part of Grandma Nelson’s life. I remember how Grandma was typically working in her kitchen, in the garden, or working in the sheds at the back of the garden, where she had a lot of little chicks which she fed every day and grew into chickens to eat. Did you know chickens do not have teeth, they have a gizzard? Grandma took me out to some of the large ant beds around the corrals, and we would collect the little sorted rocks in a bucket. We would carry these to the shed where the chickens were, and then put the rocks in the shed for the chickens to eat. The rocks would stay in the chicken’s gizzard, where the rocks would grind up the grain and other food Grandma gave them. This garden is where Andrea and I have had a garden for the last 3 years. Aunt Shirley (Dad’s youngest sister) and Uncle Willis Gurr (see image for Psalm 151 – David’s Song for Saul) live in this house now. They use a small part of the garden space for their own garden, and we use a larger portion in the “worst” (most rocky) part of the garden. We share the garden with Steve and Xochi Engst, which means this year I typically water the garden Monday and Friday, Andrea waters on Wednesday, and Xochi or her son Manuel water Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The nail shed (right side of image for Psalm 126) is all that is left of the sheds which used to be behind the garden. The words to this song are words of a poem Grandma Nelson wrote about her farm. “My farm to me is not just land, Where bare, unpainted buildings stand, To me my farm is nothing less, Than all created loveliness.” When I think about her kitchen, her garden, and her chickens, I can hear her voice saying “My farm is not where I must soil, My hands in endless, dreary toil, But where through seed and swelling pod, I’ve learned to walk and talk with God.” I remember when “Big Roice” (my cousin Roice Nelson Krueger) and I stole some lime jello from Grandma. She asked us if we had seen any lime jello. We said, “No!” Then she had us look at each other and stick out our tongues. I was so dumb, “Big Roice” had to take me aside and tell me we had been caught. We are always caught when we steal or lie. If an authority figure does not recognize what happened and correct us, it is written in our body and shows up in other choices we make. Do not lie or cheat! Nothing justifies doing this. You learn this on a farm. As Grandma says in verse 3 of her poem “My farm to me is not a place, outmoded by a modern race, I like to think I just see less, of evil, greed, and selfishness.” What about social life on a farm. The poem addresses this too: “My farm’s not lonely, for all day, I hear my children shout and play (see image to Psalm 101), And here, when age comes, free from fears, I’ll live again, long joyous years.” Grandma lived until 1965, when she was 76, and which was 18 years after Grandma Nelson died. “My farm’s a heaven – here dwells rest, Security and happiness, Whate’er befalls the world outside, Here faith and hope and love abide.” How many of us can say we have found happiness? Grandma wrote she had found happiness. In summary, “And so my farm is not just land, Where bare, unpainted buildings stand, To me my farm is nothing less, Than all God’s hoarded loveliness.” Isn’t it fitting to put these wonderful words to Leonard Cohen’s wonderful tune for “Hallelujah” (see Song 374 – Hallelujah)?
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The image to the left is of an original Kenneth R. Turner painting named Eternal Reunion, and is used with permission. The original oil painting is 36 x 54 inches and was commissioned by Dr. Glen and Melinda Ginter. What better image to signify the Hallelujah of Leonard Cohen’s song. Note how the Savior hold the child in this painting. This pose is modeled after the painting of the Savior holding a child, which Ken did for me, and which is used as an image for Psalm 146. I was very much into music and what was playing on the radio when I was a teenager. However, since my mission I have not listened to music much. Busy. Lost a quarter in my undergraduate studies because of staying to help transition the new Mission President, as he worked through some of the issues which resulted in the old Mission President being disfellowshipped. Plus, since I thought I would never be in Europe again, and probably at the suggestion of my Mom, I spent a week with an Elder from Delta, Utah traveling from Dover to Paris to Antwerp to Holland to Heidelberg to the Swiss Temple in Zollikofen and a night with my companion Bruno Steinle, back to Paris, and then back to London to fly home. After the first year of college after my mission, I was married. Then came the job at Mobil Oil, kids, the job at the University of Houston, Landmark Graphics, and the rest. One of thing things I love about being home in Cedar City is to sing in The Master Singers. I remember a recent study which said the one thing common in men finding happiness is singing in a Men’s Choir. When The Master Singer’s sang this song, I was deeply touched. I cried. I wrote out the chords and played the song to myself quite often for many weeks. It is one of only a few songs by others which is included in this work. You can read about the origin of this song and about Leonard Cohen here.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
It is hard to understand why others do not see the opportunities I see. Maybe I look at opportunities in geological time-frames, and everyone else is evaluating me and my opportunities in financial time-frames. We had been in Cedar City about a year. We were not yet on Social Security. Finances were stretched as thin as they could be. And I received term-sheet from one of the “investors” I was talking to. This was enough to get me excited, even though looking back nothing came of the term-sheet. It was all hot air. It seems there are those who just want to lead you along, then when you have been led as far as you can possibly go, or even farther, they still do not come up with the cash. Maybe they never had the cash. Maybe they are optimistically hoping they will soon have the cash. Maybe they are just liars and cheats. Whatever the case, I saw this call as relief from overwhelming financial pressures. At least it was relief, if only in my mind, for a short time, until reality eventually hit. “It has been a long time, It has been a hard climb,” words which accurately reflect the last few years. The photo of the cliffs at Zion to the left is intended to show a long hard climb, which takes a lot of time. The expanded view is showing looking down from a long hard climb. “It has taken many miles, There have not always been smiles,” is an understatement regarding recovery from oil & gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico being shut down by the Obama Administration after the Deep Water Horizon disaster. Always have liked Ronald Reagan’s story of a boy who received a pile of manure for a present, and proceeded to dig through it “because there has to be a pony in here someplace.” Thus the line “Looking through lots and lots of piles.” “It has taken a lot of work, Something we must not shirk,” is my ongoing attempt to pass on truth to my kids. “It has taken much patience, Faith, hope, and reliance, On the Lord and on science, Believing in future finances,” are words saying the long-view makes the short-term efforts worth it. After all “Relief is not always a must, We just need in God to trust, Remembering He made us from the dust.”
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This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The same image was used for Psalm 110, showing Moroni burying the golden plates. The name of the painting is “And I saw their day.” It is an original Kenneth R. Turner oil painting, which we own, have in our house, and it seems like a good image for this song about Moroni’s father – Mormon’s words: “Oh that ye had repented.” The words for this song come from Mormon 6:17-22. I recall reading how over and over cultures in what we now call Mongolia would wipe each other out to the last two kings. I’m not sure where this was written, and think it was possibly in some of Hugh Nibley’s writings. As I recall this historical fact was used to point out the destruction of the Jaredite Civilization followed this same trajectory, and this knowledge is not something Joseph Smith could possibly have been acquainted with. As you read the words used for this song, it seems as if the Nephites were following this same path. Certainly, the record points out the Nephites were completely destroyed. Mormon knew the path could have been different. However, free will and choice are basic eternal principles, and with basic principles come consequences. In this case, the destruction of a people. It seems mankind will never learn from the past. The good news is most modern people are not so dedicated to their leader they are willing to follow their leader to their death. The bad news is most modern people are not dedicated to anyone or anything other than themselves. Certainly most are not committed to follow Heavenly Father and His word.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image to the left was downloaded from https://www.lds.org, and is copyrighted. I want ahead and used it here because a version of this same image was above the sacrament table at the Cedar City 3rd Ward when I was growing up. I think this image had an impact on me, and specifically my willingness to pray when challenged twice with the question “Are you a Mormon?” in Corvallis, Oregon in 1998. The lds.org page lets you download, high-res print, and share this page with others on social media, so I am posting the image until I am told to take it down by the copyright holder. This song is based on the words of John 17:1-26, and is Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. These words capture the moment exquisitely. “The hour is come.” “This is life eternal to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” “Glorify thou me … with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.” “I pray for them.” “Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” “And now I come unto thee.” “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them.” “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” “That they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” “For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world, O righteous Father.” Concepts not understood by many Christians: pre-existence; separate bodies of God and Christ, as shown by Christ praying to Heavenly Father, yet with one purpose and goal; and how to know and become one with God and with Christ.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song consists of a series of quotes from President Ezra Taft Benson, one of the prophets of the Latter-Days. I recall telling Corwin Slack about my new city plans (see the descriptions to: Song_145__Change_The_World [where I quote the words used in this song from President Benson], Song 125 – Ode to Henry Thoreau, Song 114 – Barker Reservoir, Song 108 – Friendship, Song 100 – Zion, Song 90 – Deseret, and Song 50 – Tribes), and his quoting these words from President Benson. The words seemed to undercut decades of thinking and planning and scheming about ways to improve the way we build our cities. I did not know how to react. My first day as a missionary in England included being taken out by the Assistants to the President to tract a Council Housing Project called White City. It was a multistory cement jungle. As we knocked on doors and saw people in their hovels, I quickly came to the conclusion Dad’s cattle had better living conditions than these people had. So I wrote letters home to Ray Gardner, describing what I saw and how sad it was. Ray responded with images from Paolo Soleri’s “Archology, The City in the Image of Man” (see the image and the extended image at Song 145 – Change the World). I was/am totally enamored with the concept of three-dimensional cities. Especially when these building concepts are tied to the social concepts Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught regarding The Law of Consecration (see Song 90 – Deseret), which is what I was in England to teach people about. In 1990, I hired Ray Gardner and his partners at Gardner Partnership Architects to do a planning document, which they called “The Intelligent Habitat Project.” The image to the left and the expanded image are from this report. I have put so much time and effort into thinking through these ideas since that initial correspondence with Ray Gardner in 1970. Then to be told by Corwin these concepts are of “the world” and my plans were “working from the outside in,” I was flabbergasted. Over time I have come to appreciate the wisdom of President Benson’s words, and to see his message in a different way. After all “Christ changes men,” and he changed me (see Song 167 – Heart of Gold, Song 119 – Anticipation, Song 087 – The First Prayer, and Song 007 – Froggie Learns the Gospel), and changed men can change the world. I am not attempting to “mold men, by changing their environment.” Rather, as a changed man, I want to “change the world’s environment.” Because of the failure of HyperMedia Corporation (see Song 177 – Enduring ‘Till We Die, Song 168 – Build the Gospel Onion, Song 078 – Rain, Song 032 – Find The Seed, and Song 001 – Open My Eyes Please), and Continuum Resources International Corporation (see Song 360 – A Man with Values, Song 342 – Projects, Song 155 – Help Me Set Us Free, Song 143 – Dedication to John Doran, Song 108 – Friendship, Song 086a-b – Be Still Geologists / Geoscientists, Song 085 – Merging Mind & Matter A-K, Song 004 – Business, and Song 001 – Open My Eyes Please), it is easy for me to “live in the past,” and feel sorry for myself. I’m sure this wallowing and “lamenting about my losses” has limited my future. President Benson’s advice rings so true: “Let us not spend our time Worrying about decisions that have been, Let us live In the Present, And let us live, In the future.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper (1452-1519) was pulled from www.artbible.info in about 2010, and is part of my collection of images of significant art. The original is 460 x 880 cm and was painted between 1495 and 1498 at Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan, Italy. The painting is linked to Mark 14:24, while the song is from Luke 11:2-4 (enhanced from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible), earlier in His ministry. The original source of the painting describes how in the painting Jesus has just told his followers that he is about to be betrayed by one of them, and we see the reactions of each. Bartholomew, James Minor, and Andrew are flabbergasted by the announcement. Jude is hanging over the table, small money pouch in his right hand. Peter is angry, demanding that John find out whom Jesus is referring to. John looks about to faint. Jesus looks imperturbable, acquiescent – as if he just wants to get on with sharing the bread and wine. Thomas is angry. James Major looks stunned and seems to be holding back Thomas and Philip. Philip seems to be looking for an explanation. Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon are emerged in lively conversation, most likely about the betrayal. All of the disciples’ feet are visible, be it vaguely. Jesus, however, has to do without. When the monastery was renovated at some point in time, someone decided to have a door put in, sacrificing Jesus’ feet in the process. This is a picture of the painting before the 1999 restoration. I think the painting encapsulates the words of The Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done;” “Give us this day Our daily bread” (the sacrament); “forgive us our sins, For we also forgive;” “And let us not Be led unto temptation, But deliver us from evil.” The words to The Lord’s Prayer have been put to music by many different composers, and it takes ego to follow the footsteps of these giants. What more can I write?
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song, and is based on the music from Song 362 – The Move. I like the photo of Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464) painting of The Annunciation (captured from www.artbible.info and stored on my system at www.walden3d.com/photos/Art). The painting is oil on panel (86 x 92 cm), was painted about 1440, is in the Louvre in Paris, and is linked to Luke 1:34.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image is titled “Molitmoz” by Gonzalo Kenny and is posted in Book of Mormon Central. No copyright notices were seen, and since I’m using another source without written permission, I reference where the image comes from comes from. This painting is an interpretation of Ammon, which caught my eye during a google search. It was published June 30, 2016 as KnoWhy #133. The recording of singing these 35 verses is 25 minutes 49 seconds long, and the text is 4 pages with 2 columns per page. A lot of words, and words which amazingly summarize what was told earlier in the Book of Mosiah and in the Book of Alma, and which was told succinctly and clearly. After all of the writing I have done, in my 68 years of life, I would have a hard time writing this type of a summary, and it would have been impossible to write this and the two other chapters, with an additional 58 verses, like Joseph Smith translated in one day, on the 17th of April 1829. For example, in my Excel Spread-Sheet study of the Book of Mormon (of which various versions are available on line at walden3d.com/BoM), when I do get to Alma 26, I anticipate it will take me at least 18 days to go through these verses in Alma 26-28 and capture the names and attributes of God, Christ, The Holy Ghost, Angels, and Satan in the spread-sheet. And to top that off, think how poetically these words are written, so they could be copied, guitar chords put with them, and published as a song, where what I wrote took 2 days (15 January and 28 February 2015). “Thousands of them do rejoice, And have been brought, Into the fold of God. Behold, the field was write, And blessed are ye, For ye did thrust In the sickle, And did reap with your might, yea, All the day long did ye labor, And behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, That they are not wasted.” Then there is the little side note, “When Ammon had said these words, His brother Aaron rebuked him, saying, Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry, Thee away unto boasting.” I continue to struggle with pride, and I’ve worked on it hard for many years. Did Joseph Smith understand the principle of pride? Yet the words are so eloquent. I testify these words are inspired words of God.
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This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image shows Alma Law, his daughter Eden and son Corbin and their friend Lydia Greer at The Lion’s Mouth picture glyph west of Cedar City. The song is about Alma, in The Book of Mormon, when the voice of the Lord told him how blessed he is, and how blessed are those who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Alma was told he was blessed because of his exceeding faith in the words alone of the Lord’s servant Abinadi, and the people baptized were blessed because of their exceeding faith in the words alone which Alma had spoken. Alma was told they were blessed because they established a church among them, and because this people were willing to bear His name. What a wonderful knowledge to know we have covenanted with the Lord, and that we shall have eternal life when we serve Him, go forth in His name, and gather together His sheep. Reading the words of the voice of the Lord telling Alma that He will take upon himself the sins of the world, for He created us, and He grants those who believe a place at his right hand is deeply spiritually touching for me. The sorrow for those who never come to know our Savior when they realize he never knew them and they depart into everlasting fire is overwhelming. I hope those who listen to these words will come to hear His voice, be received into His church, and recognize as often as we repent, He will forgive us, just as we forgive one another our trespasses. For these words were declared by the voice of the Lord to Alma and we have the words to read and to accept or to reject, along with the accompanying consequences.
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The image shows Eldon Schmutz showing me how to water witch on Jeff and Paula Jurinak’s property east of Richfield, Utah. Since we moved back to Cedar City, water has been a them in many of my discussions and activities. Well before we moved to Cedar City I became involved in the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District: log of activities; 19 September 2005 Presentation; 04 May 2006 Presentation; 06 June 2006 Presentation; data to recommend MX-Missile water, rather than Lake Powell Water; Keynote Talk at SUU Annual Research Symposium 18 November 2013; Field Trip Notes 18 November 2013; SUU Talk for CICWCD 22 September 2014; Presentation to Iron County Commissioners on 11 July 2016; Presentation to Rotary, 06 September 2016; Presentation to Iron County Historical Society 08 March 2017; videos of Joseph Armstrong water witching 17 July 2017; etc. This song is about water, within the bounds of the last words of the 3rd and 4th lines of each of the 7 verses being “scum” and “sun” respectively. It ties in Joseph Smith’s question: “How long can rolling waters remain impure.” It talks about the danger of falling water, and about the beauty water reflects of nature. It talks about how too many forget their baptismal covenants and asks “How long can clean waters remain pure?” It points out how rain water washes away the trash, and how rising water warns us to move, especially when fast water floods the earth. Note this song was written on the 2nd of December 2014, shortly after we had moved from Houston. I had felt there was going to be major problems in Houston, which was part of my willingness to move to Utah (Song 362 – The Move). Note there were 500-year floods in Houston at Memorial Day in both 2015 and in 2016, and then the enormous devastation of Hurricane Harvey 25 August 2017. Note a 500-year flood is not something that happens once in 500 years. Rather it is an event that has a 1-in-500 chance of occurring in any given year. I was very glad we were not in Houston during and following Harvey. I had thought the problems would be riots and social unrest. I feel very sorry for my friends and colleagues in Houston who struggled with impure waters.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The image is a scan of M. Gustave Doré’s 59th steel engraving in “The Vision of Purgatory and Paradise” by Dante Alighieri, as translated by the Reverend Henry Francis Cary, M.A. and published by Cassell & Company, Limited in the late 1800’s, and which is in my library. This image was scanned because verses 4-5 include “And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, Call upon his name, Declare his doings among the people, Make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord; For he had done excellent things.” The marvelous steel engravings in this wonderful old book tell the story of each of us. At least each of us who have an ideal, a Beatrice, who leads us through the anger and the despair and the hurt and the pain and the purgatory of our individual lives to the Kingdom of God (His restored church) and hopefully eventually to the Kingdom of Heaven (Eternal Life on the other side of the veil of death). Note the phrase “kingdom of God” occurs 74 times in 10 different New Testament books, while the phrase “kingdom of heaven” only occurs 33 times, and only in Matthew. So, the parenthetical interpretation of the two kingdoms, which in the broader connection across eternity are definitely the same kingdom, is very much a personal interpretation. The point is there was singing in the time Isaiah, in the time of Nephi, and in our time. Scriptural language can be sung.
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This song provided the music for Song 367 – Mary’s Psalm, the first Psalm posted. There are several of these songs which are related to our move back home, including: Song 025 – Homecoming; Song 074 – 1307 Emerald Green; Song 121 – Transitions; Song 177 – Enduring ‘Til We Die; Song 350 – Downsizing; Song 351 – Enjoy the View; Song 353 – New Wood Floors; Song 355 – Shadows; Song 356 – Snow Falling; and of course, this Song 362 – The Move. One of the nice parts of our move, was when Barbara and Steve Salt had an open house for us, and many of our friends came by to say good-bye, including (rows left to right in the photo to the left and in the expanded view): Susan and Michael Reed; Don and Kathleen Keller; Barbara and Collins Stewart; Steve Holleman and Brother Davis; Barbara and Steve Salt; Sue and Steve Feil; Becky and George Schultz; Dave Williams; Patrice and Alan Peterson; female members of the Craner family; Collin and Lisa Davies their family; Mr. and Mrs. Smith (who lived in Maudeen Marks Mothers house next to the apartments on Barker; Susan and Michael Reed; Julia Bancroft; Jared, Halle, Colby, Taylor, Kendall, Melanie, and Avalyn Wright; Carolee and Brent Weber; Andrea and Corbin Slack; Mr. and Mrs. Leo Montoya; and Jim and Debbie Siebert. There was also the Maudeen Mark’s ranch, across the street from our apartment in the park. There were many others who said good-bye, including when I held a going-away concert at Ken Turner’s Art Studio in the upstairs room of his house in New Ulm, Texas. I remember Ren Nielson, Tom Sherman, Charlie Beeman, and Melanie’s family all made that trek. The actual move required driving 2 different (largest available) U-Haul Trucks from Katy to Cedar City. This is 1,500 miles, “Driving across America.” “Miss our friends, Comfortable there, Lots of memories Accompanying us.” “Family here, My sister, your brother, And your Mom Could use our help.” “Old and new friends, An architect (Ray Gardner) and a geologist (Gary Player), With Bigger ideas, Than me or you.” “Now we’re here, In our new ward, Figuring out how, We will define, Our new America.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is puts Alma 34:17-27 to music and is based on the music of Song 352 – Grandpa’s Drum. This is where Alma teaches us about exercising “our faith unto repentance, That (we) begin to call upon his holy name, That he (will) have mercy upon (us).” Powerful words: “cry unto him for mercy; For he is mighty to save. Yea, humble yourselves, and Continue in prayer unto him. Cry unto him when (we) are in (our) fields, Yea, over all (our) flocks. Cry unto him in (our) houses, yea, over all (our) household, Both morning, mid-day, and evening. Yea, cry unto him against the power of (our) enemies. Yea, cry unto him against the devil, Who is an enemy To all righteousness. Cry unto him over the crops of (our) fields, That (we) may prosper in them. Cry over the flocks of (our) fields, That they may increase. But this is not all; (we) must pour out (our) souls in (our) closets, And (our) secret places, and in (our) wilderness. Yea, and when (we) do not cry unto the Lord, Let (our) hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for (our) welfare, And also for the welfare, Of those who are around (us).” Again, these words were not written by a 23-year-old farm boy from Upstate New York. These words were written by someone who had found himself in serious trouble, who needed the Lord’s help, who prayed with real intent, who knows that prayers are answered. I have been in serious trouble, I have needed the Lord’s help, I have prayed with real intent, and I know my prayers have been answered. I hope everyone who is led to read this has, or gains, this same testimony. So it seemed appropriate to use a summer and a winter photo off our bedroom patio, showing the Lake on the Hill, and reminding readers we all have different fields, flocks, houses, and households, we need to cry over “both morning, mid-day, and evening.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
It seems like a photo of a sunset over the iron mine west of Cedar City is a good image to summarize this meditation. It has been over 4 years since I wrote this song, and so I’m not sure what led to the thoughts which are captured herein. When I re-read the words of this song, I thought it was about Dad. “I thought he was so fine, Full of love and always kind.” “He was doing what feels good, Always doing the best he could, Thinking it was what he should do.” “Never letting himself get moody, Diligent even if sooty.” It did seem like Dad spent a lot of time inside the boiler at Nelson Meat Packing Plant, or the boiler at the By Products Plant, or the boiler at the house welding leaks where water would get in with the coal fires. So, Dad certainly got sooty. There was a night when Mom was so mad at Dad she took a butcher knife and started to attack him. I stopped her, and Dad took the knife away. The wording might have just been rhyming of the word strife and knife, and still based on that most emotional of events. Dad “Never faced an ethical dilemma, Not caught up in dogma, Did as taught by his Mamma.” However, Dad died in May of 1996, a couple of months after his 80th birthday. So maybe this meditation was about who I wished I was. “Helping others, taking time, Then I noticed (I’m) getting older, (I’m) no longer a young soldier, (I’m) much more careful and movin’ slower, Somewhat colder, and still bolder than most.” I was “always obedient, Sometimes to a fault, Others saw it an impediment, Not recognizing (I) was their salt.” “If (I) could do better (I) would do. (I) was always fulfilling (my) duty,” striving to be “Like a hero in a movie. Responsibilities drove (my) life,” I worked hard to “Always be supportive of (my) wife. I have studied attempted to follow the teachings of Christ, Buddha, and Allah.” “Morality was (my) line in the sand.” I left Landmark and Continuum Resources because of actions of Senior Management. I strive to “Never follow a reckless band, Nor beyond what’s natural to expand, Simple concepts to understand.” So maybe this meditation was all about merging the best of both of us into a song, with the hope some of our descendants will pick up on good characteristics, and stay away from the mistakes we have made.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
I went to an SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) Convention in Houston in 2009 and saw a friend, Noel Daley, whom I have seldom seen since working with him at the Seismic Acoustics Laboratory (SAL) at the University of Houston. Noel was a programmer whom Fred Hilterman hired to keep operations running. He was very good, and we had become friends at SAL. His company and his booth were SDI (Software Development Corporation). I was looking for funding for Dynamic Measurement, told him about what we were doing, and he said, “I’m in, this is a TOTALLY kick-ass technology.” This meditation was about Noel’s words. Time and Space have been key components of my technical evolution. I spent a lot of time developing indices, the TimeDexsm (TD) and the Infinite Gridsm (IG), being the two referenced in the footnotes of the first verse of this song. “Depth is not just down, it refers to how God is found, His thoughts are deeper than ours, Our prayers and faith can find Him.” The other two key indices are Data Types (verse 5) and the Knowledge Backbonesm (KB) (verse 6). These “Thoughts are the seeds, That can help us recognize the weeds, We must not dampen, Our ability to think.” The best summary of these indices, is what I placed in my description of The Urban Machine put together for Dr. Bowen Loften regarding preparing Galveston for the next big Hurricane. This work was published on 02 March 2007, and includes specific descriptions of the KB, the DT, the IG, and the TD. As I get older and older, and do not see these simple and powerful ideas caught hold of and implemented by anyone other than myself, I wonder how many wonderful, I believe inspired, developments have gone to the grave with people like me who do not have the ability to find the convincing words to lead to implementation. Words can not express what is in the hearts and minds of men and women who care. The image to the left shows a cross-section from a lightning analysis derived apparent resistivity volume with an interpretation from seismic and well logs overlain on it. To my eye, these results are absolutely phenomenal, “a TOTALLY kick-ass technology.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
After putting all of the Psalms to music, it seemed natural to put scriptures to music. Especially scriptures which were another psalm, like the Psalm of Nephi as found in II Nephi 4:15-35). “My soul delighteth in the scriptures, And my heart pondereth them, And writeth them for the learning, And the profit of my children.” “Behold, my soul delighteth In the things of the Lord; And my heart pondereth continually, Upon the things which I have seen and heard.” “My heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; My sol grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, Because of the temptations, And the sins which do so easily beset me.” “Nevertheless, I know In whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; He hath led me through mine afflictions.” “Behold, he hath heard My cry by day, And he hath given me knowledge By visions in the night-time.” “And why should I yield to sin, Because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, That the evil one have place in my heart.” “Yea, I know that God Will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, If I ask not amiss; Therefore, I will lift up My voice unto thee; Yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, The rock of my righteousness.” These words could not have been made up by a 23-year-old farm boy in Upstate New York. These words are the words of someone who has lived a full life, who knows success and failure, who knows the Lord, who has had a full life. They are words which resonate deeply within my soul. I am so thankful for the scriptures, and especially for The Book of Mormon, and for passages like The Psalm of Nephi.
This song is referenced by Song 148 – A Song in My Heart. We had only been in our new home a few months, when, I think it was my sister, Sara Penny (see Song 380 – Driven and Song 384 – Suzuki Practice), mentioned to me there was going to be a funeral at the New Enoch Stake Center, and Steve Lovell would be there, because, as I recall, it was his nephew who had died in a tragic accident. I had not heard Steve Lovell’s name in years (this was before I was assigned to Home Teach Les Jones, who was one of Steve’s friends at CSU [College of Southern Utah], worked closely with Mom at SUSC [Southern Utah State University], and much later was Matt’s favorite teacher in the Psychology Department at SUU [Southern Utah University]). I had a strong desire to see Steve, and so I put on a suit and blue shirt and tie (see photo to the left) and drove out to Enoch. I did not know anyone at the funeral, and as I walked inside to the back of the church, I asked for and then saw Steve. It was a wonderful reunion. Reminded me of when I saw Xu Da-Kun at a conference in Beijing I was supporting Geokinetics at, after many years of not seeing Mr. Xu. One of his friends, Zhou Jiping, who at the time was the President of PetroChina, was standing next to Mr. Xu. Mr. Zhou had been to our house at 1307 Emerald Green for a dinner, and I did not recognize him. Mr. Xu had helped me get a couple of dozen Landmark employees out of China following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and we had worked very closely together on projects Landmark did for the Bureau of Geophysical Prospecting (which projects are not listed in the BGP history). This reunion also reminded me of when Andrea and I walked into Laura Schmidt’s wedding reception in Brigham City and Chris and Michelle Schmidt saw us. There is an indescribable joy, when, after a long time, you re-meet someone you have truly shared living with. And to think Steve Lovell had served two senior missions, after his mission to the Navajo Tribe. He served among a branch of the Basque people in Croatia (who are believed to be of the lost 10 tribes), and he also served among the lost 10 tribes in Siberia. Looking back to when Steve worked at the “stink plant” and I was “the boss’ son,” who would have thought the two of us would end up doing the things we did, after going our separate ways. Maybe we knew this deep in our premortal memories, and this is why the reunion was so special. “Memories overwhelming me!”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Five days after I wrote Song 355 – Shadows, on 04 November 2013, I was (still?) alone, and it snowed. This was our first snow storm after moving into our new home. This song, and all subsequent songs, were written after the Psalms were all put to music, and so none of the music for these songs were used as music for the traditional Psalms. As I watched the snow come down in the back yard, I thought of when I was growing up, memories of times hard, when here was snow falling and cattle to be fed. The chorus of this meditation says: “There are jobs which must be done, In the rain, snow, or sun, Life and love and happiness, Depend on our willingness to serve.” There are 2 artist verses which include the words: “Snow falling, covering the grass, Greens to whites, then browns at last. … Snow falling, small flecks of white, God painting his canvas right.” Then there were the memories from my youth which started flooding into my mind: “Snow fell back in the time, When I was learning how life rhymes, The worst storms always came on Thursdays. … Snowfalls on Thursday afternoons, When Dad was in St. George seemed cruel, The cattle would always break through the fence.” Feeding the cattle – night after night, and rounding them up when they broke through the fence – time after time, helped turn me into the person I am today. “Now snow falls in the back yard, A pretty picture for my mind to guard, Lessons learned and internalized, There are jobs which must be done, In the rain, snow or sun, Life and love and happiness, Depend on our willingness to serve.” I think through these words, and the experiences of my youth, and I am so glad I have had the opportunities for growth which came my way. I feel so sorry for those who never learned to work, and who spend their time wishing the government would take care of them.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was written the evening of 30 October 2013, on one of the first nights I stayed alone at our new place at 2155 W 700 S #31 in Cedar City, Utah. I’m not sure where Andrea was. Probably she was in Salt Lake City with either Audrey or Rachel and their families. The new wood floors were all laid down. I had my new guitar, slept in our new bed, cooked my dinner in our new kitchen, and looked at the books in and pulled books from our new bookcases. As the sun went down, there were shadows creeping around the room. My mind went back to The Keynotes (see Song 103 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand), “Love Portion Number 9,” and the “spooky” C7th chords in that song. I tend to not turn the TV on when I am home alone. I don’t remember if I almost fell, or if “fall” just rhymes with “hall.” In any new place, there can be “shadows creeping around the room, faucets weeping next to the broom, and creaking walls by a long dark hall.” Then my mind calls out to Heavenly Father, and I sing a song or recite a poem, and in not too long the good times roam. “But then the shadows come once again, I can’t help wondering, ‘are bad times to begin,’ There’s been so much pain and grief, Isn’t it time to find some relief.” “Life’s a balance of good and evil, To grow cotton there will be weevils, So keep in mind, as we travel along, Troubles and trials make us strong.” “But even knowing pain is for our good, Doesn’t make it easier to walk through the woods.” “We carry more weight as we learn to endure, Reminding ourselves we can stumble for sure, So we journey on watching each step with care, Looking in the shadows helps us dare.” Nice meditation, where I relearned a lot of truths.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song, and by Song 144 – Oh That I Were an Angel v-1. Song 353 – New Wood Floors provided the music for this song and for Song 358 – Psalm of Nephi. Version-1 had 5 verses. I did not remember having written version-1 when this version was written. This version has 17 verses, one song-verse for each of the 17 scriptural-verses (Alma 29:1-17). As stated with version-1, I loved my mission, and I internalized what Alma wrote about: “Oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people.” As I write these words, the thought comes to mind, “Maybe this is why I am recording these Songs and Psalms. Yes, the effort is for my children. Yes, the effort is a to cry repentance to each of them, and to myself. Yes, I am willing to share this effort with others, who are interested or who are lead to the work by the spirit of the Holy Ghost. Yes, I am not advertising this effort, nor charging money for this effort, nor otherwise attempting to receive a gain for this work. I would consider doing so to be practicing priestcraft (see Alma 1:12). Sharing my life, experiences, and most important to me, my testimony of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is my way of going forth and speaking with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth. “This is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.” I am convinced it is the still small voice, low frequency information traveling across the universe from God, which shakes the earth and reaches the hearts and souls of His children. As I think about how the Lord has planted thoughts and words in my mind, “I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer.” Hopefully, my honesty and openness and integrity will reach someone who is looking for eternal truths. Hopefully, this same honesty and openness does not become the basis of offence. There are consequences for everything we do. And my experience is that even when we are doing something for good reasons, Satan will blind the minds of some of some of those we love and convince them the opposite of what is intended. Convincing them we are attempting to manipulate or humiliate or somehow hurt or disparage them. This is absolutely not my intention, and if anyone is offended by what I have written, please talk to me, and we will adjust the post to not offend. In the meantime, I must remember, “I am a man, and do sin in my wish, for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 117 – Andrea and Song 149 – Living Dreams and provided the music for both Song 354 – O That I Were an Angel v2 and Song 358 – Psalm of Nephi. I like this song, even though it mixes metaphors, like I did in Song 012 – A Lullaby, where I wrote “Your lips so tender and so small, Will see much before you grow to tall.” I like a wholistic approach to life, and think we sense things beside with or across the standard senses of sight (eyes), sound (ears), touch (skin), smell (nose), and taste (tongue). At the same time I have had others tell me it really grates them and just sounds wrong to say lips will see much. Oh well! Do new wood floors see? They don’t have eyes. And yet the wood fibers will be modified by “Grandkids running ‘round the house,” and the movements of “an older spouse.” We bought a guitar for Utah and I had my Martin guitar in the Barker Reservoir apartment (see Song 351 – Enjoy the View). Do guitars hear? They don’t have ears. And yet, again the wood fibers align with the vibrations, uniquely absorbing songs over the years, like the Mormon Tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake. Do beds feel? They don’t have skin. And yet, every time we climb into bed, whether to sleep or for a nap, it impacts the fabric of the bed. Do kitchen’s smell? They don’t have noses. And yet the odors permeate the wood and paint and fibers of the kitchen. Do tables taste? They don’t have tongues. And yet every spill from every different kind of food leaves an impression on the new kitchen table. Do bookshelves talk? They don’t have mouths. And yet the wonderful concepts contained within the pages of the books on the new bookshelves provide the basis for creating new worlds, which is what I believe life is preparing us to do. We first started modifying and half-way moved into 2155 W 700 S #31 the summer of 2013, just before this song was written. I was 63. I figured we would be privileged if the condo was able to experience all of these sights, sounds, feels, smells, tastes, and sayings from our interactions for 25 years, which would make me 88 years old. As I write this it is hard to believe we are already 20% of the way to this goal. Life goes faster and faster the older we get.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used to provide the music for Song 361 – Cry Unto Him. In July of 2013 Audrey and Joshua brought their girls and two exchange students from China, who were staying with them for a couple of weeks, down to Cedar City from Salt Lake. Sophie and Izzy, Amy and Lilian stayed at the Condo with us, and Joshua and Audrey had some time alone in a hotel. Sophie and Izzy had a lot to say. We taught them how to do sand paintings. They discovered they could use my tummy as a drum, and it became “a lot of fun.” We took everyone to Cedar Breaks, and Sophie and Izzy became Junior Rangers. Sophie, Amy, Lillian, and myself “became four visitors in a million, Taking the Lower Trail to the Alpine Lake.” Just as we got back in the car to leave, it started to rain. The “pat, pat, pat on the car window,” was like the “pat, pat, pat on a drum.” It was “the perfect time for the rain to come.” Then “in the evening after dinner” I wished I was thinner, “as Sophie and Izzy jumped on (my) tummy, After a week of too much food yummy.” In February 2018, when I helped Melissa Leavitt advertise The Annual Children’s Jubilee, which my sister, Sara Penny, started, I ended up singing this song at several Elementary Schools. It was well received, and Melissa requested a copy of the music so she could sing it to her grandchildren. It is interesting to me how some of these songs are so well received. I recall when I sang Song 025 – Homecoming at Enoch Elementary, a few miles from the farm, I was overcome with emotion, like I am sometimes in the first take in recording some of these songs. Hopefully my kids will eventually realize how important these songs are to me, and why I want them to have a written and audio copy for their meditations and hopefully enjoyment.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. It had been a long time since I had lived in an apartment. And since I have worked out of my house for several years, and since we had a 1-bedroom apartment, I basically lived in the living room when in Houston. The good news is we had a nice balcony, which overlooked the Army Corps of Engineers Barker Reservoir. Although we were a couple of miles from the water, it was a nice view. The composite image to the left shows three panorama views from our balcony. At the top is an ice storm. In the middle are the trees at Valentine’s Day, after one of the kids in my Sunday School Class climbed up a tree for me and hung a red reflecting globe as a Valentine Card for Andrea (it is a red dot about 1/4th the way from the left side, and in a dark area vertically in the middle of the image). The bottom image is of one of the many beautiful sunrises we saw. The expanded image is a composite of 5 photos. The upper left photo shows a U.S. flag to the left or north. By September 19th, 2014 I had bought a block of salt and a bag of deer corn and had placed them were we could see them nicely from our patio (upper center). Got nice photos of deer (lower left) and wild pigs (lower middle). There was one buck I especially enjoyed watching. I called him the velveteen buck. About the time we moved, he was hit and killed by a car on Kingsland Boulevard over by the road that went up past the pond referenced in Song 163 – Seminary Trek (right image on expanded composite image). It was sad to see a beautiful wild animal killed by urban sprawl. I did enjoy the view. It was part of a major transition in my life. Enjoying the view reminded me of the tidal flats, gumbo, dinosaurs, Nephites, longhorns, ranchers, and rice farmers who had walked this view. We had a new member of Nottingham Country Ward, Ren Nielson, who was a cowboy from Idaho turned high profile lawyer. He rode with his son Christopher, who was in my Sunday School Class, on horses through the park to our place, and came up and ate ribs from Wright’s Bar-B-Que with us. And of course, as I looked out over Barker Reservoir, during breaks from work, I could see the cement treehouses filling up Barker Reservoir in my mind (see Song 114 – Barker Reservoir). As I envisioned the new type of city, I saw a new kind of ark for mankind (see Song 100 – Zion and Song 090 – Deseret). Again, I did enjoy the view, even if the spatial view transversed time.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. Then, all of a sudden, it was time to leave my home of 30 years and to move back to my real home. After 5 ½ years in Dallas, 4 ½ years in Sugar Land and Missouri City, and 30 years in Katy (actually a Houston address), for a total of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness of Texas, it was time to move back home to Cedar City, Utah. I was told over and over, when I was growing up, the red mud in Cedar Valley gets in your blood, and you eventually have to come home. Mom (Maxine Shirts) turned 90, she needed us home. A temple was announced in Cedar, and within a week we had purchased a condo, which was 2 doors from Mom, and within a month had sold our house at 1307 Emerald Green Lane. The logistics of downsizing was much harder than a scout camp (see Song 028 – Fathers and Sons, Song 029 – Simonton Blues, Song 030 – El Rancho Cima, Song 031 – Camp Strake, Song 032 – Find The Seed, Song 033 – Camp Liendo, Song 034 – Digital Camera, Song 036 – Hagen’s Escape, Song 037 – Brosig, Song 038 – Turners, Song 039- Stephen F. Austin, Song 040 – Ice on Tents, Song 043 – Twelve Disciples, Song 049 – Welcome to Big Bend, Song 050 – Tribes, Song 105 – Kelly’s Pond, and Song 163 – Seminary Trek) or a Science Camp. At least I have had some experience in both of these logistical challenges. There was a sale at the local U-Haul storage place on Baker Road by our Post Office and the I-10 frontage road. They let you use one of their biggest storage units for a month, for the price of one of their smallest units. By the end of the month you had to move everything into a smaller unit. So we had a 40 foot x 15 foot x 15 foot storage unit to act as a staging area. We cleaned out a lot of the house, putting everything in the large storage unit. Then sold the house the first weekend it was shown, selecting the largest of 6 offers, each above our asking price. We rented an apartment at the Apartments on Barker Cypress road in the Barker Reservoir, and moved what we needed to have in the apartment to live there. The photo to the left, and the extended photo, show us emptying and loading the rest of what was in the house for the first truck load to Cedar City. I had helped a lot of people move, and it was very nice having kids, and friends show up to help load the truck. We spent about a year with an apartment in Houston and our condo in Cedar City. One of the members of the Hillcrest Ward in Cedar City learned we were living both places and said, “When you decide you are moving here, we will take time to get to know you.” That conversation motivated me to close down the Houston apartment. About a year after we moved into the third-floor apartment (see Song 351 – Enjoy the View), Andrea and I sold our Saturn and drove the second truck with the rest of our stuff in it to Cedar City (see Song 362 – The Move). And thus, we finished our downsizing.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced in Song 146 – The Dance and was not used as the music for a Psalm. I loved the Sunday afternoons after church when Melanie’s family would come over to the house and visit, or we would go over to their house and visit. On one of those Sunday’s Halle wanted to write a song. So we did. This song about a swan is the result. She would give me a thought, and I would build a rhyme and write the words out: swan, along, sky, high in the chorus. We started out in the sky: “Like a slow arrow, Floating through the air, When they land, There’s barely a splash.” Then we went to the water: “Floating on the water, Looking so beautiful, Graceful and stunning, They look so nice.” And then we brought it back to real life, and an experience Aunt Sara Ellyn had: “They are hard to find sometimes, and when you do, Be very careful, They might peck you.” Hallie is so cute (and shy) in the video she made telling Aunt Sara about the song. Colby played the piano, and we recorded the song after we wrote it. It is a bit noisy, and you can hardly hear the song. However, it is a wonderful memory. THANK YOU HALLE!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. It is hard to watch friends go through cancer and die. Especially when they are relatively young and have kids the same age as my kids. Kids who are some of my kid’s closest friends. I wrote this song on the day Rachel Williams was buried. “Today was both sad and joyous, Rachel William’s celebration, Women in black, men in ties, Children not knowing their turn will come” (see Song 177 – Enduring ‘Till We Die and Song 150 – Taylor’s Birthday). Brother Webb, Rachel’s brother, and I had a nice conversation. He pointed out how “we meet new friends at least three times, when we hatch, match, and dispatch.” Thus, the chorus of this song. “Happy are the times when life rhymes, with a full batch, a good catch, or the right time to unlatch.” Then I wrote a brief history of Rachel. Her birth in 1949, the same year I was born. One of 10 (the number of kids Andrea and I have between us) who cold be both good and bad (true for every family). Dave Williams looked for Rachel after his mission, and they have 7 lovely children. “Cancer is one of life’s lemons, It takes real faith to make lemonade, Rachel showed her girls what real women do, Unwavering kindness and hope as life fades.” And then this meditation closed with “No one knows what the future holds, Some things make us sad and some things make us glad, And yet this can always be said as life unfolds, Kindness, love, hope, and service never make us mad.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used for the music for Song 344 –Psalm 151 – David’s Song for Saul. I was going to ask someone to go up Cedar Mountain with me and take a photo of me sitting on one of the zig-zag aspen fences for this song. Then I saw this photo of Sophie and Halle walking on a cement wall around a petrified log in Escalante at Science Camp a few years ago, and decided it nicely illustrates sitting (walking) on a fence. “Sitting on a fence, teetering, Not sure which way the wind’s blowing.” Entrepreneurship requires investment. I am somewhat entrepreneurial. Therefore, my projects require investment. I don’t work well for others. Therefore, I prefer to provide the investment for my entrepreneurial activities myself. The oil industry downturns and previous commercial failures (see Song 078 – Rain, Song 155 – Help Me Set Us Free, Song 177 – Enduring ‘Till We Die, and Song 342 – Projects) have left me with nothing but time to invest in these activities. There are limits on available time, both from the hours in a day as well as church and family commitments, as well time needed to provide for the basics. So, we put a business plan together and placed it at GUST.com (looks like Dynamic Measurement LLC is no longer listed there). We talked to the Texas Angel’s Network. And the lack of responses makes it “hard to believe in yourself, When so many question you.” “It’s easy to be depressed, And feel the brunt of life’s tests.” Then there was an e-mail from Saudi Arabia expressing interest in investing. And stupidly, we started a conversation and got scammed out of several hundred dollars we could not afford. Then through GUST.com we were invited to participate in Texas A&M’s Venture Challenge by Richard Lester. The kids we worked with did a cute sketch based on Beverly Hillbillies. However, we did not win our section, and the effort did not go anyplace. Then we needed a “certificate of Good Standing” from the State of Texas for the Saudi’s. We got one and sent it off, along with registration money, before we realized it was a scam. I guess it is possible to be too trusting when sitting on a fence, not sure which way the wind’s blowing.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used for the music for Song 348 –Psalm 154 – David’s Blessing. I have always had a lot of projects I’m working on. This song summarizes four projects going on in the summer and fall of 2012. One year working for Kjell Finstadt, the investor in Continuum Resources who “fired” me (see Song 086a-b – Be Still Geologists Geoscientists and Song 155 – Help Me Set Us Free). Obviously, we still had a good relationship after we mutually agreed it was time for me to leave Continuum. He hired me to do a large regional 2-D seismic interpretation of the first 2-D seismic survey collected by the same ship with the same acquisition parameters connecting deep water prospect in Mexico with deep water fields in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. It was an 8,250 kilometer (5,126 mile) 2-D survey, that defined spreading-centers, basin floor fans, salt domes, and was the most geologically exciting interpretation project I’ve done. Two years building geological models for the Texas Shelf PSDM project Dr. Dick Coons and I worked on (see Song 048 – Light at the End of the Tunnel, Song 143 – Dedication to John Doran, and Song 165 – Feed Yourself First). Three years of work, which actually led into the second project described above. We had sold 2 leases to Petsec Energy in this same Texas shelf area, and had a nice override agreement in place (see Song 165 – Feed Yourself First). These are the leases that went away after the Federal Government’s reaction to the Macondo disaster. At the time, I had spent 4 years attempting to sell a 50 TCF (trillion cubic feet of natural gas, worth $360 billion [if it is there] at US$7.19/MCF [thousand cubic feet of natural gas]) natural gas exploration project in Europe. Exciting project, and so far it is simply too big to sell. At that time, I had spent 5 years working on Dynamic Measurement, and our lightning analysis work (see Song 053 – Fred the Fox, Song 113 – Jennifer Roberts, Song 155 – Help Me Set Us Free, Song 158 – Thunder and Lightning, and Song 165 – Feed Yourself First). It is almost 6 years later, and I am still pursuing the last two projects listed. Or as I say in the chorus: “Projects driving me up the wall, Always afraid I might fall, Talking on too much takes gall, Thankfully I’ve learned to stay on the ball.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used to provide the music for Psalm 30. Ever since HyperMedia went under, it feels like I have been enduring till I die. For not having much cash flow, and often being worried about how we are going to pay the bills that are coming due, we live quite nicely. This meditation, a month after Song 175 – The Best Side, is about how we endure. “Living in a museum, protecting some of my life’s work, hoping someone will grab the baton, making a difference by carrying on.” The photo to the left, and the extended photo which comes up when you click on that photo, are intended to capture the idea of living in a museum. The chorus is a complaint, “We don’t know why” there are always so many problems, “And still we try.” All we can do is sigh. I learned a long time ago, never to lie, as a lie always comes back to bite you. So, we find ourselves “Enduring ‘till we die.” The lines, “Working in my mind, Never knowing what I’ll find,” reflect words in the descriptions of Song 155 – Help Me Set Us Free, Song 148 – A Song in My Heart, Song 100 – Zion, Song 091 – I Once Saw a Family, Song 079 – Why I Try, and Song 001 – Open My Eyes Please, among others. And, of course, there are the lines referencing “With good friends who are kind, Helping me out of a bind,” which reflects words in the description of Song 097 – All I Need is Love. “Building on a dream, Finding things not as they seem, Others often seem so keen, Seldom do they grab the beam.” “Hoping efforts are not for naught, That some ideas will be caught, Maybe even some day be bought, And eventually even be taught.” And ending with “Believing when you plant good seeds, Others eventually recognize your deeds, And they’re not overcome with weeds, Eventually meeting other people’s needs.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Psalm is unique, and is not based on the music of one of the Songs.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I’m doing some work with one of the guys I grew up with out in the valley, and he is regularly pointing out how this person is “all about himself,” or this other person is “all about himself.” We agreed on a consulting fee, and an hour later there was a text message saying they might be able to pay half what we agreed. Is it “all about him?” He did bring by the first half of the consulting fee the next day, and promised the rest when several things going on get resolved. Then I read the words to this song, and realize too often in my life it is “all about me.” Oh well! I’m not sure what was happening in March of 2012 that got me thinking about being a little boy, a young man, a father, and a granddad. However, this is what this meditation was about. All about me. Verse 1: boy, toy, coy, and joy. Verse 2: man, sand, can, and land. Verse 3: father, daughters, bother, and totters. And Verse 4: Granddad, fad, bad, and sad. “Oh, that I could, Always be like him.” Then, as I typed these words for the description, I got thinking, “How do you select a photo capturing the best side?” Andrea has several pieces of artwork from her mission o Japan around the house. One is of a Gisha Girl looking down at me every time I get out of the shower. I took a photo of her one morning, before getting out of the shower, looking back up at her. Hopefully one of us got to see the “the best side” of the other.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used to provide the music for Psalm 62. The experiences of our lives can be compared to the process of geological sedimentation (see Song 109 – Sedimentation – Earth Memories). Business consultants often use the phrase “peal the onion,” to describe taking a business process apart to understand the basic components and the process flow in order to improve the business process. When we started HyperMedia Corporation on January 4th, 1991, we were inventing a new way to interact with data and with information. I was so convinced of the power of the hypertext model, I left 10 years of exciting work at Landmark Graphics to put effort into building this UNIX (operating system), X-Windows (human-computer interface), Client-Server (data could be distributed on legacy IBM mainframe computers and accessed by links, like we do with modern browsers), classification driven (class menus based on data classification), hypertext (the ability to link text, images, geological interpretation overlays on images, videos, database files, and files on legacy systems) engine. Landmark, in conjunction with professors and students at what is now The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, had started building this hypermedia system at Landmark in 1988 as a documentation system. By 1991 all of the people working on the project were fired, and the technology was going to die. So I negotiated to take the software out of the company and formed HyperMedia Corporation. The technical validity is shown by the release of NCSA Mosaic by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1993, and the formation of Netscape in 1995. Note Netscape stock traded from 1995 to 1999 and ultimately was worth $10 billion. I guaranteed loans to start HyperMedia with Landmark stock, which went from $24/share to $8/share. The bank called the loan, I lost my Landmark ownership, and almost went bankrupt in about 1995. When we were starting HyperMedia we hired a consultant from the church, Phillip Miller, who helped put presentations together and coined he phrase “build the onion,” to describe building a hypertext document. I always liked the phrase, and so when I was teaching Sunday School to 12 and 13 year old youth (shown in the image and extended image to the left), I used the phrase to describe how teaching the gospel starts small and grows: “Starting with a kernel, Adding layers, Principles eternal, Ignoring nay-sayers, We meet each Sunday, Away from the minions, To build our gospel onion.” The verses summarize lessons we had in our Sunday School class: free agency; repentance; Adam and Eve; the atonement; joy; experience; what happens after death; the three degrees of glory; the power of prayer; the first principles of the gospel: faith, repentance, baptism, and The Holy Ghost; holding the iron rod; being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Patriarchal Blessings; and obedience. The hyperlinks were not tied to the spoken word in class, and yet the topics are certainly connected, like the layers of an onion.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used to provide the music for Psalm 76. I Home Taught Chris Schmidt’s family for years. Chris moved into their house, which was on the street that dead ended into our driveway, shortly after we moved into 1307 Emerald Green Lane. Chris and Michelle have two daughters and one son. Because of Home Teaching, and the fact they lived closer than any other member of the ward, I watched the kids grow up. The oldest daughter, Anna, served a mission for the LDS church in Argentina. I was very touched by Anna’s homecoming talk, and how much she had grown spiritually serving in “a completely different country, With a completely different language, And a completely different culture.” As she bore testimony of her mission experiences, I saw “a heart of gold, and the fire burning brightly.” I took notes from her talk, and when I got home, quickly moved the words to a song with the typical rhyming approach: 1. gold, bold, brightly, tightly; 2. cold, fold, nightly, quickly; 3. hard, understand, freely, completely; 4. floors, poor, clothes, low; 5. hospital, His love, Argentina, missionaries. I do not remember why Sister Schmidt was in a hospital in Argentina. As I write this, I remember the spiritual confirmation she was healed by the Savior in that poor, understaffed, underequipped hospital. It was missionaries who were the emissaries, and who gave the blessing. It was the spirit of God which touched and changed Anna, just as the spirit of God had touched and changed me in Corvallis, Oregon the summer of 1968 (see Song 087 – The First Prayer). This same spirit confirmed the truthfulness of Anna’s testimony in this sacrament meeting in the Nottingham Country Ward. It is special when the spirit teaches us truth.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song and was not used as the music for a Psalm. Must have been reading the Old Testament when I wrote this, as the words are focused on Ezekiel 18:20-22. The verses talk about the relationships between sons and fathers and how the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. Sometimes when we reread a scripture we do not remember, the words of eternal life we rediscover sink deep into our heart (See Enos 1:3-4). The description of Song 159 – Huntsville specifies how disappointed I was with some of Paul’s High School antics, and so it only made sense to use a photo of his and Kate’s wedding reception to express to me how well he has “taken responsibility for his own actions,” and is now one of the strongest members of the family in terms of “keeping from building family factions.” Certainly, Paul and Kate have been blessed, both at work and with lovely children, demonstrating “the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him who is pious.” It is so obvious to me, in my older age, “We choose each day the path to take, For ourselves and for Jesus sake.” I now feel closer to Paul than to my other sons and sons-in-law, or as the song says “Fathers and sons, eternal knots will tie,” and “shall live (hopefully) with the Father and the Son.” When I refound this photo, I thought it was nice my “Jewish son,” David Kessler, was talking to Paul and Kate. David stayed with us one summer when I was working at the University of Houston Seismic Acoustics Lab, where he was doing Post-Doc work on PSDM (see Song 165 – Feed Yourself First). Then he came back and stayed with us several summers. He is a wonderful person, scientist, and has built a very interesting company, SeismicCity. Keys this meditation recognized include how we must each take responsibility for our individual actions, and as we turn from iniquity, thankful to being washed in the blood of Christ, recognize all transgressions committed in the past shall not be mentioned in the future. And there were words from the meditation written specifically to me, including at the end of verse 1: “Look at life in the eye, It’s not your right to ask why, Bear the burdens we are given, They’re our ticket back to heaven.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used to provide the music for Psalm 39. This song was written in August of 2011. The Macondo Deep Water Horizon oil spill had happened on April 20th, 2011. There was a significant response to the disaster. Most remember the Federal response from the photos of supply boats spraying water on a grease fire, something we would never do in our kitchen. There were about 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, and there was governmental certainty the Gulf would never recover. Natural oil-eating organisms were the reason there has been virtually no environmental trace of the disaster for several years, and it is now only 7 years later. However, Andrea and my bank account shows there was and continues to be a significant economic impact for some. The White House decision to stop Federal Lease Sales, and to shut down operations in the Gulf, shut down two big projects I had been working on for years with Dr. Dick Coons. We had sold Prospects to Petsec, an Australian oil company, and they had bid on and won 2 lease blocks offshore South Texas. If they would have been able to drill the wells, and if there were 100 BCF (billion cubic feet of natural gas) discoveries on each block, my override would have been worth $12 million. Instead, Petsec walked away from the leases, because of annual lease costs and because “the United States no longer follows the rule of law.” Politically driven policy is even worse than agenda driven science, like climate change hysteria. In addition to Petsec, we had sold Wapiti Energy on exploring all of North and South Padre Island Offshore Federal Leases. Wapiti had spent about $4 million to purchase 3 large 3-D seismic surveys and perform Pre-Stack Depth Migration (PSDM). Dick and I spent two years, working at minimal wages, helping define exploration opportunities. On the upside, we believe there is 23 TCF (trillion cubic feet of natural gas) in these areas. Dick and I each had 1/6th ownership (potentially $11.5 billion each). Because the prospects did not look as good as expected, and mostly because of government overreach, Wapiti shut down the project and sold it to who knows who. Dick and I were left with nothing for all of our work. And Dynamic Measurement had finished our first contract with ConocoPhillips (COP). COP was reorganizing the company, there was not a follow-up project, and we were learning how hard it was to sell lightning analysis projects. So, in an hour of meditation, I wrote a song about: “Tough economic times, Feed yourself first.” I complained about how stress makes me fat. Then I started to think about Andrea, and wrote: “Challenges come with life, Feed yourself second.” In my meditation I realized service is key. So, I closed writing: “Consider the lilies of the field, Feed yourself last.” Still fat, so I must still be under stress. I do strive to provide service, so maybe I’m coming to trust the Lord will take care of us and continue to provide what we truly need.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. A good friend’s wife, who is also a good friend, had a nervous breakdown, and I was involved in helping put her in a facility where she would not hurt herself or others. It was really hard for everyone involved! This song was a result. This intro explains words in the chorus: “My pain cries out, My pain drives in, Is it just life? Or is it sin?” The verses became a way to express personal issues about suppressed memories, childhood drama, anger about parents fighting, youthful indiscretion, and my marriage going south. When one gets to be as old as I am, one starts to realize everyone has pain. Everyone has had, is having, and will have issues causing pain, “pain cutting like a knife.” It is part of life. We cannot know real joy, if we have not known pain. As we are taught in The Book of Mormon: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.” So, we find ourselves “Learning life’s lessons, An awkward dance.” I selected two photos of Becki Velez’s wedding to represent this song, because it came to represent joy and pain in my mind. I Home Taught the Velez family at the time this song was written. Becki is very special, as I recall, the second oldest in the family, and I spent a complete day helping decorate for her reception. Shortly after the birth of her first child, she had serious medical problems, was hospitalized, and spent over a year recovering from intense physical pain. Last time I saw her, she was back to her wonderful self. When we go through pain, we can own it, or we can blame it on circumstances, or Satan, or life. “Yang coupled with yin,” other dimensions of the circle of life. “We must have faith, Hope and charity, Trust in the Lord, Repent, and look for the best.” I remember the months going through the divorce. Specifically, over the 18 years after Mom’s stroke and before she died I came to Salt Lake or Cedar City or St. George or La Verkin about once a month to see her. During the divorce I would fly into Salt Lake, rent a car, and drive down the back side of Utah Lake and through Delta and Milford to get home. It is about 74 miles from Delta to Milford, and this is one of the more desolate stretches of road in the Utah. Half-way, I found a road that went up into the mountains to the west, and for several months I stopped here and just screamed at the top of my lungs facing each of the cardinal directions, because I knew no one but God and the coyotes could hear me. Pain can be very hard. And like a thunderstorm, the pain fades into the background of our memory as we “Let pain cry out,” and “Let pain leave the scene.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I had been walking 10 miles through George Bush Park for some time (see Song 161 – Bug-Eyed Girl), and Andrea likes to walk, and had made the loop with me several times. Andrea spent 10 years teaching seminary in Houston. In 2011 the course of study was the Doctrine & Covenants and Church History. She wanted the Seminary kids to relate to Pioneers walking 10 miles a day, and what better way than to have them walk with us some morning. So on Memorial Day, 2011 eleven of her seminary students joined with Andrea and I at 6:00 AM and walked from our house to Kingsland, past the big Kingsland Baptist Church, up by the pond, then past the first building Landmark Graphics built at 333 Cypress Run, over to Baker Road, past Maudeen Mark’s ranch, down across Mason Creek as it makes its way to Barker Reservoir, south past the back side of the shooting range, west past the soccer fields, where some of the kids literally found a fork (a utensil) in the asphalt of the trail, north past the water tanks, then east through the thicket, where we stopped to have a prayer, then to the bayou, across the bayou dam (where I had seen a couple of large snakes on my walks), west to where the drainage bayou enters from the north, north to Greenwind Chase, then to 1307 Emerald Green, where we fixed breakfast for the kids, and they swam until their rides picked them up. It was a good activity for the youth, and for Andrea and myself. And I can remember the specifics because I took the time to write this ballad about our trek. Did you know the word “trek” does not come from “Star Trek,” but comes from South Africa? The Great Trek was an eastward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers (called Voortrekkers) who travelled by wagon from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onward.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 149 – Living Dreams and provided the music for Psalm 73. The image to the left was taken from volusia.com/explore-volusia/news/ (note a similar version of the same image is at uemsgroup.com/sg/index.php/news). In case someone doesn’t know, the word NEWS is a combination of the first letters of the words North East West South. The chorus starts with this, and points out how NEWS, or as Henry Thoreau calls it: gossip, flows through our lives, cutting us with verbal knives. I like the tune and the message. “Stock market ups, stock market downs, Either way it can create frowns.” “A war here, a new war there, Pretty soon, people no longer care.” “Grocery prices through the sky, Following along gasoline price highs.” “Running scared, hoarding food, Blaming others, makes us feel good.” “The housing crunch, the stock market crash, Loosing our job, short on cash.” Guns and sex in our schools, Makes us feel, like we must be fools.” Then my documented meditation turned into a solution: “What can we do to turn the flow, Is it as simple, as just saying no; No more debt, no more bets, No more abortions, no more jets; No more living beyond our means, Eating more wheat and beans; No more pork barrel politics, Eliminate all entitlements; No more wars we don’t go in to win, no more pornographic sin; No more attacking the family, No more drugs, nor addictions silly.” Finally I ended by rewriting the last two lines of the chorus to say: “Turn around the NEWS today, Find something positive to say.” Why is it so hard to follow this type of simple advice?
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song provided the music for Psalm 125. Corwin Slack lost a lot of weight walking every morning. So, I decided to start walking. I would walk 10 miles over to Barker Cypress, down past Maudeen Mark’s Ranch, through the park, back past the soccer fields on Westheimer Parkway, out at Kingsland Boulevard, and then back to the house. I did this walk quite often in the 2011 time-frame. Sometimes Andrea would walk with me. We even took Andreas Seminary Class on a Trek one morning. There were typically a lot of bikers and runners along the trail. One morning there was a girl who was going in the opposite direction and was complaining very loudly about a bug flying into her eye. Thus, the title: Bug-Eyed Girl. At the time, Sara Ellyn was working for a computer company that made computer avatar’s. I suggested she make her avatar to match the concept of a bug-eyed girl. This connection turned Sara Ellyn into the Bug-Eyed Girl, and the rest is rhyming: 1: park, dark, mark, bark; 2: tall, fall, ball, beautiful; 3. Benin, seen, mean, teen. I sang it for Rob, and he told me I should sing it for Sarah Ellyn at her wedding. I think he was attempting to goad Sara. The extended photo (click on the photo to the left) shows him grinning as I sang this song for Sara Ellyn and Tim and their guests. Still I sang it in the country-western bar-be-que place they had their family dinner. In fact, I was strumming the guitar so heard, I broke one of my guitar strings. So, I didn’t sing Song 016 – Sara Ellyn to Sara and Tim until the next morning, at a family breakfast at their nice apartment overlooking the lake in Austin, Texas. While Bug-Eyed Girl is kind of fun, I really do like my song Sara Ellyn. It nicely captures what Sara Ellyn means to me.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song provided the music for Song 345 –David’s Psalm of Praise, which is found in II Samuel 22:2-51. I wrote a song for our first Nelson Grandkids Summer Science Camp on 09 July 2010. It is like the scout ballads. We drove from Houston west, stopping at Martin’s Cove, to Providence for Quinton’s birthday. Ethan and his Mom, Sarah Johnson Nelson, got up at 3:00 and flew from Denver to Las Vegas, where Andrea and I picked them up. I lectured about geology all the way to Cedar City, and I’m sure I bored the two of them to death. We stopped in Bloomington and Aunt Luanna fed us all lunch. Meanwhile Paul drove Grant and Colby south. Sarah and Andrea cleaned the cabin. I waited at the gate in Matt’s truck, and drove three tired boys and three other kin to the cabin. I would not remember we ate breakfast burritos and orange juice if I had not written the words in the song. Now, as I sing it, it is like I am back at that first Science Camp. Hopefully the kids will feel the same. We had backpacks for each of the boys. We got a photo as we left the cabin, as is shown to the left. We took the boys to Cedar Breaks (see expanded photo) and then to Panquich Lake to fish. Caught 3 fish, which were breakfast the next morning, along with pancakes. We attempted to milk the atmosphere for water, using condensation. Did not work so well. It was fun to work on the project with John Boyce, who was my Home Teaching Companion. The boys were more interested in making dams along the stream running out of the cabin pond. They liked to chop down trees, and we had a Dutch Oven dinner. We completed The Eighth Annual Nelson Grandkid’s Summer Science Camp the summer of 2017. I think the success was based on how well this first camp went. This year we do Science Camp along the Front Range near Colorado Springs, and hopefully it will go as well as the last 8 years. Maybe I will even write another Science Camp ballad this year.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. Paul went to Sam Houston State University in Huntsville for his first years of college. Paul almost got kicked out of High School, and at the time it seemed appropriate for him to go where the state penitentiary was. I remember after his first year, Paul was planning on getting a degree in International Business. I told him he would do well to do undergraduate work in a science, so he knew how to quantitatively measure things, and that he could always go back and get and Master’s Degree in International Business. Paul is the only one of my children who listened to my advice regarding schooling. So, I can’t be upset with him anymore for some of the baloney he did in High School. I’m not sure how Rob ended up at Sam Houston State University. I expect after he reads this he will let me know. I started this song in 2010 when Rob first went to Huntsville. It seemed appropriate to use a photo of the large Sam Houston monument outside of Huntsville, Texas along I-45 for this song. I finished it on January 4th, 2017 when I was working on documenting all of my Songs and Psalms. The most logical photo for this song is of the big white statue of Sam Houston (remember, everything is bigger in Texas). This song started and ended as a farce, and an attempt to match Rob’s sense of humor. Not sure I did a very good job at either end. Oh well!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by both Song 113 – Jennifer Roberts and Song 114 – Reckless, and provided the music for Psalm 18. It was not long after Joe Roberts asked me – “Does lightning strikes twice at the same place, and if it does strike twice at the same location, does it mean I have oil under my lease?” – I became convinced there was a pony in this pile. It is 10 years later, and we are still digging for the pony. We have uncovered exciting correlations. I’m more convinced than ever we are mapping geology with our lightning analysis. We have learned a lot. We have gone down a lot of dead ends. Most of the dead ends are marketing dead ends, not technical dead ends. We have demonstrated a significant geologic component as to why lightning strikes where it does. I am optimistic we are within months, if not weeks, of breaking this lightning analysis market wide open. I was just beginning to realize, when I wrote this song in 2011, lightning can travel 150 kilometers cloud-to-cloud before it hits the ground. The reason lighting strikes the ground where it strikes the ground is because of geology, or as I say in verse 4, “hydrocarbons and salt, Resistivity, Minerals and brine, Conductivity.” Verse three describes volcanic lightning, which was not even known about until the last few decades. Yet, consider these Book of Mormon references which can best be described as volcanic lightning: I Nephi 12:4, 19:11; II Nephi 26:6; Helaman 14:21; and III Nephi 8:7. Consider the autobiographical description of the translator of The Book of Mormon (Joseph Smith History 22, 27, & 55). This is why I selected the photo of volcanic lightning to the left, which I believe originally came from National Geographic, to supplement this song. Lightning does strike some radio towers, some mountain tops, and some trees. However, I am convinced telluric currents are by and far the largest contributor as to why lightning strikes where it strikes. Lightning analysis is a new way to explore for natural resources. Dynamic Measurement Corporation is using this knowledge to build a new branch in the geophysical services industry. It is exciting. Even more exciting than the creation of Landmark Graphics was. And Landmark changed the way every oil and gas company in the world explores for hydrocarbons. Lightning analysis is a more geologically self-contained approach, it builds on interactive 3-D interpretation, and I have retained control of the company, each of which are reasons I find Dynamic Measurement so much more exciting than Landmark Graphics was at the same stage of development.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 55 – Ma Mere, and provided the music for Psalm 37. Like many of my songs, I do not remember what got me to write this one. Maybe I had written a song about Mom (see Song 018 – Mother’s Day), and Dad (see Song 011 – Howard Nelson), and Grandma Hafen (see Song 024 – Helen Hafen), and I felt the need to write about another of my parents, albeit by friendship to Randy (see Song 060 – Randy’s Song and the chorus: “Another mother of my brother”) and marriage to Andrea (see Song 117 – Andrea). As I wrote in the first verse: “February 9th, 1964 our lives became forever intertwined, When the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan, By Saturday we had 20 in your garage, The same garage where my Willys Whippet was later parked, Soon down to five, The Keynotes were in your living room, Charlie, Ray, Dale, Randy, and I became inseparable.” The Keynotes all went to Boy’s State at Utah State University. Randy and I hiked up over Fiddler’s Mountain to Brian Head one Friday night and Saturday. We had a surfing party at Rush Lake (see Song 052 – Rush Lake Blues). My cousin Roice Nelson Krueger paid us to do our first gig at his High School near Capital Reef National Park. We played for a dance at The Dixie Roller Rink, and left the only tape we made of our music there (and never got it back). My ‘Nother Mother never criticized any of the things we did, and I know she liked some of the songs we played (like “As Tears Go By,” “Blue Moon,” “Dear Heart,” “Downtown,” “Michelle,” “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” “Never My Love,” “Silhouettes,” “Strangers in the Night,” etc.). The key line in this song for me is Maxine Shirts was the “June Cleaver of Cedar City for me.” For those who don’t know who June Cleaver was, she was Beaver and Wally’s Mom in the television sitcom “Leave It To Beaver.” When I wrote this song, our Mission President and his wife stopped by the house. His name was Todd Hansen, he grew up in Cedar City, and was Heidi Hanson’s little brother (see Song 131 – How Do You Show a Girl). He had good memories of Maxine, and his words provided a basis for the last verse. The other key line in this song is the last line of the chorus: “Guiding me, so I’d stay free.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 52. Meditation, for me, is to have no requirements and no one else around for a couple of hours, then to sit down with my guitar, to start to strum or pick the strings, to listen to the words which come to my mind, and then to write the words and the guitar chords down. This song is a typical result. Contemplating how complex life is, the joy and the pain, and the goal of gaining knowledge of truth. Recognizing the important thing to carry in our back pack is service and love. Reflecting on my life, I realized I “started out as my Mom’s pride and joy, the first of two, a girl and a boy.” I was quiet and still am insecure and coy. My life found it’s groove while I was serving as a missionary in England. Certainly, learned more about life on my mission than at college or playing in The Keynotes. I still laugh about the reaction of the border agents when I came from France into England one time, had put hair color as “dishwater blonde,” and watched them laugh and show each other my application for entry into England. I wanted to be a father, thought I was ready, and based on how too many of my kids don’t interact with me or follow my example, I still have my doubts. I did become an author, though my book New Technologies in Exploration Geophysics was never reprinted (except in Chinese). A key line in all of the songs I have written came out of this reflection: “Success came too quick and left just as fast.” It was fun to tour the world. I missed the kids growing up, and now I wish I had spent more time with them, that they might want to spend more time with me now that I am getting older. Then another key stanza: “Starting all over, again and again, Nervous and scared when it’s time to begin, Optimistic I am not forsaken, Believing from bad dreams I’ll soon awaken.” Hopefully those going through the same life processes will gain from the sharing of experience captured through my meditations.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song and Song 149 – Living Dreams, and provided the music for both Psalm71 and for Song 378 – Revelations 15:3-4. The song was written in 2010, when I was 60, and when I still thought I had another Landmark Graphics lurking in my mind. Guess I still think I do, at age 68. Ever the optimist. I had been fired by Kjell Finstad, who was the investor in Continuum Resources International, and I had decided to restart Dynamic Oil & Gas (DOG). Edy Rogers encouraged me to use a different name, even though he was one of the shareholders in DOG. The other shareholders were Dr. Roger Anderson, Dr. Larry Cathles, and Ed Story. DOG had never gone anyplace, mostly because of yet another downturn in the oil & gas industry, and a lack of focus. So, I formed Dynamic Resources Corporation (DRC), my 100% owned oil company (so far “oil company” in name only). The song is based on Exodus 5:14; John 8:32; and D&C 38:22. Dynamic has over 100 AMIs (Areas-of-Mutual-Interest) and about 20 TMIs (Technologies-of-Mutual-Interest). As stated in Song 143 – Dedication to John Doran, at least one competent geoscientist caught the vision and was going to invest significant resources in Dynamic Resources. Because of Cash Flow requirements, and not having the capital needed to purchase leases where the AMIs are located, I took one of the TMIs (lightning analysis) and turned it into a separate company: Dynamic Measurement LLC. Geology does not change in human time-scales. The opportunities I have identified will be still valid in my children, my grandchildren, or my great-grandchildren’s lifetimes, if they have not been drilled. The foundation I have laid is worth trillions of dollars. Maybe someone will recognize it, and pick up the banner. In the meantime, I am enjoying the journey, though it would be nice if we were not always so stressed about cash flow. Oh well! (Yes, I want to drill wells!)
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used to provide the music for Psalm 78. I started writing the song a week after my surprise 60th birthday party, and finished it up a month and a half later. This recording is 22 minutes and 41 seconds long, which seems short considering all of the things covered. Instead of verses, each section is tied to my age; 00 was how old I was when I was born; 05 is how old I was when Andrea was born; 21 was when I reported to my mission; 23 was my age when Marti and I got married; 25 was how old I was when Roice was born; 26 when Ben was born; 27 when Paul was born; 29 when Heather was born; 30 when Melanie was born; 31 when Audrey was born; 32 when Sara Ellyn was born; 34 when Rob was born; 35 when Rachel was born; 37 when Matt was born; 47 when the divorce was finalized; 48 when Ben and Sarah married; 49 when Andrea and I were married in the St. George Temple; 50 when Paul & Kate and Melanie & Jared married; 51 when Ethan was born; 52 when Grant was born; 53 when Colby was born; 54 when Taylor was born; 55 when Ella Dawn was born; 56 when Roice & Sarah and Audrey & Joshua were married and when Halle was born; 57 when Sophie and Dallin were born; 59 when Rachel and Garret married and Avalyn was born; and 60 when they all had a surprise birthday party for me. Each verse includes something about what was happening elsewhere in the world as these milestones occurred in my life. Did not know Andrea was the same age as McDonald’s, until I went through this writing effort. The photo to the left shows my surprise; and the extended photo shows some of whom was waiting for me when I answered the door. My first words were, “This looks very expensive.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song, and was not used as the music for a Psalm. This is a first draft of putting what I consider to be a most important scripture to music. This section of the Doctrine & Covenants introduces the concept of Baptism for the Dead. The part quoted (D&C 128:22-24) starts out with the words: “Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? … Let the earth break forth into singing.” Then it ends with this marvelous challenge: “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” The chord progression is unique in my repertoire. It is repetitive playing it over and over. I think a real musician could turn it into a nice majestic melody. The words are fabulous and deserve to be put to a musical score folks can remember and sing as praises to Heavenly Father. We were at the AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) Annual Convention the 20th-24th of May, 2018, and I took the photo to the left (and the extended photo) of the Salt Lake Temple from the roof of The Conference Center. To me, this temple symbolizes baptisms for the dead in these Latter-Days, and the photo illustrates how the Latter-day Saints have gone forward in so great a cause, since this revelation was recorded on 06 September 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 51. Colby Cade Wright’s baptism was special. I was excited about it, and so I wrote a song about baptism for this event, specifically stating “The next step on our eternal path, to see how well we kept laws preparing for the bath.” Like many of my songs, the words ended up talking about some of the deepest feelings in my heart. I was not born in the covenant, which means my parents were not sealed for time and eternity in the temple before my birth. My kids, and Andrea’s kids were each born in the covenant, and yet our partners broke the covenant, and so some will question whether our kids are sealed to us for time and eternity or not. We strive to live so all 10 of our children can choose to honor the sealing covenant Andrea and I made in the St. George Temple on 15 May 1999, 50 years after my birth. Remember, a year after Dad, and then a year after Mom died I did their temple work. Melanie represented Mom, and Jeff Jurinak represented Dad when I was sealed to them in the Houston Temple. I hope they accept(ed) the temple ordinances. “Those of us not born in the covenant, need your faith (Colby and the other Grandchildren) to know we belong, as we fly to eternity, finding serenity, secure in our certainty, we trust in our faith.” I sang this song for Colby at his baptism. Then his Grandpa Wright sang, with a much clearer and better voice, another song for Colby. Good memories and very deep feelings come to mind as some of these songs are rehearsed.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song, and was not used as the music for a Psalm. Since I typically only sing these songs about once a year, I had forgot this one. It was written in the spring of 2009, before I had started the marathon effort to put all of the Psalms to the music of my songs. Looking back, this song was kind of a future looking reflection on what was going to happen: “Hear my words, I want to talk with you, my son, To teach you what to do. Words are sounds or they are written symbols sharing meaning, which can guide you, if you listen to the words. Words are heard or they are read, and by my spirit, you will understand the meaning of my words. It is my voice which speaks to you, and by my power you can read the words of life and testify. Recognize the words you think you hear, as though they come from mine own mouth, teaching you what to do.” In looking for an image which carried this message I came across some images of a Nottingham Country Ward Christmas Party. For several years, the Ward build ancient Jerusalem in the gym, and included was a replica of a manger, representing where the Savior was born. This simple photo captures this concept of the answer to a prayer, at least in my mind, and is why I selected it.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 75 and is referenced in Song146 – The Dance. This is a fun song. I enjoy singing it in Primary Sharing Time. We will get those whose birthdays have happened, and then at least one chorus will use their name. They feel like the song was written for them. The teachers grimace when I sing about “an annual remembrance of our Mother’s pain, helps us to dance through our lows and our gains.” In fact, they grimace when I sing “As time passes by, our birthdays will fly, with times low and high, we’ll prepare for when we die.” There is usually a little smile when I sing “It’s best if we enjoy each day of our life, forgetting the broken toy, and not worrying about future strife.” After all, “Today’s Taylor’s Birthday, today is the day, Today’s Taylor’s birthday, today she turns _____” (Can you believe Taylor was ever five years old?). In fact, can you believe I was ever five years old? It is fun to sing, and fun to watch how others react to, relate to, and enjoy the rhythm, beat, and even the words and the singing. I recall at one Grandkid’s Summer Science Camp Ben saying how much better his song (see Song 013) is than everyone else’s, because it is strummed and has a beat like this song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 117 – Andrea, and was used as the music for Psalm 90. The photo to the left was taken on February 20th, 2009, about 3 months after this song was written. I selected it because the out of focus camera giggle captures the images I see “in my heart,” or if you will “in my dreams.” To reinforce what was written in the description of Song 147 – Andrea My Love, check out the following rhyming: 1. friend, end, bend, mend, then; 2. example, sample, ample, trample, gamble; and 3. work, lurk, jerk quirks, and shirk. Themes include friendship, example, and working together. I do not know where the songs come from. I do not know what triggers the thoughts. I do not know why I have a desire to write down what comes to (is planted in) my mind. I do not understand the creative process. I have been accused of being creative. I think there is evidence to support the accusation. I have wondered if it has to do with being thrown off of a horse when he stopped for a barbwire fence, I went over his head, and landed on a volcanic rock. I was about 5, after the horse was spooked by a snake or something out at Calf Springs Ranch. Uncle Glenn and Aunt Connie drove me to the Cedar City Hospital, where I woke up, drank a glass of orange juice, went back to sleep for the night, and woke up the next morning at home. I remember Grandpa Hafen giving me a bad time about not having held the horse reigns close enough and losing control. I have wondered if it had to do with the horse I broke, who would often run away with me. Once someone closed the gate into the feed yard, the horse hit it at full gallop, threw his head back, broke my glasses, which resulted in half-a-dozen stiches in my eyebrow. Another time I was on him bareback, and he took off to the north, stopped suddenly when he saw the 8-foot-tall cement barrier at the granary, I went over his head and landed on my head. Steve Lovell (Song 357) was changing the water and watched the whole episode. He ran over, and as I got up, he said “You sure must have a hard head.” I consider this to be one of the blessings that plants a song in my heart.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 117 – Andrea and Song 148 – A song in My Heart, and it provided the music for Psalm 84. The photo of Andrea in front of our Prius was taken on September 22nd, 2008 in the 1307 Emerald Green driveway. The extended version shows Halle, Taylor, Colby, and Melanie, who had evacuated from Vidor to our house, because of hurricane Ike. This photo of Andrea was taken 11 days after I wrote this song. A lot of my songs have a theme or two running through them, with 4 lines per verse, where many of the lines end with rhyming words. Sometimes the meaning of a verse gets skewed because of the effort to find rhyming works. This song kind of fits this mold. “Glove” and “above” rhyme with “love.” “Long” rhymes with “song.” “Shoes” rhymes with “you.” “Last” rhymes with “glass” and “fast.” “Around” rhymes with “pound.” “Blue” and “true” rhyme with “you.” The themes include protective clothing, like “a glove” and “shoes,” and the basis of living: “life,” “walking through broken glass,” “my heart pounds,” “know it beats for you,” and “know it’s true.” I have sung this a couple of times for friends, and it gets a laugh. I like it, and like all of my songs, it expresses what is in my heart.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 41. I miss the days when Melanie and her family would come over to 1307 Emerald Green on a Sunday afternoon and we would talk, or listen to the Grandkids play the flutes, or I would write a song. A song like Song 150 – Taylor’s Birthday, Halle’s Song 349 – The Graceful Swan, or this song. In this case, the girls were blowing on the flutes, driving everyone but me crazy, and started to dance around. I started to play a guitar chord progression: G C D G, and Colby picked up on the same progression on the piano. Pretty soon we had a lot of noise, with a couple of girls dancing all over the place. This song is kind of unique, because we actually captured a video of Colby on the piano, Taylor dancing, Halle sitting on Melanie’s lap, and me playing the guitar and singing the song we wrote just a few minutes after it happened. With more and more improving computer technology, it is obvious to me that in the future more of these special family moments will be captured, stored, cataloged, and be available for review by participants and loved ones. I look forward to any movies the Grandkids want to forward to me. Ethan has created a couple of very creative movies. I’m not into bashing watermelons, and I thought his move with a girlfriend, reflecting when his Dad had a girlfriend, was very creative and very well done. Hopefully when we go to Ft. Collins in a few weeks we will be able to see his R2-D2 perform “The Dance.”
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. It is one of my idealistic songs, like Song 081 – Vision, Song 090 – Deseret, and Song 100 – Zion. As I say in Verse 1 of this song: “All I want to do is change the world, To make a better place for boys and girls, Especially for my children and their kids, A safe place for them to grow and find their roots.” I love geology and the patterns which are formed by geology. I envision geology extending out of the ground, with space-frame technologies creating the framework, creating the cities of the future. I can see housing units along this framework, with weather proof places for trees, flowers, and birds. Cedar City is one of about 500 cities patterned after Joseph Smith’s City of Zion, with the grid framework providing a 2-D framework for living and nature. I imagine infinitely more complex 3-D environments, which are simple in the sense the cities grown out of existing geology. It only works if people are righteous. Computer networks and communication technologies can be used to model, predict, and protect inhabitants from evil. Sunrise and sunset sweeping across the city with extensive views of painted clouds, positioned to enhance each season. As President Benson taught: “The Lord works from the inside, out. The world works from the outside, in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.” I like to think my ideas and vision for changing the world are not of the world, but of Christ. That the new city framework will provide a way for people to take themselves out of the slums. That working together, the community will lift each other to the Savior, who will change the nature and desires of all the citizens. I admit, I’m utopian. I also know all utopian experiments have failed. I like to believe because I was changed when I found my Savior (Song 087 – The First Prayer), I can change the environment to reflect this change in my life. I am very much attracted to the architectural and urban planning concepts promoted by Paleo Solari, which is why I selected captures from his book, Archology – The City in The Image of Man, for the image and extended image for this song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song and provided the music for Psalm 130. This song is based on Alma 29:1-5. Completely independently, on the 25th of August 2013 (which is 5 years after this song was written on the 31st of July 2008, I wrote Song 354 – O That I Were an Angel, v-2. A key difference is version-2 quotes from Alma 29:1-17, or the entire chapter, and not just the first 5 verses. I loved my mission. It was hard. I learned what Alma was talking about: “Oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people.” (For what it is worth, there is absolutely no way a 23-year-old uneducated farm boy from upstate New York could have written these inspiring words! I testify Joseph Smith translated the words of one much more experienced, just as he claimed he did.) I shudder to think what would have happened to the rest of my life if I had stayed at the University of Utah and not gone on a mission. As a shy, introverted, poorly spoken farm-boy from Southern Utah, I can look back across all of the education, graduate school, travel, professional training, public speaking, guitar performance, etc. opportunities of my life, and NOTHING taught me as much about things important to living life and interacting with people as did serving a mission for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I remember how disappointed I was when I opened my mission call. I was being sent to England. I was convinced I failed the language test. Maybe I did, and maybe I learned some of “the King’s English.” Later, I realized I was in the last group of 27 missionaries called to The British Mission, the first foreign mission of the church. By the time we reported to London, the mission name changed to The England East Mission. I worked hard on my mission. I struggled with companions, whom I was later told were mentally ill. I had 21 companions. I trained a lot of green missionaries. My mission was difficult. My Mission President was disfellowshipped from the church because of things that happened while I was serving under him. At one mission conference, where he had lectured us for an extended period of time, he asked for the missionaries to sustain something. I did not, and I might have been the only one who raised my had expressing my convictions. It has been long enough ago I do not remember the details. I worked with several missionaries who left the church because of the “stuff” that happened. I wish they would not have had to go through this trial of their faith. “But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish, for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 83. After getting laid off at Geokinetics, I started to spend more time working with Dr. Richard Lee Coons (Dick). He had several prospects I had attempted to sell. Dynamic Oil & Gas Corporation was started with Roger Anderson, Larry Cathles, Ed Story, and Eddy Rogers in 1991, and it did not get traction. After leaving Continuum Resources in December of 2000, I started Dynamic Resources Corporation on the 16th of January in 2001. Dick and I had known each other since he was Forest Oil’s representative to The Seismic Acoustics Lab at the University of Houston. When I got laid off, Dick told me I needed to meet Dr. John Doran. John was the founder of Roc Oil in Sydney, Australia. I don’t remember if I had airline miles, or if Dick provided airline miles. I do remember John was going to be in London, and Dick insisted I go see him. So I took Andrea and we went to London. The experience was almost a disaster. I could not get my cell phone, which I think was a Blackberry in those day, to work in London. We could not contact John. The plane was late. We missed our appointment. We finally got the cell phone fixed, connected and arranged to meet for dinner. I had invited a friend, a reservoir engineer named Bill Bosler, who was living and working in Russia to join us. There was a real interpersonal chemistry between John Doran and myself, and we both wanted to seal a deal. When we met the next day, it was hard to tell who was selling who. John hired me on the spot to meet his team, and sent me to China and to Sydney. Great trip! He paid for Andrea and I to go to Florence to the EAGE (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers). Dr. Jim Siebert joined us in Helsinki, and we started our relationship with Vaisala. John and I agreed on the terms of a deal. I would work for Roc Oil for 10 years, and Roc would invest up to $500 million in Dynamic Resource’s TMI’s (Technologies of Mutual Interest) and AMI’s (Areas of Mutual Interest). We finalized and signed a Letter of Agreement. John worked all night, went for a walk along the Sydney Harbor, and had a heart attack. Within 2 weeks the Board of Directors at Roc Oil had cancelled our agreement. John and I were kindred spirits, and this was devastating to lose an excellent mind who caught the vision of what I have spent years developing and working on.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. There were a lot of changes in our life in 2008. This is the year we started Dynamic Measurement LLC. The song was written for Andrea and my 9th Wedding Anniversary. Matt had always been interested in the military, joined the National Guard, and went to war in Iraq. This is why his boot camp graduation photo is shown to the left. Audrey and Joshua had married and had their first daughter, Sophia, by 2008. We bought our Prius, which as I write this in May of 2018 has 216,831 miles on the odometer. I got laid off from Geophysical Development Corporation / Geokinetics. We had a lot of problems at 1307 Emerald Green, and had to replace the shower, Andrea had a clear glass shower door put in, we hired a contractor to replace the siding with hardy planks, and we replaced all of the windows with double glazed non-filled window panes. The first of the Marvel Comics came to movies with Transformers and Iron Man, further blurring the boundary between virtual worlds and real life. “Change is in the air, Transitions everywhere, Scary, hard to bare, No one seems to care, Life does not seem fair, Even impacts our lair, To comprehend we stare.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 135. The photo is of a Primary Program at The Nottingham Country Ward Christmas Party on the 14th of December 2007, which was 18 days before this song was written on the 1st of January 2008. We do a lot of things in life, which fade from our memory. However, when I write a song about something that has happened in my life, I find I am back in the moment as I sing the words. I might forget Thor & Christian Larson, Grace Harlan, Grant (I can’t remember his last name), Madison Graham, Andrea Spruell, Rachel , Bethany Gillet, Brandon Scott McKelvey, Charlotte (I can’t remember her last name, but I remember she lived next to Dick Coons, and her parents said she had a hard time moving to California because she loved my Primary Class), or Jose (forgot his last name too). I remember Grant and Charlotte and Jose, just not their last names. I remember what they looked like. I remember interacting with them in class. I can write something much longer than this description about each of the kids in Our Class. For instance, Brandon McKelvey got baptized, even though his Dad was not a member. His Dad worked for Shell as a geophysicist, and they moved to Nigeria to work for Shell. Scott’s baptism was very special for me.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. As already mentioned in the description of Song 015 – Little Girls, Melanie once explained, “Dad likes Jared, but he love’s Jared’s family.” A highlight of living in Houston was driving over to Vidor to be with Melanie’s family and with Jared’s family. On the 15th of December, 2007 I captured one of these visits in this song about Colby’s antics. A few weeks earlier we drove to Vidor to spend Thanksgiving with Melanie and her family. Of course, this meant we were going to be spending time with Jared’s extended family, which sometimes means 200 folks. It is just like a Nelson Reunion. First, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Wright’s house, where the grandkids were watching television. Soon it was time for the feast, and we all went to a private re center one of the family built for this kind of family get togethers. I had no idea the Wright Family ha such a place. It did not take long for Colby to get bored sitting around inside. So he went outside to play. He found a big yellow plastic tube he could climb in. It did not take very long for him to realize you could roll the tube up the hill and it would roll back down. Also, you could climb into the tube at the top of the hill, and roll down inside of the tube. The video captures the moment I attempted to capture in the song. What a blast watching Colby and his cousins having a blast!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 112 – Reckless and the music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I have a temper. I remember catching a small cat once, putting it in a cage, feeding it, and attempting to domesticate it. I would normally hold the cat with gloves. One day, I took of the gloves to pet the cat. It turned real quick and bit me. I threw it on the cement floor of the garage and killed it. The fact I am sharing this, says I still fill very bad about losing my temper and killing this cat in an angry rage. This is by far my worst example of losing my temper. Typically, I have yelled when I lose my temper. I am much better now than in the past. It is still possible for someone to goad me until I get mad. They have to be trying very hard to illicit a reaction. It is hard to believe we can tell someone “I love you so” and “talk of when we would walk together, hand in hand together, happy,” and still recall “the ugly night we had to fight, how I got all uptight, even in spite of my love for you.” I do not remember going to a picnic site or on a mountain side with any girlfriend. So maybe this song is all imagination, including the fight. Maybe it was a foretelling of what happened too often with Marti and my six kids. Once is too often, even if this type of behavior was so well modeled in my family of origin. Hopefully I have learned from these mistakes, and hopefully have not destroyed the lives of those I do love. If I have not learned, or if I have destroyed the lives of any of those I love, I take full responsibility. As Lehi said: “But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it. Wherefore, if ye are cursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the cursing may be taken from you and answered upon the heads of your parents. Wherefore, because of blessing the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish wherefore, he will be merciful unto you and unto your seed forever” (2 Nephi 4:5-7).
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. When light from the sun passes through the atmosphere on a clear day, the longer wavelengths (red, orange, and yellow) are absorbed by the water in the atmosphere. This is the same as in water in a lake or the ocean. So, shorter blue wavelengths of light make it to our eyes. During sunrise and sunset, light rays have to ravel through more atmosphere, because they are close to the horizon. The shorter wavelengths are then scattered, and the longer red wavelengths enter into our eyes. However, it is not the science that excites us, it is the beauty. When we see a pretty sunrise, we want to share it with someone we care about. And typically, the real beauty only lasts for a few minutes. If a loved one has left for some reason, my instinct is to want to share the beauty with them, to believe if they saw what we see, they would be as happy as we are. “It’s just not the same, when I call out your name, no one answers my cry, except a still, hush sigh.” And then we can see the beauty repeat, though it looks different each time, as the sun sets in the west, and “I wish you were here to see another day pass.” I don’t care much for the music for some of these old songs. Maybe it is because I can not remember or can not reconstruct the music based on the guitar chords written down. However, the words seem to capture meaningful concepts which are valid across the years. The photo to the left is of a sunrise, and the extended photo, when you click on this photo, is of a sunset.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I enjoy thinking about holography. I have some books on the topic. They expand on the three-dimensional visualization possible with laser holography to include many other aspects of life. The basic idea with the holography I have worked with is you illuminate a 3-D scene with a laser, and then record the interference of the reflected laser light with the original laser light. This interference pattern recorded on a piece of film is called a hologram, and mathematically it is equivalent to taking data and running it through a Fourier Transform. The image to the left is a photo of the first hologram ever made with a laser using the off axis technique. The thing so interesting to me about the hologram is you can cut the film in pieces, and the entire image can be reconstructed from each piece of film. The resolution of the display does degrade if the pieces of film are too small. Geology is fractal, and we see the same patterns of erosion with a small sand fan on our driveway as we see with a large sand fan at the base of a mountain canyon. What do these thoughts have to do with this song? The words describe how “life seems to get harder as the days go by.” This is like fractal geology or a piece of a hologram. The things we experience and learn in our youth are the same things we philosophize about when we get old. “What makes me think life will turn out? Am I just an optimistic fool?” I expect the words about rent were from my imagination. Yet today I struggle financially because Dynamic Measurement has not made as many sales as expected. I have no idea what the words about my Mom and “having a brother that died” are about. And back before 1970 “life still went on, for my dog and I.” After all, others “wrote their song, and so will I. and life will go on, as the days pass by.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. There wasn’t a beach in Cedar City or Salt Lake, other than the beach at Rush Lake. The sand there is definitely not good beach sand. Obviously when I wrote this I wanted to get outside. Even if outside meant being in the streets. Someone was pouting, me or one of my few girlfriends (see Song 131 – How Do You Show a Girl). Obviously I like to hold hands (see Song 103 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand). I wanted to take a walk ( see Song 130 – Take a Walk). I am always being accused of being sad and down. Here I am attempting to cheer someone up, telling them “There is not need to be sad and down, no reason to frown, life is great, we can not hate, we need to be like the dove, and learn to love everyone.” Maybe the purpose of these songs is to remind me to be happy, to smile, and to be positive with everyone I interact with. When you spend most of your time in front of the computer thinking about and working on new things, it is easy to miss what is going on outside. Especially when one of those perfect Southern Utah days slips in, and I am so busy working at my computer I don’t even notice it. Oh well! I can always let my mind float back in time and space to 03 November 2009 when all 10 kids gave me a surprise 60th birthday party at 1307 Emerald Green in Houston. The photo to the left reminds me of the joy of that weekend. I remember Dr. Fred Hilterman telling me Melanie was just as tenacious as I was, when I worked for him at the University of Houston, when getting him to write one of the 60 summaries of what I have meant to others. What a day!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. Can you believe health care costs were an issue before 1970 when this song was written? I do not know who Dr. B. was. It might have been Dr. Broadbent. It might have been Dr. McFarlane, who x-rayed my foot when Ken Iowami cracked it when the Phi Sigma Kai pledges captured him at Bailiff Hall for what the Fraternity called a “sneak.” If we, as pledges, were able to capture and keep an Active member of the fraternity for 24 hours, without the Actives finding him, giving clues each hour, they owed the Pledges a party. We recorded our clues at the airport, and different places with unique sounds around Salt Lake City, then the plan was to play them each hour over the phone from where Ray Gardner lived, about a block from the frat house. The clues were on greased flag poles, at the airport, at Bingham Copper Mine, and we had Ken at a campsite up one of the canyons. It was a great plan, and it didn’t work because Dr. Hintze, where Ray stayed his first year at the “U,” told us to stop using the phone to play recordings. I ended up having to do a lot of push-ups with a cracked foot. Oh well! I’m not sure how “Dr. McFarlane” translates to “Dr. B.” It is mostly likely “Dr. B.” was the old Doctor who sent x-rays through my face regularly to theoretically treat the big boils and zits I had on my face. I became good friends with some of the Air West reservation agents. I would regularly fly to Salt Lake to get this x-ray treatment. I got to know some of the reservation agents over the phone and would call and talk to them for extended periods of time when getting flight arrangements. I’m surprised I have not had thyroid or other problems because of all the x-rays I was given as a youth. I know between the allergy shots and the visits to dermatologists; health care costs were a problem for Mom and Dad. Money was certainly something they fought about. So, it makes some sense I wrote a negative song about “old Dr. B.” And it seems logical to use a couple of views of the old Cedar City hospital, where I was born and where I had my appendix out when I was a child, as the photo for this song. This building is now the headquarters for The Leavitt Group, which Mom played a role in creating as Dixie Leavitt’s secretary and assistant for much of the 1960’s.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. “Look around, see the sound, can’t you hear, the sight of fear.” This shows I had a tendency to mix up the senses early on. This was later captured in Song 012 – A Lullaby, where I wrote “Your lips so tender and so soft, will see much before you grow too tall, of life and different ways to live, of a true love and all it can give.” Maybe this tendency to not recognize what senses are doing what is part of what makes me think differently than most folks around me. “As you walk along the blinding sound drowns out the sights you can not hear, and you wonder if it had to be this way, or if you really choose.” Must have had philosophy classes at the “U” about free will and predeterminism about the time I was writing this. And the course is modified with, “So you look around to see the sound, not sure to hear the sights of fear.” Then there are words which imply classes exploring whether life is just evolutionary chance or if there is a master designer, namely: “That surround the world and all it offers you as you slowly grow, you wonder if the world was made for you or are you just per chance.” When someone thinks deeply, it can be very frightful, and can cause tears of fear: “So look around, your thoughts abound, it seems so near, that touching tear, that falls across your cheek, as you try to comprehend the reasons why.” Each of us has the opportunity to explore these kinds of thoughts. Most do not delve deeply, and so they do not recognize: “And you look around, your eyes to the ground, seeking truth and wanting proof, what to believe, and what to doubt.” Only makes sense for the photo accompanying these words to be about seeing sound.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. “You wonder where I’m running to as I search for something to believe in, I don’t really know, but I’m sure it’s there, if only I can find it.” This song was written before my mission to England. I was interested in philosophy during my first two years at the University of Utah, the “U”. Reading the words, it seems to fit a class I took about William James and his relativistic philosophy of, if it feels good it is true. “You tell me not to run, through the darkness that surrounds us, and yet you know I will not stop, until I’ve found what’s true to me.” Over time my preference has gravitated to a more absolutistic approach of eternal truths and eternal laws. “So you promise to be mine, and help me search for what is true, yet as I find a truth, I share it and find you do not agree.” Allowing for the free agency of others to not believe what we believe is a very hard part of life. “Life is rough, and we must decide where to place our values, so I watch you run away to search for your own light to stab through the darkness.” I was a kid. I was thinking through things. It is almost as though I was pre-seeing what Marti was going to choose to do, though I doubt I knew Marti when I wrote these words. Hopefully a grandchild, or one of their grandchildren, will find value in the struggles in my mind captured in this early “song.” Maybe they will just laugh at the two selfies taken on a run when 68 years old.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I do not know who this song was written for either (see Song 131 – How Do You Show a Girl for candidates). It was written before 1970 and was probably written after Song 131. Again, the words seem as applicable today as they must have seemed when they were written. “Woke up to a dream the other day.” You are so sweet and so beautiful.” “There were lots of things I wanted to do before meeting someone like you.” “I wasn’t going to let one girl keep me from exploring the world.” “I’m not going to make you leave me, together we’ll both be free, I’ll take you, you wonderful girl, and together we will explore the world.” I choose to think the words were written or Andrea (at least unconsciously and across a long-time window). And I think the photo to the left, and the extended view, which comes up when you click on this photo, showing Andrea enjoying the beauty of Taylor Creek up Kolob Canyon, illustrates we are exploring the world together.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was provided the music for Psalm 17. Even though I wrote this song a long time ago, for someone I don’t remember who, I like it. I have not had really had that many relationships or desired relationships with girls. When I was in college I remember asking 32 different girls out for a date to a Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity Party, and I remember being turned down 32 times. To be fair, in those days I had really bad zits, more like boils, all over the sides of my face. I’m sure I did not ask with confidence, and so my fears were achieved. Happens to all of us: what we fear is what happens to us.
I think my first crush was Marilyn Reese. She was born on the same day I was. We did a tap dance together in green sparkly outfits. Somehow, I knew she came with someone to the Meat Packing Plant, and I walked my bicycle down to the back of Grandma’s house through the fields so she wouldn’t see me ride down the road and think I was spying on her. This had to have been before fifth grade, when I got glasses, because I could not see that far. Dad asked me why I walked my bike through the fields and some of the guys working for him gave me a bad time because they put 2 and 2 together.
I remember having a crush on Danielle Blake. I put a pencil in her locker in 6th grade, with what I would now call a bobble-head on top of it to tell her I liked her. Do not think I ever told her. She later married Dale Hatch, who was the piano player in The Keynotes (see Song 103 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand).
I remember Marnie Sorenson, of Gunnison, Utah, liked me a lot. She was on the Board of the Utah Junior Hereford Association with me. I remember visiting her with Uncle Glenn at her Dad’s place in Gunnison. She was always with me. I had to run off into a corn field to take a pee. Was too embarrassed to tell her I needed to go. We went to Kansas City to the National Convention together with Uncle Glenn. He was not a very good chaperone.
I always considered Jill Leonard to be my first girlfriend. She broke my heart in 9th grade when she went to a dance with someone older, and I realized she did not like me like I liked her. Her Mom was a nurse, and gave me allergy shots in my butt once a week all through Junior High School and High School. The last time I saw Mrs. Platt (she remarried after her husband died), she made a comment about how beautiful of children Jill and I would have made.
I definitely had a crush on Heidi Hanson. I remember Dad driving down to the big field to the northeast of the Lower Plant, the east side of where the pivot is now, to ask me what I was doing. I was writing H H + R N with the plow, before plowing the field, so it could be seen from Hughs Airwest flights overhead. I do not think I ever went on a date with Heidi. We did stay with her and her family on one of our trips across Texas. Andrea and I became friends with her brother Todd Hansen, who was the Mission President in Houston, and later a 70 General Authority.
I had a crush on Brenda Waters. We went see “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” at Cedar Theater. One of the few movies I’ve ever gone to twice. Brenda had a brother who had epileptic fits and would get in whistling competitions with others. She was so embarrassed by this, and decided she could not go out with me because of her brother. Never understood her logic.
I dated Ellen Green (Sharon’s sister, who is now my cousin Paul Winters Nelson’s wife) in High School. Once I needed to pick up something which I thought was down in back of the Lower Plant. I did not think anything about the smell and the carcasses and the bleached skulls and the broken-down building. As I looked over at Ellen, I thought she was going to throw up. She did not want to go on dates with me after that.
In Corvallis, I met Linda Hill from Ponca City, Oklahoma. I left my allergy medicine at her relative’s place in Corvallis, and she sent it back to me in the mail. The Post Office took their time to deliver it, along with a note saying they had checked it out to make sure it was really allergy medicine. Once when I drove Mom across the U.S. we stopped in Ponca City and Linda and I went out for an evening. This was well before e-mail, and we never connected after this.
One of my Fraternity Brothers was Ken Iowami. His sister, Judy, was a cheerleader at the U. We went on a couple of dates. I took her to Roice Nelson Krueger’s party when he returned from his mission to Japan. I remember Roice asked her something in Japanese, and she could not answer him. She only spoke English.
I also met Robyn Baker in Corvallis. She went to the University of Utah, and we dated steadily during my second year at the University. Ray Gardner and I shared a room in the basement at the Fraternity House, and when Robyn and I were down there we could hear Frat Brothers sneak down the stairs to spy on us. I wrote her a note and told her to scream and say something like get away, to punk whoever was listening. Robyn wrote me a “Dear Roice” letter telling me she was engaged when I was on my mission.
Riley Skeen and I spent time with some girls when we were roommates in Denver. I sent Christmas Cards to one of these girls up until a couple of years ago. I think she lived in Minnesota. I remember jumping over parking meters an entire block in downtown Denver one night when we were with these girls.
Andrea was our only groupie when we had The Keynotes and The Mydnight Hour from 1964-1968. I distinctly remember quickly turning the corner to come up the steps from the TV room at the Shirts house on 580 West and finding myself staring into Andrea’s eyes. She is 5 years younger than me, and so there was never a consideration of dating her. However, when we re-met the evening of Randy and my 30th High School Class Reunion, I recalled the connection, and I’m sure it was part of why I called to ask if she wanted to go on a date with me. The rest is history. And I find it interesting how I am still attempting to answer the questions in this song, which was certainly written for one of the twelve girls named above. The photo to the left shows Andrea and I at Cove Fort, Utah. The extended version of this image shows Chris and Jennifer Singfield and Andrea and myself were posing for this photo. We spent several days with the Singfields looking at Southern Utah sites when they came to visit us. As I look back I think Chris and I were attempting to answer the questions posed by this song. And this is at least 35 years after the words were first written down. And neither Chris nor I, nor our girlfriends looked like we did 35 years earlier. Oh well! The more thing change, the more they stay the same.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I love nature. I love to be in nature. I love to take a walk. I love to listen to nature talk. I love to be alone with myself and with God. I love the song of a Meadow Lark. I love to meditate. I love to watch deer running through the thickets. I love to see a flock of morning doves. I love to watch squirrels run and flowers bloom (see Song 26 – Spring). I love to sit by a still small lake and see myself in the clear reflection as the lake looks up at me. I love to fish. I love to lie in the clover and to watch the sun sink and turn the sky and clouds pink (see Song 92 – Sunrise). I love to pray, and to thank Him for all I have. I love to be alone with myself and with God. And to think, I knew all of this before 1970. The photo to the left shows a desolate landscape at the top of the Hurricane Mesa just outside of Virgin, Utah. Andrea and I went here with the rock club to look for petrified wood in the Chinle Formation. Interestingly enough, I found the same type of petrified wood in the same Chinle Formation right next to the Cedar City golf course and SUU’s Thunderbird Gardens some 50 miles north of the Hurricane Mesa a few weeks later. There are nice examples of this petrified wood among the rocks outside my office window.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced in the description of Song 107 – The Missionaries. The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I remember thinking this song was hokey. I have not been excited about recording these songs written before 1970 (as well as some of the others). Oh well! If I’m going to become completely digital, the hokey and the sad need to reside with the better and the glad. I was surprised when I recorded the song, I kind of liked it. It had to have been written about Lyn’s Market in Cedar City, Utah. And so it was only logical I went back to Lyn’s, at least 48 years later, and take a photo of what the grocery store looks like now, as is shown to the right. The song is about mirrors. Real mirrors help us see exactly what is in the reflection. Two-way mirrors tend to give distorted images, and those looking through these mirrors also get a distorted view of us. I find it fascinating that 48+ years after writing these words Lyn’s has no mirrors (at least like they used to have). And, of course, the mirrors are simply a way to describe the process of self-evaluation: looking for faults; listening to some of the others too willing to give us advice; seeing people peering at us and attempting to run our life when they do not run their own life very well; then seeing and recognizing the hypocrites, and those who strive to live the golden rule. Tomorrow there is hope, let the supermarket teach us life.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This Song is referenced by Song 112 – Reckless and provides the music for Psalm 15. The theme of this song is Christ’s birth. April 6th, 1830 was the date The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized. D&C 20:1 states this date is “one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Flesh.” Thus, this date is generally accepted as the birthday of Jesus by members of the LDS church. Our Savior’s birth is the hidden message behind this song. The painting to the left was made in 1306 AD and is titled “Adoration of the Magi” by Giotto. The painting is a fresco (200 x 185 cm) located in the Scrovegni Chapel, also known as the Arena Chapel, which is a church in Padua, Veneto, Italy. The work is linked to Matthew 2:11. The comet in the sky is probably Halley’s Comet, which Giotto may have seen when it passed Earth in 1301. When you look at the art masterpieces across the ages, it is amazing how many are about “The Adoration of …”. It is not part of our lives to realize while we are living the things which come from the seeds we plant. Rather, it is in the Lord’s hands, especially if we are striving our best to follow the directions of His spirit and The Holy Ghost.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 60. I really enjoyed our two trips to St. Louis to visit Paul and his family. The grandkids were at the perfect age. Paul had fun activities planned for us. The City Museum was fabulous. It was so much fun watching Grant lead his Dad through the maze of tunnels and literally climb through the air from an airplane wing to another building through a tube of wire, as shown to the left. Note the red circle identifies Grant Matthew Nelson. Then there were the times at the house. They had a hammock strung up in one room, and when Grant got in the hammock, Paul would swing him from the ceiling on one side to the ceiling on the other side. Grant loved it, and so did everyone else watching the antics. Grant wanted to study ants in those days. I think he mostly was intoxicated with the sound of the word “myrmecologist.” Hard to believe I can remember when Grant was riding a plastic 4-wheeler. After all, he is 16 years old and taller than me now. It has been so much fun catching snapshots of the excitement of collecting roly-polies, to the excitement of fishing, to the excitement of his cello, to the excitement of Lego robots, to the excitement of driving, to someone who works and is interested in money and girls and cars. Reminds me of someone else I know (see Song 096 – The Problems of Youth).
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 59. Since there are now over 400 of these Songs and Psalms, if I sing one to myself every morning, it means there is over a year gap between when I sing each song. As I learned how to use my smart phone to make a trial recording of the songs, when I record them I make sure I remember the tune, then I sing through the song and attempt to record it on the first take. I feel the words and tunes for many of these songs are planted in my head. It is like I faintly hear future performances and capture those performances as a Songs or Psalms. There are often a lot of emotions tied up in the words and the music. A result, like in this recording of this song, is the emotions overwhelm the recording. In the spirit of “one take” I have posted many of these emotional performances. I hope those who listen realize the emotions are because I love my family – my parents, my children, my grandparents, my grandchildren – and I have posted the “first takes” because I feel they show an added dimension of this love and this concern and this hope for goodness in loved one’s lives. The words to this song are pretty straight forward. I put Ella’s wrists in a plastic locking ring, and it pinched her skin. That’s not very smart. Verse 2 imagines when she goes out to play and does something not very smart. Verse 3 images choices as a teenager, which choices might not be very smart. And verse 4 imagines when she points out to her children things they do which things are not very smart. There are times when we all make choices that are not so smart.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced in the description of Song 118 – A Song of My Beloved. The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. I do not remember when I first read “Walden and Civil Disobedience.” I have a 1980 publication, which I have read several times and marked up extensively. The writings of Henry David Thoreau have had a big impact on me. I remember when Landmark sent me to Lake Tahoe to attend the Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics Annual Review in about 1989. I was struggling with some of the extracurricular activities of some of Landmark’s Management. Also, new shares had been issued, and I had said there should be new shares given to the Founders. John Mouton and Andy Hildebrand got the same number of shares, which total was the same as the total number of shares Gene Ennis and I received. However, as I recall Gene received 10,000 more shares than I did, and I was the one who suggested this should happen. As I walked the hills around Lake Tahoe during the breaks and in the evening, I was brooding about this and what to do next. I decided to start a new company, and decided to name the new company after a book I had been outlining for several years about a new kind of three-dimensional city: Walden 3-D. I never have taken time to work on the book since those days. Walden 3-D, Inc. was formed on the 18th of May in 1990. The first part of the name obviously comes from Thoreau’s Walden Pond. The 3-D part of the name was a play on B.F.Skinner’s Utopian novel Walden Two and Paolo Soleri’s Archology, about 3-D cities. There are 26 verses with 43 referenced quotes in the song. I like how the chorus states: “Vibrations ring out in the room, Where I weave songs on my loom [guitar], With threads from before in the womb, Which will echo long past entering the tomb.” I admit, I have a big ego. I do think the things I work on are important. I hope this importance will be recognized, and more important, I hope it will be used to make the world a better place for my descendants [and everyone else].
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm, but it was used as the music for Song 405 – Thrust. The words came from a re-reading of The Old Testament. In Numbers 21:16-17 it tells how the Lord told Moss to gather the people together and he would give them water, and says “Then Israel sang this song, ‘Spring up O well, Sing unto it’.” Then in verse 18 it says “The princes digged the well.” Today when we drill a well, it is with a bit, thus the last line of the chorus: “Following the bit.” Then I searched for other references to wells in the scriptures, and remembered Jacob’s well, where Jesus bore witness he is the Savoir to the Samaritan woman (as recorded in John 4:6-29). The photo to the left is one of many Christian paintings of Jesus at Jacobs Well with the Samaritan woman. This painting was posted on Wikipedia under the title of Jacob’s Well. II Nephi 22:3-5 and Isaiah 12:3-5 talk about “wells of salvation” (verse 3). Doctrine & Covenants 132:6-7 teaches about the new and everlasting covenant of marriage and how this covenant is valid “as well as time and for all eternity” (verse 4). In Abraham 2:25 Abraham tells Sarai what the Lord had told him and what to say so “it may be well with me for thy sake” (verse 5). Then verse 6 talks about today, about being well, about water wells, and in addition about oil & gas wells. When I was getting ready to post this, I did not realize these words had been put together, as I only had the chorus in my notebook. So, I used the music to write another geology song, Song 405 – Thrust, using the same chorus and talking about the definition of thrust faults and how the bit discovers the repeat sections accompanying a thrust fault.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 127. Andrea and I drove to St. Louis from Katy and spent Thanksgiving with Paul and his family in 2005. This is one of three songs I wrote on visits to Paul’s family using a guitar Paul had, early in the mornings before anyone else was awake. The other two songs were written the next summer when we went up and went to Nauvoo with Paul’s family. These songs are Song 126 – Not Very Smart and Song 127 – No Fears. This song is about both Grant and Ella. The other two songs are respectively about Ella and about Grant. I like all three of the songs. I like how the chorus of this song says “Grant and Ella archetypes of what the world can be, when the rising generation grabs the future’s key.” I like how verse one captures the energy I saw: “like a spring that hasn’t sprung, with untapped synergy.” I liked how verse 2 points out they are “arrows in their parent’s quiver, being polished for future use.” I like how the third verse talks about Grant climbing and exploring and Ella cooking marsh mellows on an open fire. I like how each verse ends with “about to change the world we know with energy and with love.” I guess I just like the energy and the message of the song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song, and was used as the music for Psalm 68. The words are from Exodus 15:1-8 and 10-19, where Moses writes “I will sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously.” I then proceed to quote the song, as it is recorded in the scriptures. The words describe how the Lord threw the horse and his rider into the sea, how Pharaoh’s chariots and his host were cast into the sea, how the Lord dashed in pieces his enemies, how fear shall come upon the mighty men of Moab, Canaan, and Palestina, how the Lord made the mountains as a sanctuary, and how the Lord shall reign for ever and ever. When I read about the Israelite escape from Egypt, I always think of the movie “The Ten Commandments.” So, the images to the left are taken from the trailer for Cecil B DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 58. This is actually another of the geology songs, which was not listed in Song 021 – Dunes, because it was based on one of the earlier tunes I started, and did not finish until I was digitizing songs which were in my notebook. The photos to the left show our ongoing transition from Houston 4 years after moving back to Cedar City. There are boxes unpacked and over 100 boxes of history which I intend to get digitized. The four words at the beginning and at the end of this song show it was probably written when one of the kids graduated from college: Transitions; Passages; Graduations; Changes. Then, as the big picture guy, I proceeded to write about the astrophysical, the geological, the biological, and finally daily life. It seems to me the difference between these four areas are time, scale, the elements involved, and our models of each system. Astrophysical changes are unfathomably long. Geological processes are longer than most people can imagine. Biological changes have occurred over time frames going back before Noah’s flood. The only transitions we experience are those tied to our daily life. Astrophysical changes cover unfathomable distances and volumes. Geological are at a scale we can experience, whether in a car or a bathyscaphe or climbing across an outcrop. Biological scales are proportional to human scales and are very easy for us to comprehend. Daily life scales are what we experience and what we are used to interacting with. The elements of the astrophysical, the geological, and the biological are variations of what we experience in daily life and what scientists have measured in the laboratory. The astrophysical models provide a framework for the geological models, which provide a framework for the biological models, which provide a model, seldom mathematical, for our daily lives. Each system goes through transitions.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music for this Song was not used as the music for a Psalm. The image to the left is a merging of the media signpost image from wikimedia.org with a 2017 Grandkids Science Camp photo at Old Iron Town, Utah. The older I get, the more concerned I become about the propagandistic nature of media. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone paints their words and their messages to best present their agenda. As I read over some of these posts, and particularly the things I have written about my divorce, I recognize my agenda of painting myself as not such a bad guy. However, it is a fact, I am a sinner. It is a fact, I always strive to do better. It is a fact, I don’t always achieve this goal. It is a fact, I hope in my Savior to take upon himself my sins, in order for me to become clean enough to be in the presence of God and those I love for eternity. It is a fact, today’s media generally does not share this goal. I am convinced Satan is largely in control of the media, and his goal is to tear families apart and keep us, both individually and as families, from finding eternal life (see John 17:3). The negative words staring up from the newspaper give us pause, descriptions of the latest caper or someone’s important cause, glossy photos designed to guide us and to tempt us, novels leading us to surrender – not knowing what is behind the pen, movies to titillate and feed us Satan’s bait, television eyes watching how we spend our time, sometimes finding we watch shows for which we would not pay a dime, and the Internet being misused by those who are evasive. The positive media needs to provide a new kind of seed, something to sample, a good example, something helping us remember and understand what the scriptures mean, helping us learn to judge the works of men, watching movies that teach us truth (what was, what is, and what will be), helping us to better follow Christ, learning to choose good and to avoid bad from visual poems, creating a new knowledge birth. I fear for my grandchildren and their children (see verse 7 of Song 115 – Enough).
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 70. Christmas 2005 was special. It is the only time since the year after my divorce most of our kids got together with us for Christmas. Christmas was a very big deal for my Mom. She worked very hard making all kinds of candy and cookies and popcorn balls and fancy foods. She would buy Sara and myself wonderful Christmas presents. Then she would invite all of her friends to come out to our home in Cedar Valley on Christmas afternoon to eat and for their children to play with the new toys she had gotten Sara and myself. After my life changing spiritual experience, the summer of 1968 in Corvallis, Oregon (see Song 087 – The First Prayer), I resented the commercialization of Christmas and Mom’s attitude towards Christmas. Yet this “looking beyond the mark” approach to Christmas was ingrained, and I now see it as part of the family traditions of several of our children, obviously learned from me. I always strived to make Christmas very special for our kids. We had lots of presents for them to open. This kind of culminated in 2005 when Ben and Paul and Melanie and their families all came to 1307 Emerald Green Lane and joined with us for a Christmas celebration. I do not remember everyone who was there. I know we had Three Little Men there, as shown in the photo to the left. Since this year we have had very nice Christmas visits with Melanie’s family, Paul’s family, Audrey’s family, and Rachel’s family. We had one Christmas vacation alone in Zion, because everyone was busy or mad at us. Since 2005 we have not had several of our children and their families get together with us at one time at Christmas time. Maybe it is because I pushed too much religion and genealogy at this Christmas party in 2005. Maybe it is because kids go their own way after a certain age. Maybe it is because of divorces. Maybe it is because of Satan’s influence. Maybe I won’t really understand or know until after death and I am on the other side of the veil. The good news is we did have this one special Christmas, with Grandsons from 3 families together, full of anticipation.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. The words come directly from II Nephi 15 or Isaiah 5. The music is based on a guitar chord progression for Johann Pachelbel’s Cannon in D. The image and extended image are from youtube, where Cannon in D is shared. This music, since it was not original, was not used as the music for a Psalm. Since I only sing each Song or Psalm about once a year, when I recorded this song I realized how much I like the music and the message, even though it is 3 pages of text and 11 minutes and 42 seconds of music. I am convinced early people – hundreds or thousands of years before tape recorders, cassette players, i-Pods, cell phones, and the rest – memorized and shared the messages of the prophets and the stories of their families and clans via song. I am equally convinced modern people have lost track of the important messages of the scriptures and the prophets and key stories of their families and ancestors because they are distracted by the ability to have recorded music available anytime and anyplace. As Henry David Thoreau so wisely stated over 130 years ago: “Even music may be intoxicating” (see Walden and Civil Disobedience, Penguin Books Canada Limited, 1980, p. 147 and Song 125 – Ode to Henry Thoreau).
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 56. This is the third of six love songs I have written for Andrea and posted, so far (for the others see Song 010 – Patterns, Song 041 – A Love Song for Andrea, Song 147 – Andrea My Love, Song 148 – A Song in My Heart, and Song 353 – New Wood Floors). I like each of each song and gave digital copies of the songs to Andrea at Christmas last year. Genesis 2:18, Moses 3:18, and Abraham 5:14 teach “it is not good that the man should be alone.” I testify this is true! Depending on when one says Marti checked out of our marriage (when she first threatened divorce in about 1990, when I gave her more space and went to work at BEG (The Bureau of Economic Geology in Austin, TX) about 1995, or when the divorce was finalized in 1997), there is no question but that I was at my worst during these years. I did not have the tools nor know how to emotionally handle the “bust” in Celestial Kingdom or Bust. I was too proud to seek professional or spiritual help. I did go to a counselor to see if it would help. It didn’t. Then after the divorce, I went through PAIRS with Dr. White, and it did help a lot. I felt it was too little too late. And then Andrea came into my life, and she became my light and my joy. Because she has her own insecurities and struggles and recovery issues tied to her divorce she sometimes does not see how she fulfills me. She is very aggressively out to prove her worth, doing things she doesn’t need to do. And with all of this she makes our home a heaven and lifts me. As the new Relief Society President of Hillcrest Ward, it seems there is nothing she can not do. It just takes time for completion. Andrea is a great cook, and she shows me daily why it would not be good for me to be alone. She is leading the way back to Heavenly Father’s home for all who will listen and learn from her. This is why I selected the photo of all of us who were at Audrey and Joshua’s wedding as the image for this song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 55. Four months after writing Song 115 – Enough in February of 2005 about my ancestors, I wrote this song about children. Verse 4 mentions “children love to go to the park,” and this brings to mind when Roice and Ben and I would hike to the park at the end of Lockmore Lane, our second house in Dallas. Other than this line, this song is not written about my children. Rather, the song is an observation of children in general. Maybe I wrote this because of years teaching primary and Sunday School. Maybe it was because Matt graduated from High School about this time in 2005, and we were no longer going to have children in our home. Whatever the origins, there are interesting truths: “Children are an inheritance of the Lord;” children “bring to us lasting joy;” “Creating a great fuss, whether girl of boy;” “Children cannot lie, though they’re often good at hiding the truth;” “Children want everything;” “Children are full of light, trailing clouds of glory from before;” “Children are sometimes very bright, teaching the rest of us new types of lore;” “Children carry the iniquities of their fathers in their minds and family traditions;” and “Children know the love of their mothers.” The line about being afraid of the dark and imaging demons underneath the bed, seem to relate to Disney/Pixar’s movie: Monsters, Inc. So, what better photo to use than children playing in the pool at 1307 Emerald Green Lane. This picture appears to be of Grant (who seems to be jumping into his skin in this panorama photo), Ella, and Paul.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 109. This song was written about my extended family. It starts with Bengt Nelson (1834-1919) and Ellen Johnson (1835-1910), who joined the church in Sweden and immigrated to Utah, settling in Cedar City in the 1850’s. Their oldest child was Bengt Nelson, Jr. (1860-1926) who married Sarah Catherine Hunter (1867-1950) and lived in the 1880’s. Their son, Roice Bengt Nelson married Emma Lambson, my grandpa and grandma, lived in the 1910’s. I never knew Grandpa (1891-1947), as he died when a plow he was unloading hit a power line and he was electrocuted two years before I was born. Grandma Nelson (1889-1965) had a big impact on my life (see Song 374 – To Me, My Farm Is). Mom (Pauline Hafen, 1929-2003) and Dad (Howard Roice Nelson, Sr., 1916-1996) lived in the 1940’s. I was born in 1949 and expect to live to the 2020’s, though verse 5 refers to this time as the 1960’s. Our children grew up in the 1990’s, verse 6, and their children will become adults in the 2020’s, verse 7. It is really quite remarkable to ponder the changes which have happened and will happen on planet earth during these seven generations of Nelsons. Thinking in this time-frame, it made sense to use as the image a photo of Sara and I, after we had spent a day at a new park in Austin, planting trees for future generations.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. Shortly after Jenny Roberts death and funeral, the leases for key parts of Barker Reservoir became available for lease. I was getting older, and felt closer to death. I did not want all of the work I had put into the new city to just get thrown in the trash because I died and did not follow through on building a prototype new type of city (see Song 90 – Deseret and Song 100 – Zion). I went into an obsessive-compulsive phase, designing tree houses which could be built in the middle of the reservoir (see the cement tree base shown in the image to the left) with walkways between houses, all of which would be above the level of the highest anticipated flooding in Barker Reservoir. I got out my geodesic building blocks from Mic Patterson at ASI (Advanced Structures Incorporated), and designed different framework configurations for the tree houses. I still think this is a very innovative way to use the Army Corps of Engineer controlled Barker Reservoir, providing new housing within walking distance from what is now BP, and which was Amoco, BP, and ARCO corporate offices. Andrea had heard enough about my new city ideas, she wanted nothing to do with the discussion, and I felt like I was dropping into the same desperate situation Marti and I had found ourselves in. So I cried when I did not have the money to apply for the lease of the land, and for the most part have stopped talking about my dreams of a new kind of city. However, it is still the kernel behind all of the work I do, and before I die I do hope to at least document my ideas so someone can pick them up and run with them. I guess, in a way, descriptions like this are part of of this documentation process.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 69. After I found the location for Landmark’s first office building across the street from the Barker Reservoir Dam on Highway 6, and after Landmark had started to become an operation, I would take my lunch breaks driving around Katy looking for someplace to prototype Ray Gardner’s and my new city ideas. I talked a friend into taking me up in his plane to fly over and take photos of a property close to where Melanie’s house was, many years later, in south Katy. Then I went down a dead-end road off of Fry Road and saw a sign about some property owned by one Joe Roberts. Called the number, and Joe and I became good friends. Joe sold me 1307 Emerald Green, which was in the same neighborhood where he lived. Joe ended up helping get built Landmark’s first office building off of Barker Cypress on Cypress Run next to Maudeen Mark’s Ranch, which Ray used as the location for his Intelligent Habitat Report. Joe tells me I got really full of myself during the good years at Landmark, and wouldn’t talk to him. I think I was listening to the advice of others too much, who thought Joe was dangerous for me. Years later I learned Joe’s daughter Lauren and Melanie were reported as spending time on the roof of our house smoking. There were a lot of interactions between Joe and his family and me and my family. Then on September 12th of 2004 Joe and Linda’s daughter Jenifer Ann was driven off of I-10 late at night, her jeep rolled, and Jennifer was killed. Joe and Linda were inconsolable. We helped however we could. We made arrangements to use our chapel for the funeral service. We helped put together the talks. I gave the closing prayer for the service. This song, which I wrote about the events, specifies over 600 came from the neighborhood to Jenny’s funeral. As near as I could tell, the funeral was a very special experience for all who attended. It was only about 4 years later that Joe asked the questions which became the foundation of Dynamic Measurement and our work with lightning databases (see Song 158 – Thunder and Lightning). Life does continue on, whether it be through organ donation, through the resurrection, or through the lives and examples of those we knew when they were alive.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. My notes say this song was started on the 24th of March of 2004. I think I was copying songs from my old notebooks, the outline of the chorus must have been written about the same time as “Song 128 – April 6th” through “Song 139 – Before I Go,” which were written before 1970, and I finished the chorus between March and September of 2004 and wrote the verses on the 18th of February 2017. This is not one of my favorite songs. It does give a history of my work at Nelson Meat Packing Plant, and how on Thursdays during the summers, and often after school, Dad and I would take a delivery of meat to Hurricane, Washington, St. George, and Santa Clara. This was when I was introduced to lady “who knew more than Dad” and lectured Dad on child labor laws. I am very glad Dad taught me how to work. I wish I would have done better teaching my children how to work. The blood and guts and abscessed kidneys of the killing floor were not a normal way to grow up in the 1960’s. I killed more cattle than most people see in their lives. The Byproducts Plant, where the guts and bones and offal were cooked, grease pressed out and sold, and ground into protein for turkey farmers in Enterprise was particularly loathsome. I remember my cousin, Roice Nelson Krueger, coming to visit Grandma. I was in the back room running the hamburger patty machine. I got to where I could take meat trimmings from the cutting room, grind them into hamburger, move the hamburger from the grinder to the patty machine, replace paper which went between each hamburger patty, count the number of patties in each pile, box the piles of patties, tie and label the boxes, and keep the machine going until it was time to replace the size of the hamburger patties it was pushing out between pieces of paper. There were little pieces of hamburger all over my white apron and glasses, and when Roice commented I said, “Oh, the hamburger patty machine spits.” He proceeded to demonstrate this by spitting and laughing. It was really funny. Guess this is why I never lost, I’d just choose not to win. The photo of horizontal lightning was shown to me by Dr. Tracy Stark, and seemed to fit the title of “Reckless.” It also ties to the work with lightning databases the last 10 years, which is introduced with Song 158 – Thunder and Lightning.
Maybe this is what is happening now with Dynamic Measurement and my work with lightning databases. The word reckless is why I put a photo of horizontal lightning in Iran going right past some people as the photo for the song Reckless. Reminds me of when Charlie Garfield and I threw bailing wire on the power line, and learned power lines can arc all the way to the ground and the power for Enoch went through Dad’s farm. Or the time I decided to finish plowing a field, despite a storm, and lightning hit right next to the tractor. Maybe I just hang around reckless people. Joe Roberts was hunting ducks on his property at the Hockley Salt Dome when a lightning strike hit next to his truck. A year later he was at the same place, hunting ducks again, and a strike hit the same place. He drove to my house and asked me does lightning strike twice in the same place, and if it does, does this mean I have oil on my property? This started Dynamic Measurement (see Song 158 – Thunder and Lightning). Then a few years later he was at the same place (being reckless) and a big storm with hundreds of lightning strikes surrounding him happened. The extended map shows the lightning strikes mapped from this one storm.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm, and it is referenced by Song 008 – Fallen Angel. I talked about Mr. Yan Dun Shi in the description to Song 082 – Gene’s Beijing City Blues. Mr. Yan came up with the initials PIEPTS, which I do not even remember what it stands for. David Johnson, President of Geophysical Development Corporation (GDC), which became Geokinetics, wanted to do business in China. I had done a lot of work in China with Landmark, and so he asked me to use my connections to get some work for GDC. There was a convention that GDC showed at, and I helped them set up and run a booth. I made connections with Mr. Yan, and he had me work with his two sons, Jia Feng, who was doing PSDM (Pre-Stack Depth Migration), and his son Jia Lin, who was more of a marketing person. In 2004 we set up a partnership, where Jia Feng’s company, Geo-XM, would work with GDC. Jia Lin got GDC contracts with the Ji Dong Oil Field in the Bohai Bay, with the Tarim Oil Field in far western China, and with the Da Qing Oil Field in northern China. We did PSDM projects for each group, I rented my Landmark license to GDC, and did the seismic interpretation. We found the largest oil field found in the previous 10 years in China in the Bohai Bay. We found the third largest gas field found in Western China. I made the maps, delivered the results to the Chinese, and we never heard from them again, except for the news reports quoted on the image to the left. In fact, the Tarim Oil Field stiffed GDC for $200,000. We had used the relationships the Yan’s had to get the contracts, and GDC did not go through standard bid processes. The contracts were valid, and GDC still did not get paid, even after such marvelous exploration results. Then Dave Johnson was fired because of a takeover by the acquisition people, and Mike Dunn and myself were fired as fall out from this regime change. PIEPTS turned into a pretty disillusioning experience. Guess we need these kinds of experiences to recognize when things are really good.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm, and, like Song 109 – Sedimentation, is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. As mentioned in these two songs, this series of “geology songs” resulted from thoughts at a 2015 dance recital at SUU, which was directed by our then neighbor Patty Meredith. Once there are rocks in an area, whether from volcanic, intrusive, metamorphic, or sedimentary processes, these rocks can be changed or altered. Some change agents include: an impact by a meteor; weathering from rain, snow, wind, etc.; hydrothermal fluids moving along a fault scarp; pressure and temperature changes tied to structural and fluid movements tied to growth of a salt or shale diapir; intrusion into preexisting rocks by a granite or quartz monzonite or copper porphyry or another heated rock or magmatic body along with hot materials and fluids; or chemical changes because of acid, water, temperature, and pressure. As the words from the song state, which words come from the Glossary of Geology, alteration can be considered a phase of metamorphism, and yet it is usually milder and more localized. These changes result in changes in chemical composition, or in mineralogical composition. For example, alteration can change limestone to dolomite, replacing calcium cells with magnesium cells, which are much smaller, greatly increasing the porosity and permeability of the original limestone rock matrix, creating an excellent trap for oil and gas. Marathon Oil’s Finley Reef is a good example of this type of alteration. Many mineral seams are related to alteration as hydrothermal fluids move along fault planes. Geothermal deposits tend to dissolve rocks, accumulate minerals like gold and silver, which settle out as a type of cap over the center of the geothermal hot spot. There are significant economic advantages tied to understanding geological alteration.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm, and it is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. As mentioned in Dunes, there are now several “geology songs” resulted from thoughts at a 2015 dance recital at SUU (Southern Utah University), which was directed by our then neighbor Patty Meredith. After getting the idea, and as I transferred the songs in my notebook to digital files, when I had a song started, with chords and no words, I would use this teaser as the basis for writing a song about one of the different geologic processes I thought of as I watched Patty’s dance about a beehive. Since these geology songs were written after I finished putting the Psalms to the music of my Songs, none of the geology songs contributed to the Psalms. This is just like sedimentation, once a layer of rock is deposited, the next higher layer of rock is younger, and only replaces the older rock if there has been erosion or dissolving or faulting which removes the older rock. A good example of sedimentation is how sand layers grow in a sand dune. These sand dunes are turned to rock as they are buried and put under extreme pressures and temperatures. The photo to the left shows an interpretation of the sedimentation history of a petrified sand dune. In a very real sense, these sedimentary depositional processes create a memory, or a written record, of the younger parts of the earth. This memory is created as layers of sediment, later consolidated as layers of rock, are deposited one on top of another, as part of the process of sedimentary deposition. The chorus to this song was written before I added the verses. I could rewrite the chorus in geologic terms saying: “At the outcrop we are surrounded by memories of sunshine, wind and rain storms, recalling deposition of mud, sand, fine grained detrital material, and the growth of reefs. The layers of sediment recall landslides, creep, wind and water carried sediments, and the growth of vegetation and reefs. The layers of rock are the sum of the depositional history, or the natural process history tied to locations. The positive accumulation of sediments creates layers which when cooked when put under pressure of burial become rock. The negative erosion of sediments carries material to the sea and creates voids for future sedimentation.” These earth processes parallel the laying down of memories in our minds.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 35. Todd Staheli and I worked together in Scouts at Nottingham Country Ward several times. He was the Advisor and I was the Scout Leader, then he was the Scout Leader and I was the Quorum Advisor. Ben and Paul were playing football at his place for an activity one night. A girl they both like drove up to her house across the way. They were showing off, both dived for the football, and hit each other in the head. Blood everywhere. Head wounds bleed a lot. When Todd and Michelle moved to The Woodlands, they had us up there for dinner, which is when I took the candid inserted photo of Michelle on the phone (she was expecting Logan). When Sara and Audrey graduated from College, we took them to England. The photo to the left is of Sara Ellyn, Andrea, Audrey, and Todd in front of Dover Castle. Todd hired me to help him with team building at Shell in the marketing to Service Centers. He flew me to New Jersey (I still have a license plate in the garage I found on my run there, when I badly twisted my ankle), to California, and I think there was another session was in Houston. Because I had travelled a lot, and had lived in Saudi Arabia, Todd asked me whether I thought it was safe to take his family to Saudi Arabia. I told him yes. Boy was I naive about the risk he was taking. This was before 9/11. He moved from there to London, which is where we met them when Todd went with us to Stonehenge, Canterbury, Dover Castle, and The White Cliffs (Michelle was with Madison on a school trip). While Andrea and the girls climbed down to the ocean at The White Cliffs of Dover, Todd and I sat in the car and talked. He told me about all of the trials he had had getting a pipeline authorized in The Ukraine. I caught him up with my new city plans, which we had talked about a lot on various camp outs. Todd grounded me. Very smart, and not afraid to tell me what he thought about my out-of-the-box ideas. When I left Continuum and was thinking of starting a newsletter and seeking subscriptions, he pointed out I would have a hard time finding anyone to pay for it, because there is no one else who thinks like I do. We were true friends. Then he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He and Michelle were killed in their bed by someone with a hatchet. When I told David Kessler, he said: “Russian mafia.” I have felt the murder was related to that happened in The Ukraine. The extended photo shows Todd and Michelle’s caskets at their funeral. The only photo the newspapers had was a photo of Todd and Michelle in their motorcycle leathers. Words cannot express how sad I was because of the murder of my friend and his wife and the trials it brought to their children.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 116. This is another of the songs Quentin Reed and I wrote (see Song 087 – The First Prayer, Song 054 – The Wooden Shoe, and Song 065 – Celestial Kingdom or Bust, as well as Quentin’s Song 007 – Froggie Learns the Gospel). I was preparing for my mission. Quentin and I enjoyed playing guitars and singing together. I was, and guess I still am, very idealistic. I had written songs like Song 129 – The Supermarket, about seeing my own faults in the mirrors, seeing people peering at me through two-way mirrors, and then seeing who is trying to help me because there are no mirrors. Here Quentin and I wrote about living in boxes, hiding ourselves away, never touching, never feeling, all tied up in games, and if we turn to one another, our love grows, the boxes fade, and we sing together words that always should have been: “We breathe the same air daily, And our hearts to beat in time, And our voices cry together, How our lives have grown to rhyme.” I selected as the images for this song, Elder Fischer and Elder Reese (see the description of Song 098 – The Eighth Psalm) and as the extended view, a photo Quentin sent me which he took of his shadow. As Rob said, when he met Quentin, at about age 20, “It is nice to meet you, you have been part of my life as long as I remember.” Songs do create important relationships, if we sing the songs, and if we let the messages into our hearts.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Song 106 – Nephi’s Vision was used as the music for Psalm 16 and is referenced by Song 101 – This New Song. Whenever Andrea and I were in Provo we ended up staying with her brother and his wife, Randy and Kathryn Shirts (see the photo of The KeyNotes in Song 103 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand). Andrea always has a lot to talk about. I don’t. Somehow, there was a guitar, I had some time, I was reading in 1st Nephi 11, and I put the words and the story I was reading to a new tune I came up with. It happened to be Randy’s birthday, and so I called it Randy’s Birthday Song. I actually sang it to Randy. He was not very impressed, especially since I said “condensation” instead of “condescension of God.” I always struggle with words. Guess this is part of the reason I write Stanzas and Grandkidlets. It exercises the part of my brain that does not work as well as the visualization side of my brain. I like this song and the message of the words of Nephi, even though I think the only time I sang it for anyone other than myself was when I sang it for Randy, Katheryn, and Andrea. Often I wish I had more self-confidence, and was willing to share things like this song in ways which would touch others, and help them to believe in the Son of God, like I have come to believe in Jesus, and to know him as my Savior. In the Nottingham Country Ward (note this link shows web pages built for our ward in 1995, which was about a year before 1996 when the LDS Church began to use the web as a messaging and communication vehicle) I discovered Kenneth R. Turner and his art (the image to the left is one of his paintings). Ken Turner was obviously touched by the same spirit, as one of the three paintings he created when an anonymous donor provided him financial freedom for several months, was the painting of Nephi’s Vision, which now hangs in Paul’s house in Providence, Utah.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. This photo was not from Kelly’s Pond, it was from a Scout Junior Leader Training in March 2000, about 3 years before Matt and I went to Kelly’s Pond. What is shows is there was is a lot of rain in South Texas, and we had our share of Scout Campouts in the rain and the mud with windblown tents and wet boys and wet leaders. As I recall, this particular campout included Greg Branning, and I think it was the campout where one of the scouts used the toilet, did not notice or did not tell the toilet did not flush and spilled out on the hardwood floors. I know there was some campout after which the Branning’s had to replace their wood floors because boys sometimes do not share everything they do or when they make a mistake. As I recall this was my first campout with Shane Gillett. What a character. He got the boys to build a shelter, a debris hut, and to sleep in it during this big rain storm. The sausage gumbo was good. The noise of the rain kept everyone awake. Greg Branning did not go to sleep all night long (in fact he typically stayed up all night on these campouts). At least there was a warm fire whenever someone got too cold and came out of their hut to warm up. Then a good egg and sausage burrito breakfast and the cold and wet night was forgotten. It was amazing to me these kids were able to start a fire after the soaking rainstorm. Guess this is part of what campouts are about, creating the men who will pick up the baton and lead our society tomorrow and in the future.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 128 and is reference by Song 044 – My Family. The song starts with the words, “three little men looking up at me,” and now they look down on me. There is something very special about Grandsons. Grandsons carry on our name and our legacy. Our first three grandchildren were boys, and for people who grew up in a patriarchal society, Andrea and I could not have been more pleased. We have worked hard to keep a friendship and a relationship with and between these three boys. This includes having held 8 Nelson Grandkids Summer Science Camps between 2010 and 2017. Everyone came to 1307 Emerald Green for Christmas in 2002, when I wrote this song. By 2010, when we had the first Science Camp, we could see it was going to be hard to get our family together as much as we had hoped we would be able to. There are interesting (and sometimes sad) family dynamics when both parents have gone through a divorce. Then you add the psychological issues of the perceived Wicked Step-Mother, or the person who took my Mom away from my real Dad (and vice-versa), and family relationships can get messy. Thankfully, these issues have not seemed to hinder our relationship with our oldest three wonderful Grandsons. They love us, despite our weaknesses, and we love them, because we know they are perfect. There is a real interesting dynamic making me want to be better whenever I think of the “three little men looking up at me.” Hopefully when they have their own children and grandchildren these words, songs, and pictures will be something they can refer to make the next generations even better than theirs.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm, After all, it really is The Beatles’ song (to which I only added words for verses 3 & 4 and C2 & C3). In December of 2002, the Nottingham Country Ward Relief Society approached me about singing for a Relief Society Dinner. I didn’t tell Andrea. I wrote this song about The KeyNotes, The Beatles, her family garage where we had the first band member meeting, about her being our only groupie, when we were ages 14-18 and she was ages 9-13. I was pretty comfortable plagiarizing other people’s songs and words by this time, and so the song is a parity of The Beatles famous “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” As I recall, there were about 20 of us that met at Randy’s (Shirts, Andrea’s next older brother) garage within a week of The Beetles coming on Ed Sullivan in 1964. Sometime after that, there were 5 of us who became The KeyNotes: Randy Shirts, myself, Ray Gardner, Dale Hatch, and Charlie Garfield (as labeled on the only photo I have of The KeyNotes to the left). Charlie was our best singer, and so he became vocal. We were not very good, and we got better over 4 years. I kind of became the leader, and when Dale was too busy with sports, I was elected to give him the bad news he was no longer in the group. We then became – thanks to Randy’s name – The MydKnight Hour. Our first professional gig was for a minimal amount, an amount which did not even cover gasoline, at my cousin Roice Nelson Krueuger’s High School in Loa, Utah by Capital Reef (where his Dad was the Managing Park Ranger). We built a trailer to hall our drums, amplifiers, guitars, accordion, sleeping bags, etc. We lost one of the sleeping bags before we passed the bottom of the farm on Minersville Road, and it was later given back to us. We later played in Milford, Parowan, had a beach party at Rush Lake, The Hotel El Escalante, South Elementary, Virgin Valley, The Dixie Roller Rink, and other places I do not remember. We built the first strobe light in Cedar City in 1967, using my erector set motor. We paid for a light board, which had a dozen flashing colored flood lights. We had a lot of fun, some heartache, and learned a lot. And to think, Andrea was our only groupie.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 108. I love The Engines of Our Ingenuity, a NPR (National Public Radio) program started by Dr. John Lienhard at the University of Houston in 1988. Each program is a 5-minute summary of an innovation presented at 7:30 AM. So, I copied the format. My first effort was a poem, Prime Words, which was actually started before Engines on December 12th 1985 on a flight from Calgary to Houston. There were 19 copies of a 260-page book printed on March 1st of 1997. Page iii describes this work as “Thoughts about 979 entities (nouns), and their place as a foundation of language. A set of 791 (7*113) four-line stanzas, amateur poetry written for our children. Shared to demonstrate a portable electronic replacement for books: Eldo (Electronic Document) a solar-powered electronic hyperjournal.” There is a print of an original Ken Turner painting, words to several of my songs, as well as the 4-line stanzas in each chapter. Thus the concept of a hyperjournal. ELDO is also short for the word (DO or Document) of God (El or Elohim). Organized in seven chapters, the poem describes ways in which words, and their source, thoughts, affect our individual lives, mankind, and the universe. Few, if any of the ideas in the poem are original. I continue to capture stanzas from what people around me say, and typically add 3-10 stanzas to the collected work after a particularly touching sacrament meeting. There are 335 pages of 4-line stanzas in the active document put together after the first printing of Prime Words. Then on February 29th of 1995 I started the first of 566 daily Lovelets, or what was intended to be little love notes for Marti, in an unsuccessful attempt to convince her to stop talking about divorce. When it was obvious this effort was not accomplishing the goal, I started daily Thoughtlets for the kids. I continue to make notes summarizing each day on my daily swallow counting sheet – with the intention to go back and catch up or add to the Thoughtlets someday. This song is a singing of the titles of 621 weekly Thoughtlets to 2 guitar chord progressions. The length of the recording is 1 hour 21 minutes and 54 seconds, which was recorded in 1 setting on the second take. I do love my kids.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 87 and for Psalm 133, and is referenced by Song 081 – Vision, Song 090 – Deseret, and Song 92 – Sunrise. Seems like the best references for describing what is meant by this song are found in the scriptures: Isaiah 40:9, Micah 4:2, Moses 7:20, 62; Galatians 4:26, Revelations 3:12, 21:2, 10-27; I Nephi 20:2, III Nephi 20:22, 21:22-25, Mormon 7:10, Ether 13:3-12, Moroni 10:31; D&C 42:9, 35, 62, 67, 45:65-71; 84:2-5; 97:19, 133:3, 56; and The Articles of Faith 1:10; and in the books referenced in the description of Song 090 – Deseret. Consider the words of the song: “Zion on my mind, filling up my brain with right. Zion in my heart, flowing through my veins with might. Never losing sight of the ultimate goal, Earth exists for us to share with other living souls. Zion is a place of safety, without any strife, built upon the principles of celestial life. Zion is a real city that is built in many places, a modern Garden of Eden filling the in-between spaces. A place of gathering, a land to publish peace. A place of refuge, where all poverty has ceased. Where the lion lies down next to the little lamp, the city of holiness, the New Jerusalem. Where the pure in heart find beauty and discover lasting joy. Preparing for the Lord to come are lovely girls and boys.” Wouldn’t it be exciting and fun to prototype these concepts on Dad’s farm, within the boundaries of the modern city of Enoch, Utah? Have been thinking about these concepts since 1971, and Ray Gardner put together a proposal for me in 1989 called The Intelligent Habitat Project.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 106. On November 1st 1992 I came home from Katy Stake Conference and wrote this song, based on a talk by President Collin Steward. I like the song. It has a good message. Years later I invited President and Sister Steward into my Primary and later my Sunday School class so they could listen to the song that came from his talk. We have become friends over the years. When ever I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting in Nottingham County Ward, Collin asked for my hard copy notes for the talk. It is interesting that sometime between his talk and when he came to my Primary Class the first time, Marti was asked to be a seminary teacher by the Bishop. Then the call was rescinded by President Steward. This was not pleasing to me, and yet I honored my priesthood leader, and did not say anything. Then our marriage fell apart, and I realized he had seen or felt something I did not recognize. We never talked about the rescinded call. It is only as I write a description of the song based on his talk these thoughts come back to mind. As I listened to his talk I knew he loved the scriptures. I love the scriptures too. I have read the standard works several times, and The Book of Mormon many times. I testify they are the words of life. We can only find this if we regularly read the scriptures, study the words, ponder the implications, and pray for a confirmation of the spirit. As a geoscientist, I love the creation story. As a human, I love the story of Adam and Eve. As a man, I appreciate the rules and the examples. As a scientist, I love contemplating the mysteries of God, like symbolism of the circle and the square and the steps to pass the angels at the heavenly gate. And of course, all of this is subject to Jesus being the Christ, which I testify he is. He is my Savior. He is your Savior. He is everyone’s Savior.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 8 and for Psalm 144. In 1985 I started taking Will and Ariel Durant’s “The Story of Civilization” to work and reading for about an hour each lunch hour. It became a wonderful time of contemplation. They have a little book that goes with this 11-volume set, “The Lessons of History,” which included summaries of some of the things that impressed them most as they finished their life’s work. One of these things were the words of the eighth Psalm. As a guitar player and member of The Keynotes and The MydKnight Hour all through High School, I had always liked how The Byrds had included words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 in their song Turn! Turn! Turn! So, I took the words of David’s Eighth Psalm and put them to music. I really liked the results, and would sing it at ward, youth, and scout campouts. It was 9,622 days later I put the 32nd Psalm to music on the 23rd of February 2012. Then 61 days after this, I put Psalm 105 to music on the 24th of April 2012. This was the first time I used music from one of my songs, the music from Song 076 – Job. About this time, we fed the missionaries, Elder Fischer and Elder Reese 3 times at 1307 Emerald Green Lane in Houston, Texas. When we feed the missionaries, I typically sing Song 007 – Froggie Learns the Gospel. I think both Elders were musicians, but certainly Elder Reese was. Anyway, on their last visit they asked if I had written any new songs, and I sang one of the Psalms I had recently put to music. Elder Reese quipped, “Are you going to put all of the Psalms to music?” His comment changed my life. It was only 141 days after this I put the last of the psalms to music, Psalm 42 to the music of Song 041 – A Love Song for Andrea. This means that in 202 days I put 171 Psalms to the music of my songs. About the time I finished, I had the assignment for name verification as a Houston Temple worker, when Elder Reese walked down the hall alone, and I was able to tell him I had completed “his assignment” and what a special experience it had been for me. This was an absolutely wonderful spiritual journey. The recording and the sharing of these songs and psalms is a continuation of this very personal journey.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 77. February 27th 1982 was when we lived in Missouri City on Quail Run Drive. This was a Saturday. It was during the time I was writing New Technologies in Exploration Geophysics, mostly at the house, on a remote terminal to the DEC (Digital Equipment Computer) at the Allied Geophysical Laboratory at the University of Houston, in Houston, Texas. Seems I have always attempted to take on too much work. So, when Roice, who would have been 7 years old, was sad and said he wanted to run away and go someplace else to stay, it touched my heart enough to take the time to write a song – mostly to tell myself I needed to spend more time with him, with Marti, and with God. Spending more time has always translated as more love, at least in my mind. “All he needs is a little time, All he needs is love, All he needs is to know that I care, All he needs is love.” Because I was involved in writing a book, and working long hours on demanding projects, Marti did most of the raising of our kids. “Without much help from me it’s no wonder she’s beat.” And of course, I am always so far behind, always finding a thousand new jobs I think I need to do, always getting in binds, always needing friends so kind to help me out, and always calling on God.” Isn’t it amazing how a statement of loneliness by a child one loves can help us reflect on and contemplate how well we are doing? Or not!
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 21. This was written about a year after we moved from Dallas to Missouri City, south of Houston, because of my new job at the University of Houston as General Manager of the Seismic Acoustics Laboratory. I was called as the Priest Quorum Advisor and Young Men’s President, just like when we first moved in the Dallas First Ward. This song was written about the youth at church. I recalled my youth, which is why I used the photo to the left of me as a child, which my Uncle Tony Hafen gave me, as the image to describe the problems of youth. Wanting to dance, wanting to sing, wanting to swing, and wanting to a lot of other things which youth don’t know how to do. The problems seem tall, yet they are really small, especially compared to some of the problems we all face as we get older. The problems of teenagers are different and yet are the same: friends, respect, girls, sports, cars, and money. When we test limits, when we flirt with hell, we can fall. Thankfully there is repentance, and thankfully our Savior loves us enough to pay the price for us if we truly repent, even of something as repugnant as the killing a viable baby who could have become one of the youth I was working with. Working with youth makes my heart cry out: “Make the right choices so you never shout, live your life so you can always walk with the Lord by your side.” I love how playing my guitar and writing the feelings of my heart helps me verbalize eternal truths.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. It was written a long time ago, and I do not remember the circumstances. My son, Roice III, had an operation, it must of scared me, and I wrote out my thoughts and fears with my guitar as a song. “A” talks about creation, and comparing the making of a human being to the making of a clay pot. “B” is about pre-creation, and how the matter which forms each of us has always been, and how as God’s children our purpose is to have a body, experience life, and prove we are worthy to be like our Father in Heaven. The second “A” goes back to the china bowl, and is about those who forget Heavenly Father when put under pressure (and temperature). It also talks about the glazing process, and those who don’t like the way their glazed, whether it be white or black. This was written in August of 1980, shortly after we had moved into our house on Blue Quail drive. We were the last white family to buy a house in this subdivision. Our neighbors were all black. I got along fine with all of them. However, one of the reasons we moved to 1307 Emerald Green Lane (see Song 074 – 1307 Emerald Green), was because a white neighbor was a policeman, and someone broke into his house and spray painted “honky” and other anti-white graffiti all over his walls. The main reason we moved was because I hated the 45-90 minute commute up Highway 6 to Landmark’s office at I-10 and Highway 6 across from the dam for Barker Reservoir. The photo I chose probably does a better job of explaining the frailty of life than the song or this description. The photo is of the “Mystic Tree” in Zion Canyon, posted on Facebook by Car Mazur on the 10th of March 2018.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
The music I composed for this song was used as the music for Psalm 134. When we first moved to Dallas, I was called as the Young Men’s President and Priest Quorum Advisor. Young Men’s and Young Women’s had an annual theme in those years. This year, the theme was “To Love, To Serve, To Offer All,” based on the words of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon Mosiah chapters 2, 3, and 4. A key verse is Mosiah 2:17 which includes: “I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” This insight, like so many in The Book of Mormon, is so important, and so far beyond the scope of understanding or teaching of the young farm boy, Joseph Smith, who translated The Book of Mormon. The song for theme was copyrighted by Newell Dalley of Provo, Utah, and was written out for piano. I did not like the music, and we were going to introduce the theme to the youth outside. So, I wrote my own version of the music. I love the words. I think the music I came up with goes well with the words. I’m interested in feedback from those who listen to my songs (and Psalms) and who read these notes. What do you think of this song, the message, and the music? As an image to capture this concept, I took a photo of a plaque in the basement of Old Main on the SUU (Southern Utah University) campus, which refers to my Great Great Grandfather, Bengt Nelson, Sr. He is certainly an example to me of someone who loved the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, who served with all his might, and who offered all to build the Kingdom of God on the earth in Cedar City, Utah.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 20. It is fun recording and writing about the songs I have written. The songs bring back many special memories. Especially this song. After our marriage and move to Salt Lake City, I insisted Marti and I go to the temple regularly. Marti did not particularly like the temple, even back then, and she still went along with me. This song is the result of a very special experience after one of our trips to the Salt Lake Temple. As we were leaving the temple, we saw a young black youth staring up at the spires of the temple. Asked him if he had any questions. He said, “Yes.” Asked him if we could buy him an ice cream and answer his questions, while we all ate. He said, “Yes.” His name was Alex Stamper, he was from an inner city back east, was in Utah as part of a program to break the violence cycle in inner cities, and was downtown Salt Lake on his day off. We ended up spending several evenings with Alex. We brought him to meet some of our friends. We talked about the program he was in, and what he wanted to do when he went back home. We ate ice cream. He did not want to tell us about where he was at, because there were a lot of bad people there, and we were “too good” to be exposed to the stuff he had to endure, even in Utah in his escape from the hood. My heart went out to Alex, and I wrote him a song, which I have never had the chance to share with him, about what I felt like he was trying to tell us. The 14th of July 1974 was just after Marti and I got back from our graduation trip to Europe (we increased our school loan to go on the trip because Marti was expecting Roice and we were sure we were not going to have a chance to travel for many years), and it was the Sunday before I was to report to work at Mobil Oil. I love the words of Alex’s Unspoken Prayer, and think they are the unspoken prayer of many of us. I submitted these words as a poem to a poetry contest, and it was published. Marti, the English Teacher, after she got her Master’s Degree in English from a university in New Hampshire, read the poem, and said, “This is really good.” Oh well! Click here to read the words.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 22, which is one of, if not my favorite of the Psalms. This song is in the same mode as Song 090 – Deseret and Song 100 – Zion, which were written earlier in the summer of 1973 in Denver, Colorado. Sunrise was written in October 1973 in our apartment in Salt Lake City, which apartment is described in Song 066 – Home. I was probably reading The New Testament, as part of Gospel Doctrine, and read Matthew 24, about the Second Coming of the Savior. Although I did a good job of not quoting from these verses, I did capture the spirit of the message, focusing on the many sunrises I enjoyed as a youth on the farm. “A glow gathers in the east,” up against Fiddler’s Canyon. “As light begins to shire forth,” as it does each morning at sunrise. “To shine on a world of disbelief,” or to tell the world Jesus is the Christ and He is coming again. “To show the night is but a thief,” as is all darkness swallowing truth and light. Chorus 1 talks about my Mom, and how she helped me. I still struggle with a love-hate relationship with her, and feel several of my kids struggle in the same way with me. Oh well! Jesus, “The Son will come,” and after the sunrise, “the sun will shine,” and “we our road will find.” I like the words “Red streaks across the sky, and paints the clouds as they pass by.” I see the light and truth of the gospel as a sign for all the world to see, and as people live the gospel, others see the darkness flee, and recognize truth, and know the gospel has been restored. Chorus 2 talks about my love, Marti at the time, and Andrea who now helps me find the right side of a smile. As the sun rises over Brian Head, the shadows creep towards the east. As the shadows disappear, light uncovers what was hid, whether it be secret sins or traps and a treacherous path. With the Cedar City Temple, the morning light shows a goal we all should have. I captured this light on the hill and the Cedar City Temple in the photos accompanying Psalm 22.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 45. I have probably sung this song to others more than any song except Song 054 – The Wooden Shoe. I wrote the music while I was at the University of Utah, sharing an apartment with Riley Skeen, in May of 1973. At the end of that summer, 0n Monday, the 6th of August 1973, we were visiting Marti’s Aunt Betty in Aurora, Colorado (this was a month before Marti and I were married), I was left alone on the back porch, and I wrote out the words to the hope in my heart and what I saw in our future in my mind’s eye. Each life goes through stages. As I approach the Great-Granddad stage, I see the words I wrote 45 years ago quite differently. It is almost as though I was seeing across time and space to where I am now. I love our Grandkids Science Summer Camps, and the time we spend sitting around the fire pit eating, talking, and sometimes the grandkids and kids even put up with my singing. It is my way of recalling stories told before. I watch them sing and play, and dance the time away, living their lives like a perfect rhyme. I always think big, and so I want all mankind to be a big happy family, loving and sharing all of the time. I recalled the cousin sleepouts on Grandma Nelson’s lawn and running through grass short and tall. I recalled Nelson and Hafen Uncles and Aunts talking of when they were young and the things they did to have fun. It was the end of my second summer working in Denver and away from Cedar City, and I was homesick, as I prepared for the most important transition of my life. I dreamed of dinner time, when the family gathered around a long oak table for a feast. Can’t you just see “sister serving, little brother trying to help, and tripping on a dog named Frodo?” Probably my favorite words, which I have written, are “Evening goes and the fire burns down low, with coals that look like children asleep. They all gathered ‘round, in a circle on their knees, expressing thanks for days like these.” So, it didn’t turn out exactly like my “vision.” The photos to the left show it turned out wonderful, with 10 amazing children, soon to be back to 7 astounding in-laws, and 15 stupendous grandchildren.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Song 090, written on 01 July 1973, is referenced by Song 081 – Vision and by Song 100 – Zion, and provided the music for Psalm 48. This song is important because it was one of two songs written in Denver, Colorado in July of 1973 summarizing my passion, which I identified on my mission, namely building the New Jerusalem, and reestablishment of the United Order. The second song is Song 100 – Zion, written on 14 July 1973. Hugh Nibley and the scriptures refer to the process and specific place becoming the pure in heart or Zion (see Quest for Empire: The Political Kingdom of God & The Council of Fifty in Mormon History, Klaus J. Hansen, 1967; Joseph Smith and the Law of Consecration, Lyndon W. Cook, 1985; Building the City of God, Leonard J. Arrington, 1976; Toward the New Jerusalem, Alma P. Burton, 1985; Joseph Smith’s United Order, Kent W. Huff, 1988; Brigham Young’s United Order, Kent W. Huff, ~1989; Approaching Zion, Hugh Nibley, 1989; Becoming a Zion People, Lindon J. Robison, 1992; and Working Toward Zion, Principles of the United Order for the Modern World, James W. Lucas, 1996). I wrote a treatise on the topic in Harlow New Town, when I was on my mission. I have shared this document a few times, and did receive positive feedback. I recall being fascinated by Sir Thomas Moore’s book Utopia. Dad and his brothers, particularly Dad and Bud and Dick, worked together, helped each other, and maybe this is where I learned to be attracted to books like Walden – or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau and Collaborative Communities – cohousing, central living, and other new forms of housing with shared facilities, written by Dorit Fromm in 1991. My library is full of books, notebooks, journals, and papers with themes along the lines of how to build a better city, a city built around people rather than around automobiles. For years I have planned and schemed on how to use Dad’s farm as a prototype of a new kind of community, which is why there are two satellite images of the farm to the left. It has not been sold yet, and so maybe it will happen someday. Note, when I show a modern day satellite image of the farm, I point out to people I grew up on the back end of a shovel on the Star Ship Enterprise.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Song 089 is referenced by Song 052 – Rush Lake Blues, and provided the music for Psalm 40. This is one of my favorite songs. I sing it for as many people as I can find interested each year at Christmas. Why? Not because of the origins, rather because of the message. I learned things, as I wrote this song, on Christmas Day, 1972, just after getting home from my LDS mission to Southeast England. I knew England was a long way, and Bethlehem is even farther away. One of my favorite Christmas song has always been Far, Far Away (probably because it was written by Grandma Hafen’s adopted mother’s Father, John Menzies Mcfarlane). There is a land far away. The chorus plays with Einstein’s space-time continuum: referring to where Christ was born as a place, as a time, and as the intersection of these two indices, a point. There was no room in the inn, which was owned by Joseph and Mary’s kin. They were returning to their ancestral home to pay taxes, and, surely, they stayed with family. The swaddling clothes were the royal garment of David, the ancestor of Christ. He was full of light and truth and grace. As I get older and recognize how much I sin, even without intending to. It has become even more important to know my Savior and know my sins will be forgiven if I have faith and repent. I had been home from England almost 2 months. My Mission President was being disfellowshipped. I had been promised Mom and Dad would be active in the church if I served a good mission. The fact they were not interested in the church seemed to imply I must not have served a good mission. Mom made Christmas a very secular event, with extensive cooking and parties and presents. There was no room for Jesus Christ. I left home on Christmas Eve, drove to Enterprise, hiked through the snow into Calf Springs Ranch with my guitar and a book called Jesus in His Homeland, which President Belnap had given us, cooked myself dinner, cried, tried to reconcile the discrepancies in my life, and wrote The Birth. Some of the insights were from the book, and some were what I feel was personal revelation. The song stilled my concerns, I came home on Christmas Day, and as I recall it was a good day. I do not think I ever sang the song to Mom and Dad.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was the theme song for The Family Album, The England East Mission singing group, and was written by R.D. Galbraith. The group was assigned to the Hyde Park Chapel, and would go out to all parts of the mission each week to perform at community family home evenings, set up by the missionaries working in those communities. There would typically be 100-200 families come to these events, and they were a very effective way to identify new contacts to teach and hopefully become investigators. I have always enjoyed this song, and did not use it as the music for any of the Psalms because I did not write the song. The photos used for the composite image to the left come from the following locations:
In the late 1990’s I went to my artist friend, Ken Turner, with a series of six sketches of the Savior, which I thought he should paint, and which I did not have the cash to pay for. The image of Jesus to the left, is one of the 4 resulting paintings. Just before Andrea and I moved back to Cedar, I held a concert at Ken’s studio, and performed the first 20 psalms, and the songs that go with them. At the concert Ken learned Andrea is a descendant of Hyrum Smith, and he gave her the painting of Joseph and Hyrum leaving Nauvoo for their martyrdom, which is the painting of Joseph Smith. This painting is now in Cedar City, Utah. The importance of prophets is well documented in the scriptures and in history.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
Song 087 referenced in Song 007 – Froggie Learns the Gospel and Song 054 – The Wooden Shoe, in the writeup for Song 086a-b – Be Still Geologists / Geophysicists, and was used as the music for Psalm 46. To provide some context for the origin of this song, The Wholesome Meat Act of 1967, part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Programs, became effective December 15th of 1967. It required all states to have meat inspection programs “equal to” Federal Government inspection programs administered by the Food Safety and Inspection Services of the Department of Agriculture. I mentioned in the description of Song 076 – Rain how Nelson Meat Packing Plant was shut down at the end of the summer of 1969 as a result of this law. Because of my geophysics scholarship at the University of Utah, the summer of 1970 I went to work for Pan American Petroleum in Denver, Colorado. I lived in an apartment on Corona Street with Riley Skeen from the University of Utah, just off of West Colfax Avenue near downtown Denver. I made a friend with Quentin Reed, a hippie from Orange, Texas who claimed Houston, Texas as his home. We met through the Young Adult program of the LDS Church. We both played guitars. One night, about 3:00 in the morning, Quentin came into my room in the apartment building (I’m not sure how he got in the building or why my door was not locked), woke me up, and said, “I started a song I need you to help me finish.” Song 087 – The First Prayer is the song we wrote early that morning. This song captures Quentin’s conversion in Houston and my conversion, as a young “Jack Mormon” in Corvallis, Oregon, the summer of 1968 (referenced in Song 007 – Froggie Learns the Gospel, Song 052 – Rush Lake Blues, and written out in Thoughtlet 9715, which I wrote in 1997. We actually sang this song a couple of times when I was on my Mission, and it has been a very important verbalization of my testimony of the reality of God and of the restoration of His true church for me ever since the summer of 1970 when a hippie from Houston, Texas and a Jack Mormon from Cedar City, Utah were inspired to describe their conversions in a song.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
These two songs were not used as the music for a Psalm. However, these songs are based on Song 087 – The First Prayer, and its music was used for Psalm 46. I wrote the geologists version of this song (086a) at an SEG convention in New Orleans in 1998. I was working with Dr. Bowen Loftin at the University of Houston in my free time on his CAVE (Computer-Aided Visualization Environment). On 14 December 1990, as Walden 3-D, Inc.’s first significant event, I hosted a Lynk Teleconference, which Dr. Loftin participated in. We had Lynk boxes in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cedar City, St. George, Austin, Nacogdoches, Houston, Maine, Chicago, and Pittsburg. The Lynk boxes were between the phone and where the phone plugs into the wall, and they controlled the advancing of slides in a slide projector. Needless to say, this was well before webinars, on-line meetings, and real-time collaboration, as described in Song 085 – Merging Mind & Matter. One of the most interesting aspects of this slide-based teleconference was the fact Bowen placed an order for the first head-mounted display for NASA’s Johnson Space Center during the teleconference, when he realized Jean-Jacques Grimaud, who invented and was the first to sell head-mounted displays, was participating in the teleconference from San Franciso. I had met Bowen at a NASA technology transfer conference, where he described training astronauts in Germany remotely from Clear Lake, Texas. Bowen used the head-mounted displays to create a training program for fixing the Hubble Telescope, and won the best of NASA Award for the work. By the time this song was written, in September of 1998, Bowen had set up a CAVE (Computer-Aided Visualization Environment) at the new University of Houston Research Center (former Schlumberger Research Center on I-45 in Houston, Texas). I volunteered and helped him form the VR-Geo consortium (Virtual Reality in Geosciences, which is an on-going research consortium, now administered in England and Germany). We would bring oil company folks through the CAVE, demonstrating walking through the solar system, around the International Space Station, and through an aquarium full of fish in true three-dimensions. Always remember a scientist from UNOCAL, who said to me “I can’t believe you get paid to do this.” I didn’t get paid. It was all because I liked Bowen and because I was using his facility to do a proof-of-concept for Walden Visualization Systems, which later merged with Energy Innovations and became Continuum Resources International Corporation. This demonstration was what got Kjell Finstadt to invest in Continuum. And Song 086b – Be Still Geoscientists was written when all of this work was being done. It was fun, and it was a very exciting time, a time of recovery from my personal and family failures.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 136. Song 085a-Continuum was rewritten by Peter Duncan when we were working together at Continuum Resources, and it is hard for me to play and to get these chords right. Hopefully the recording captures the essence of what we sang back in those days. We did take the song and our guitars to an SEG Convention in Calgary and sang in our booth. Later, when Peter was President of SEG, he started the Presidential Jam Session, and he and other past presidents of SEG get together and perform for those who want to come and to listen. I’ve never been interested in the responsibility associated with the office, and yet I admit I have been a bit jealous of those who had the self-confidence to stand up and sing for other professionals, like Peter and some of the other presidents of SEG do each year. This series of songs is based on the music “planted in my mind” (see Song 001 – Open My Eyes Please, Song 047 – Spirit World, and Song 079 – Why I Try) for Song 076 – Job. I think this is an interesting summary of the oil and gas industry, as extracted from Daniel Yergin’s book “The Prize.” Song 085a, and the choruses for each of the other versions, are based on the visualization theaters we were building at Continuum Resources International Corporation, and our product CORE ExplorerSM. Because of starting Landmark Graphic’s University Program, I had connected Continuum with Imperial College in London and CURTIN University in Perth, and in 2000 we were doing real-time collaboration on a multi-gigabyte 3-D seismic survey with scientists in Perth, London, and Houston, where we could see the other person and the craft they were driving and what they were pointing to across standard ISDN Internet connections. We replicated the volumes at each site, and only sent state changes over the Internet. Still nothing like this commercially, 18 years later. Song 085b is a brief history of Exxon and how Weeks Petroleum became a partner to BHP in Australia. Song 085c is a brief history of the key geophysical contractors. Song 085d is about the early days of oil and gas exploration. Song 085e is a brief history of oil exploration in Texas. Song 085f summarizes exploration in The Middle East. Song 085g is a brief history of oil exploration in Canada. Song 085h is a brief history of oil exploration in Africa. Song O85i summarizes the major oil discoveries in Alaska. Song 085j is about deep-water oil and gas exploration. And Song 085k makes some predictions about the future of oil and gas exploration. Since it is the same music as Song 076 – Job, the song has the same “cannot get that tune out of my mind” appeal, once you have heard it. I think when a good musical choir takes these songs and records them, they will be a good introduction to oil and gas exploration for universities across the world.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 88. My classification on the Myers Briggs Personality Types was INTP (Introvert, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving). Doing a search on the web, it describes my personality type saying “INTPs are well known for their brilliant theories and unrelenting logic, which makes sense since they are arguably the most logical minded of all the personality types. They love patterns, have a keen eye for picking up on discrepancies, and a good ability to read people, making it a bad idea to lie to an INTP. People of this personality type aren’t interested in practical, day-to-day activities and maintenance, but when they find an environment where their creative genius and potential can be expressed, there is no limit to the time and energy INTPs will expend in developing an insightful and unbiased solution.” The key thing I learned from this test was that I am an Introvert, or as defined on the web as “quiet, reserved, and self-sufficient. Socializing drains their energy. Comfortable being alone Processes thoughts internally. Needs time alone to recharge.” Since I was old enough to think about these things, I have always seen myself as insecure. Back in 1994, I was worried about my boys choosing to have long hair, instead of following my understanding of church grooming standards. Problems were serious between Marti and myself. I thought back on the struggles my parents had, how I had influenced Mom to not leave Dad when I drove her and Sara back to Cedar from getting her Master’s Degree at Bowling Green in Ohio. I thought of the emotional scars from the fights her and Dad had night after night, and how Sara and I were in our 40’s before we realized we were each in our own rooms, alone, listening to the screaming. “Left there with thanks, malicious intent as far away as Mars.” This song is another of those very personal songs I have sang to myself for years. When Alan Peterson recorded me singing several of my songs, this was one of the songs he recorded. It was the only song he ever commented on, and he liked the message. Maybe by sharing it in this forum, there will be someone who finds it and can gain from the message. I expect I am not the only person who has had “unfounded fears clutter my mind.” For an image describing my insecurity, I picked an image of the 4 Founders of Landmark Graphics at a 25th reunion of the Founding of Landmark (myself, Andy Hildebrand – who also founded AutoTune, two folks from Landmark at the reunion (whom I do not remember), John Mouton, and Bob Limbaugh.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. When I was young, Mom and I would sit at the piano, she would play songs from all of the musicals from those days, and we would sing the words together. After Marti and I wrote the musical, Swedish Roots (see Song 079 – Why I Try), my ego drove me to believe I was going to write a major musical. This song was part of the story line which was floating around in my head back in 1988, before life got really hard and I forgot about these types of day dreams. The song is basically about two businessmen preparing for a showdown in New York City. One of the businessmen, verses A and C, was someone like me, and the other one, verses B and D, was someone like some of the businessmen I have worked with in my career. I kind of like the tune, and the message, and since I am 30 years older than when I wrote the song, I know it will never go anyplace. Oh well! I do enjoy writing the songs, and singing them to myself, and sometimes to others.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song is referenced by Song 008 – Fallen Angel, and was not used as the music for a Psalm. The photo to the left shows Mr. and Mrs. Yan Dunshi. Mr. Yan was the Chief Geologist of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry when I first met him. He found the first buried hills giant oil fields in China, and received personal accolades and rewards from Mao Zedong. He liked me. Big companies, like Schlumberger and Halliburton, would spend months setting up a fifteen-minute meeting with Mr. Yan. On many of my 60+ trips to China, I would call him up, and we would meet for dinner, or we would take our guitars to the Beihai Park and sing to Chinese tourists who were going through the park. I gave Mr. Yan the small guitar I am playing in this photo. Mrs. Yan was the Chief Geochemist for the Ministry of Petroleum Geology. They were truly a power couple, and very close friends. The last I heard is Mr. Yan has some issues with Alzheimer’s. When I took Gene Ennis and Chuck Edwards to China for the first time, I wrote this song using Mr. Yan’s guitar. The challenges Gene faced, as described in the song, all happened. These challenges were small compared to many of the challenges I faced in all of the trips I took to China, and to other places around the world. Thankfully I never drank Mao Tai, never attempted lighting it on fire and then drinking it, never spilled a burning drink on the floor and almost starting a fire, and I do not recall having a bottle of cologne break in my suitcase and getting all over my clothes. I still remember Chuck Edward’s reaction as I sang the song to the team that came over to China from Houston, including the President of Landmark Graphics, Gene Ennis. Gene was the primary reason I left Landmark Graphics.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 126. I think this is the first song I wrote where the words (for the chorus) were taken directly from another source. The chorus was a definition of the word “dream” in a dictionary I had in those days: “Images created in our minds eye, emotions, abstractions too, a release from reality, true reverie, beauty, an ideal too.” Certainly, these are not words I would just come up with. I remember fishing at the upper pond at Calf Springs Ranch, and as I sat there with a worm on the hook, watching the clouds pass by, dreaming about building a new type of city up the hill to the south of the pond. These were the story books, exercising my inner soul, which became the driving force of my life (see Song 90 – Deseret and Song 100 – Zion). These daydreams, or dreams, or visions, have certainly made me look like an angel or like a ghoul to others. This song was written in 1986, when I was struggling with those at Landmark who were having affairs, and the impact I thought their actions had on my integrity. And yet, I still believed (and still believe today) these dreams and these ideas will reach an ideal, even though the pat to get to the ideal can be very twisted. The photo to the left is intended to capture this, with the reflection on the geodesic map of the earth by my frontal lobe, and me, as an old man, still having these dreams, daydreams, visions driving my choices and actions. For example, believing that someday, the effort to capture, to post and to share these songs, descriptions of these songs, and photos which point to these songs will be of benefit to one of my descendants, or to someone else. When I think about it logically, and anticipate the negative reaction of some of my loved ones to my candor and the words I have written in the songs or in the descriptions of the songs, it does not make logical sense to keep doing this work. Oh well! I am driven by ideals and by things I do not understand.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was not used as the music for a Psalm. Crawl, walk, and run down the road of life, carrying ourselves and those who are on our way to the place we came from. I have always been fascinated with clouds. You see this reference in many of my songs (of those posted so far, including Song 030 – El Rancho Cima, Song 058 – Reunion, Song 068 – The First Anniversary, Song 069 – Dreams, Song 072 – 21st Anniversary, and several times in Song 076 – Job). I firmly believe we have a Father and Mother in heaven, and we will return to them after we die. We were carried by our parents. We experience rain and thunder, as shown by the photo to the left (one of Dynamic Measurement’s lightning photos, this one titled Volcanic_ash_lightning.jpg and I think it is from a volcanic eruption in Chile). As we stand up, we find we fall down. As we make choices, we find we sometimes make poor choices. These choices build “character, strength, and an inner pride.” The sunlight comes through the clouds and shows us the right way to go. We can see where we have been, and we can know where to go, especially if we listen to The Holy Ghost. Simple words. Simple concepts. Still these words and concepts are very hard for those with addictions or who are too caught up in the pride of the world to recognize and to see. It sometimes seems like setting an example is not enough. And yet, given we allow everyone to have the free will we enjoy, example is the only way to bring those we love, which is hopefully everyone, back to our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Mother.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
This song was used as the music for Psalm 31. I picked a photo of Andrea and I on a hike to Calf Springs Falls to post to the left, because family is why I try. This song was written about 11 months after I left Mobil Oil and went to work at The Seismic Acoustics Lab (SAL) at the University of Houston. I was busy in those days. We had 4 little kids. I was the Young Men’s President in the Maplewood Second Ward. Marti and I had written a musical, Swedish Roots, which we had put on in Dallas, and which we put on about this same time in the Maplewood Second Ward. Later I would be called as the Elder’s Quorum President, just as we were starting Landmark Graphics, and I was starting my extremely busy travel schedule. I did write “New Technologies in Exploration Geophysics” about 2 years after writing this song. Still have not taken the time to pick up on the art work taught in 9th Grade, and it is 38 years after I wrote this song. Still trying to be richer, and I never seems to go very far or very fast. Lots of potential. I enjoy my work (see verse 6 of Song 001 – Open My Eyes Please), I feel like ideas and thoughts are planted in my mind (see description of Song 001 – Open My Eyes Please , Song 047 – Spirit World, and Song 085a-k – Merging Mind & Matter) and I enjoy it more when I can help a child, or someone else. The songs reflects how much we had been blessed. My mind goes to the geodesic fort I built for the kids in the back yard of our Missouri City home. I’ve always been a big picture, long-term project guy, and this is reflected in the desire to help “all of God’s other children,” and to bring everyone to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This song was obviously written before I started quoting my Grandpa Hafen, who said “Steers try too.”
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.
