The Villones

Crossover Duets Program Notes
 

Forever and Ever, Amen

 

• Recorded by Randy Travis in 1987; hit #1 on Billboard charts

• By Nashville songwriters Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, the song was inspired by Schlitz’s son, who would say in his prayers, “Mommy, I love you forever and ever, amen!”

• Travis (b. 1959) sang in country and gospel genres; he has won multiple awards in secular and sacred music scenes.

• Travis had a stroke in 2013. He still sings the final “Amen” in “Forever and Ever.” 

 

Ode to Billie Joe

 

• By singer songwriter, Bobby Gentry, written in 1967

• Won three Grammy awards and inspired a film adaptation

• Lyrics are ambiguous and center around the suicide of Billie Joe and the first-person narrator’s family. Gentry explained that her inspiration was about people lacking empathy for each other’s suffering. The characters in the song are wrapped up in their own lives, even the preacher. The song can remind us to love each other as Jesus loves us.

 

I’ll Fly Away

 

• Written by Albert Brumley between 1929-1932 and published in 1932 as a hymn.

• Inspiration came from a secular ballad, “The Prisoner’s Song,” a best-selling song in the 20’s (recorded by Brenda Lee). While picking cotton, Brumley would hum to the words and realized it could be turned into a gospel song with prison as a metaphor for earthly life. (V.3 When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away, Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away)

• Recorded by crossover artists like Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley and became well known through pop culture references

 

Fly Like an Eagle

 

• Written by Steve Miller, first performed by Steve Miller band in 1973

• Fun facts: covered by Seal on Space Jam soundtrack (Michael Jordan); Birds and Blooms magazine voted it the best song about birds for bird lovers 

• Isaiah 40:30-31, “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 

• Matthew 25:40 (parable of the sheep and the goats), “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” 

 

Time After Time

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• Written by Cindi Lauper and Rob Hyman for Lauper’s debut 1983 solo album. They initially thought of it as a fast song, but then they slowed it down and it became a slow, introspective love ballad.

• First person point-of-view: verses can be thought of as us speaking to the Lord, and the chorus as the Lord speaking to us.

• Psalm 139:1-6, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

 

What a Wonderful World

 

• Written in 1967 by songwriters for a positive message in a troubled time

• Recorded in 1968 by Louis Armstrong after a Vegas show. Louis gave the other musicians his overtime pay. The producer did not like it and did not promote it.

• The producer did not promote it, but the song had gradual success and then became a hit after the movie, Good Morning Vietnam in 1988. Fun fact: it was an anachronism in the movie, taking place in 1965, before the song was recorded.

• Ecclesiastes 3:1, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

• Genesis 1:31, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” 

• Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

• Philippians 4:8, “If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”

 

Three Little Birds

 

• Written by Bob Marley, on Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1977 album, and released as a single in 1980.

• Matthew 6:25-27, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

 

You Make Me Feel So Young

 

• Written in 1946, in the film, Three Little Girls in Blue, and became a jazz standard

• Also sung by Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, and others; featured in the film, Elf 

• As former shepherds, we love the verses where Jesus talks about himself as the good shepherd. This song reminds us of the joy our lambs brought us in the spring when they ran around our pasture. 

• John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

• Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” 

• John 15:11, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

 

You Say

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• Recorded by Christian artist, singer/songwriter Lauren Daigle in 2018, (co-written with her producers); hit Billboard and Hot Christian songs charts

• Fun fact: second most longest time on any charts (behind “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole)

• Crossed over in radio airplay and won Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music in 2019; she performed it on the Jimmy Kimmel and GMA shows

• Lyrics are simple, yet a wonderful reminder of the way God loves us 

 

Bluebird

 

• Released by country artist Miranda Lambert in 2019, co-written by her a few days after she got married. 

• About going through struggles (life’s lemons) and appreciating when the sun comes out; Lambert said that after she wrote it, she started seeing bluebirds everywhere

• Won Country Music Association (CMA) award for Video of the Year

 

Hallelujah

 

• Written by Leonard Cohen, originally released in 1984. He wrote many different verses and sang different versions live. His version did not become a hit, but after others recorded it and also remixed the lyrics to suit their needs, it did. 

• Contains the Bible story reference of David’s sin, after seeing Bathsheba on the roof, and the story of Samson and Delilah from Judges

• Hallelujah is a Hebrew word that means praise to God–many people sing along with the chorus when we sing it, in all settings

• Psalm 51:1-2, 12: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…. Restore to me the joy of your salvation."

 

That’s Amore (just for fun, a celebration of Dean's Italian heritage!)

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• Written for Dean Martin to sing in The Caddy in 1953

• Amore means “love” in Italian

• I Cor. 13: 4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”