Listen to the song; #7 on CHRISTIAN FOLKS

1986 - It was sometime between midnight and one AM and I was having a hard time getting to sleep. We were still living in the apartment in El Cajon. I had this song idea spinning around in my head and soul. It was a call to worship, and I wanted it to be a confession of faith in the desire of the collective Body of Christ to worship Him. The worship music movement was having a profound impact on us and on me personally. The focus had gone past singing about God to coming directly before his throne and bowing down before Him. And we had the awareness that this beautiful movement was happening all over the world. So as we came before His throne, all divisions were gone and all peoples were as one; worshipping Him. It truly was our desire to worship Him, and we spent a lot of our time doing so in song.

The lyrics of this song conjure up the image of such a scene for me, and it was my hope that they would help usher others into the Throne Room as well, as we sang “multitudes cry worthy is the Lamb”. The song was very successful in our home group and mildly popular in the main body. Every now and then I run into someone with an elephant’s memory that asks me to play it! I decided to put it on my WORSHIP FOLKS album since it has a decidedly folksy feel to it. It sounds a bit like the song LOVER’S CROSS by Jim Croce. One interesting tidbit about the lyrics; originally I had this line “As we enter in where angels fear to tread”, which just came to me while singing it. But I wasn’t sure if that was a biblical concept, so I ran it by Mark Crafford, and he said, “I don’t know, it might not be. I’ve heard it said that ‘fools rush in where angels fear to tread’”, which incidentally is a quote from Alexander Pope. We both chuckled about that one and I changed the lyric to “surrendering our hearts” instead of “where angels fear to tread.” I was always very cautions of not putting something unbiblical into my song lyrics. But I always liked the idea- kind of emphasizes the awesome access we have to the holy of holies through Christ.

IT IS OUR DESIRE
Words & music by Reggie Michaud  © 1986 (ref: Revelation  5:12, Nehemiah 9:6)

It is our desire to worship You
It is our desire to call upon Your Name
It is our desire to honor You
As we enter in where angels fear to tread

Before Your throne, gather all the peoples
Before Your throne, sing with one accord
Before Your throne, strongholds are no longer
Before Your throne, multitudes cry “Worthy is the Lamb!”

It is our desire to worship You
It is our desire to call upon Your Name
It is our desire to honor You
As we enter in surrendering our hearts

Before Your throne, gather all the peoples
Before Your throne, sing with one accord
Before Your throne, strongholds are no longer
Before Your throne, multitudes cry “Worthy is the Lamb!”

Listen to the song; #7 on MELTING POT

1982 - Here is another song I wrote about Jeanne McGaha. After we broke up and she had still not left it was a bit awkward being around her. It was more about the minor chords I was experimenting with and the sad feelings they evoked. I remember playing this one in my little house on 45th street and cranking the electric guitar way up loud with my cousin Gerard on drums and my friend Pat Lee playing along on his homemade electric. But that was a year later so I’m getting ahead of myself.

CASEY STEALS THE SHOW
© 1982 Words & Music by Reginald M. Michaud 

Casey steals the show as she walks into the room
With her head held high, she’s pleasing to the eye
She can see into your soul as she moves in for the kill
Doesn’t even use a word as she sets the mood to suit herself

Casey you’re always on my mind
How can I work when your body’s so close to mine
Won’t you stay here alone with me tonight
Drink some wine maybe this time get it right

Casey stole my heart when we made the silent vow
Now I am alone with my empty chest
She is far across the sea, on the hunt in foreign lands
Doesn’t even speak a word as she circles round another man

Casey you’re always on my mind
How can I work when your body’s so far away
Didn’t you stay here alone with me that night
Maybe more red wine will make me feel all right

Oh Casey; Oh Casey; Oh Casey; Oh Casey
I still love you……. I still love you!

Listen to the song; #3 on MELTING POT

1986 - This is one of those songs where I wrote the music and ten years later came the lyrics. It has a Carlos Santana sound to it. The music continued to develop slowly over the years and I remember playing this one in the house we rented in Lemon Grove. It was also around the time I purchased my Zoom 9000 multi effects processor.

The Zoom was about the size of a Walkman cassette player (remember those?) but had a fantastic true stereo sound. It sounded amazing through headphones or line out into my amp or the sound board. I would send the left and right channels to two separate channels on the sound board, but I always had to “convince” the sound man to set those channels at extreme pan opposites, one extreme left and the other extreme right. That produced a really big and full stereo sound especially when the stereo chorus or delay was used.

By the time I was doing this, I was playing lead guitar in the worship band. Steve and Diane Dahlen had moved back to San Diego from Minnesota and were leading the worship along with Tim and Tammy Cook and Hank on bass guitar. Mostly we had Larry on drums or Mark Crafford. I was playing my red Ibanez Roadstar II and also a full hollow body Ibanez similar to a Gibson ES 350. That was such a sweet guitar; I wish I still had it- I sold it (more like gave it away) at a garage sale we had in Lemon Grove when finances were very tight. I recently saw one on ebay for like twelve hundred bucks! I think I got two fifty for mine L I also sold my banjo and a bass guitar at that yard sale. Oh well- easy come, easy go!

FOR YOU PROMISED ME
Words © 1995 and music © 1986 by Reggie Michaud

Comfort me Lord Jesus. Let me feel You near.
Take away my sorrow, turn it into laughter
For You promised me You would never leave me
And You vowed to send Your Holy Spirit

Fill me, God the Holy Spirit
Heal me, God the Holy Spirit

Show me in Your presence what I need to see
Take my sinful actions cast them in the sea
For You promised me You would come to save me
And You died for me so I’d live forever

Cleanse me God the Holy Spirit
Teach me God the Holy Spirit

Listen to the song

1995 - From Psalm 54 I molded the words and ideas into this upbeat number. I thought it was cool that the prologue read “For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?” Maskil is defined as “Possibly contemplative, or Didactic, or Skillful Psalm” Websters defines Didactic as “intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment” I guess that about sums up my goal through music!

When I wrote this, I was excited to sing it in church, but by this time I wasn’t leading worship but playing lead guitar with the Foothills band. So although it was upbeat and very positive and celebratory, I couldn’t get the leaders to give it a try so it just got shelved with the rest of the unsung songs of that season of my life. This was a bit frustrating, but I had gotten used to the rejection. The hardest part was that the proverbial shelf was getting piled quite high and I was growing increasingly less inclined to write anything new only to experience the joy of rejection once again. So my songwriting waned quite rapidly as evidenced by the jumps in time between the remainder of songs to be chronicled. In fact, from this song in 1995, I didn’t complete another song until 2003.

The driving force behind the sound of this song were some new chord formations and licks I had picked up on the electric guitar.  I can remember practicing it on my red Ibanez Roadstar II in my bedroom in the house we had on Euclid in El Cajon. We had just moved there and the expense of that place forced me to take as much overtime work as I could get. We got ourselves into a pretty destructive financial quagmire at this point in our family. The more I worked the more money we had. The more we had the more we spent. The more we spent the more we “needed”. We amassed more and more toys and became quite worldly in our lifestyle.

My wife started a home daycare to help with all the expenses and it turned into a full-time large-license beast that consumed all our free time and burned her out. Our own children suffered from this as well as our home became an institution, and their parents were frequently unavailable even at home! It is only by the grace of God that they all turned out to be such great people in spite of our failings as parents.

Well this is getting quite long and rambling so I’m gonna wrap it up here. It was eight years till my next song was written. They were years of ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and watching our children grow up before our very eyes. The drama of three teenage girls turned into the war zone of three battling young boys as they took center stage in our parental responsibilities.

Some great memories of this time include numerous trips to the desert and the river, playing baseball with the boys, doing 4H with the girls and raising dairy goats and chickens. Building a tree house with the boys over Christmas break was undoubtedly more fun for me than for them.

GOD IS MY HELPER
© 1995 Words & Music by Reginald M. Michaud (Ref: Psalms  54)

Save me Lord, by the power of your name.  Guard me by your strength.
Deliver me Lord from the hand of the enemy.
For the wounds run deep down to my bones. And I’m feeling lost and weak.
So my heart cries out for my Lord to rescue me.

And I will shout: God is my helper, my savior my Lord and king!
And I will dance, till the power of heaven comes down to rescue me.

He’s come down to rescue me…He’s coming down
Come down to rescue me………The Savior’s come down
Come down to rescue me………He’s coming down
Come down to rescue me and the world!

Help me Lord, by the power of your touch.  Hold me in your hands.
Wipe my tears away as I wait for you.
Wanna feel your strength down in my bones.  Wanna hear that lion’s roar.
Then I’ll know it’s time for a heavenly victory!

And I will shout: God is my helper, my savior my Lord and king!
And I will dance, till the power of heaven comes down to rescue me.
He’s come down to rescue me…He’s coming down
Come down to rescue me………The Savior’s come down
Come down to rescue me………He’s coming down
Come down to rescue me and the world!

And I will shout: God is my helper, my savior my Lord and king!
And I will dance, till the power of heaven comes down to rescue me.
He’s come down to rescue me…He’s coming down
Come down to rescue me………The Savior’s come down
Come down to rescue me………He’s coming down
Come down to rescue me and the world!

Listen to the song; #12 on SONGS FROM THE WOOD

1987 - Like many of my songs of this time period, this song is taken from the bible; Ephesians 1:4 which is the main biblical passage to coin this wonderful phrase “holy and blameless.” It is a reminder to see ourselves the way God does and to walk worthy of the calling He places on our lives. And of course, this is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In 1987, Bluegrass music was making a strong resurgence in my life and I wanted to develop this one into a smoking fast banjo and fiddle tune, something along the lines of The Newgrass Revival band. Tragically I never had the discipline to develop the level of banjo skill necessary, but nonetheless, churned out this bluegrassy number. I occasionally attended the Bluegrass club meetings and performances each Wednesday at The Grove, which was a shopping mall off College Avenue in Lemon Grove at the time. I was also tuning in to the Sunday evening Bluegrass special on KSON, which came on at midnight after the Country Oldies show. Many of those shows I recorded on my old reel to reel and still have the tapes to this day.

I discovered that Jon and Bonnie Hayman loved bluegrass too and Jon and I started jamming every now and then, working on vocal harmonies and guitar/banjo parts. HOLY AND BLAMELESS was one song that never got completed back then. Recently, I dug it out of my folder of hand written notes and it was just six lines long- a song idea waiting to be developed. I had scrawled out some guitar chords and wrote “Bluegrass?” at the top of the page along with the date 1-27-87. As of this writing, I finished the lyrics, developed the structure, and produced and recorded it. I kind of like the idea progression of the song; it starts out as a prayer for forgiveness and cleansing, then progresses to God’s forgiveness of others, and culminates in a joyful profession that we ARE Holy and Blameless through Christ.

This one is on my fifth album SONGS FROM THE WOOD.  Here are the lyrics:

HOLY AND BLAMELESS
Words & music by Reggie Michaud  © 1987 (ref: Ephesians 1:4 )

Forgive me oh Lord for the sin in my heart
For the lust of my eyes and the error of my ways
Cuz I’m needing You now more than ever before
I can’t wait any more for the end of my days…

To be holy and blameless in the power of the Holy Spirit
To become the work of God- a perfect man
For the holy and blameless and to all who have the ears to hear it
Let Your words be written deep down in our hearts:
Holy and Blameless!

In Him there’s redemption just as He has risen
Forgiving our trespasses every day
He teaches the mystery of all His intentions
And seeks out the prodigal sons to relay:

That they’re holy and blameless in the power of the Holy Spirit
They become the work of God- a favored son
To the holy and blameless and to all who have the ears to hear it
Let Your words be written deep down in our hearts:
Holy and Blameless!

Praise to the Father and God of our Lord Jesus
Who blesses his children in the heavenly place
He chose us to serve Him before the foundations
As holy and blameless because of His grace

We are holy and blameless in the power of the Holy Spirit
We’ve become the work of God- a spotless bride
For the holy and blameless and to all who have the ears to hear it
Let Your words be written deep down in our hearts:
Holy and Blameless!

Listen to the song; #11 on SONGS FROM THE WOOD

1977 / 2012 - I was a senior in high school and life was good! I had a Kawasaki 350 street bike, (the old two-stroke three cylinder wheelie machine), and a 1975 Plymouth Duster. Even still, I regularly traveled around on my ten-speed bicycle. When I met Debbie, she was three years younger than me, but I fell pretty hard for her. She was from my rival school, Winslow and her dad had a large acreage farm out in the boonies. My friend Mike Lessard and I double dated with her and her friend Danielle and had a lot of fun.

I wasn’t saved when this was written although I was raised in the Catholic Church. It’s interesting to look back now and see how immature and selfish my motivations were back then. Forty years later, I realize I wasn’t in love and I may have even known it then, but I figured I would try my hand at a love song anyway. It came out pretty sappy to say the least! To this day I struggle with writing a decent love song to my wife. I think it’s one of those things I need to master before I die J.  When I started to record this song in 2012, I decided to convert it to a love song to Jesus, and I crafted the lyrics in that direction. Here's the lyrics:

I NEED YOUR LOVE
(Revised version) Words and music by Reggie Michaud  © 1977 / 2012

The first time that I saw you I fell in love with you
But I never dreamed it possible you could love me too
So I named you to be my star- I could love you only from afar

And the mountains and the trees and the perfect snow-white dove
Remind me of the way you fill my heart with love
And I need your love Lord- And I want your love Lord

Then one day I spied you reaching down from the sky
And while we wrestled you showed me how I could fly
Then I jumped ahead and threw away all time
I was blinded when you showed me how you could shine

But I didn’t dare to tell you of my growing love for you
Cause the fear of Your rejection kept you hidden from my view
And I need your love Lord- And I want your love Lord
Yes I need your love Lord… more than air or the sun above Lord

As I got to know you better I began to love you more
I materialized my feelings while walking through your front door
Then you broke the ice and told me you cared
I was so amazed to learn that you were scared to be rejected too

As I look into your peaceful eyes there’s nothing I’d rather do
Than to tell you that I love you and give my life to you
Cause I need your love Lord- And I want your love Lord

Listen to the song; #10 on SONGS FROM THE WOOD

1987 - This song idea came directly from Matthew 9:37-38 which says: Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest”. The passage speaks of a number of different kinds of healings and deliverances Jesus was performing including raising a girl from the dead.  The religious authorities of the day continually criticized Him for fraternizing with sinners and accused Him of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons.

Jesus felt compassion for the people of that day “because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Sound like anyone you know? Notice that it is “The Lord of the harvest” who sends out the workers. Have you been called to a particular field? Or did you just go out to work without being called? I know how frustrating that can be! Or worst, could you be just too lazy or timid to get out and do the work? I know I’m feeling convicted- these are some of the tough questions I wanted to address in this song. At the same time, I wanted to make it a prayer of the heart that hopefully someone might hear and make their own. Check out the lyrics…

LORD OF THE HARVEST
Words & music by Reggie Michaud  © 1987 (ref: Matthew 9:38)

Lord of the harvest, send out your labor
Unto the hurting to reveal the savior
Unto the sinful to teach em Your mercy
Instruct the rebellious to know You are holy

Send us Lord! To the field You prepared
Send us Lord! Though we feel weak and scared
Send us Lord! With the power from on high
Send us Lord! Upon You we rely
Send us Lord!

Lord of the harvest, stir us with passion
Renew our hearts to be full of compassion
Many are searching like lambs to the slaughter
Giving away all their sons and their daughters

Cuz the season has come and the harvest is ripe
Though the weeds and the thorns have beguiled them with strife
But the Kingdom is now opened to all who come
Restoration to heal all the blind lame and dumb

Send us Lord! To the field You prepared
Send us Lord! Though we feel weak and scared
Send us Lord! With the power from on high
Send us Lord! Upon You we rely
Send us Lord!

Listen to the song; #9 on SONGS FROM THE WOOD

1985 - This song conjures up memories of the home fellowship at Cindy Pierson’s house. Back then, it seems that the worship was so powerful and it never seemed long enough to me, even though I was leading it. After a good worship session it felt as though all the cares and stains of the world had just been washed away and the pure energy of the Holy Spirit filled me with excitement of all the possibilities in God. It is little wonder we wanted more of it and little wonder that we grew in leaps and bounds, spinning off many other fellowships out of that seed group.

Mark Hoffman was such an amazing home fellowship leader- he was so laid back and open to what the Spirit was doing and sensitive to His leading. And his insights into God’s word were so fresh and profound but easy to grasp. I felt we were a great team- I always seemed to know when to wind down the worship and he always knew when and how to transition us without stifling the point of engagement. As life began to demand more of my time and attention, I was realizing how precious and few the moments of pure worship and fellowship were.

By this time I was contemplating marriage to a girl with an infant child- so that would mean instant fatherhood. Plus I would need to take my career a lot more seriously to be able to support my new family. So I did that along with making a number of changes in my life like getting rid of all my secular music and limiting my entertainment to Christian music and talk shows. As an illustrator, I was able to listen to music and radio all day long, so the things I allowed myself to hear really affected me. As Mark H. would say, “garbage in- garbage out!” And now for the lyrics…

SO FEW ARE THESE MOMENTS
© 1985 Words & Music by Reginald M. Michaud 

So few are these moments Lord, we lift Your holy Name
So short are these meetings where we raise our hands in praise
So short is this lifetime as the days turn into years
So much for ambition when we’re crippled by our fears

So precious these moments Lord, we approach Your throne
So real is Your presence Lord, You heal the heart of stone
So clear Your direction Lord, we listen to Your voice
So lost in this fellowship, we hear no other noise

We want to stay with You and pray with You, each and every day
To raise Your Name and bless You in everything we say
Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
On earth as is in heaven, may they be the same…

Lalalala Lalalalala  Lalalala Lalalalala

So few are these moments Lord, You give us eyes to see
So short are the seasons Lord, we walk with You so free
So much is this lifetime is wasted at the door
Please enter Your kingdom to live forever more

And we’ll stay with You and pray with You, each and every day
To raise Your Name and bless You in everything we say
Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
On earth as is in heaven, soon will be the same…

Listen to the song; #7 on SONGS FROM THE WOOD

1994 - This song was a fairly vague idea that I developed into a song while recording it for SONGS FROM THE WOOD. Back in 94, I jotted down the few opening lines and came up with a simple chord progression. I wanted to convey the experience of feeling the power of the Holy Spirit during times of prayer and the laying on of hands. The sound will be decidedly spacy and ethereal; I’m thinking along the lines of WICKED GAME by Chris Isaak. This will be a soothing and relaxing sound with deep tones and deep reverb.

I would like to remind people of the wonderful experiences they’ve had in God’s presence and recall some of the feelings; physical and emotional including the positive results of that most intimate fellowship. And for those who’ve never been there, to draw them in through the power of the Holy Spirit, and give them a taste of what they’re missing. Back then in 1994, we were just scratching the surface of the outpouring we were about to receive a few years later. Nevertheless, we saw some amazing healings take place, deliverances, addictions broken and lives changed.

THE POWER OF GOD
Words & music by Reggie Michaud  © 1994

I open my hands and surrender myself
And tune out the cares of this world
Feeling the waves of His mercy and love
This is the power of God

How can He enter a sinner like me
Why would He care how I feel
He holds the whole universe in His hand
Knows where I’ll get my next meal

Feel the depth of His peace
Heal as He pours out His love
Weep with tears of pure joy
This is the power of God

Feeling as clean as the new fallen snow
As He washes my hands and my feet
He has forgotten the failures I know
Never gone down in defeat

Feel the depth of His peace
Heal as He pours out His love
Weep with tears of pure joy
This is the power of God