Books by Dale Harris

Books by Dale Harris
A Feast of Epiphanies

Though I Walk, A Novel

Daytime Moons and Other Celestial Anomalies, a book of poems

Second Wind

Second Wind
An album of songs both old and new. Recorded in 2021, a year of major transition for me, these songs explore the many vicissitudes of the spiritual life,. It's about the mountaintop moments and the Holy Saturday sunrises, the doors He opens that no one can close, and those doors He's closed that will never open again. You can click the image above to give it a listen.

The Song Became a Child

The Song Became a Child
A collection of Christmas songs I wrote and recorded during the early days of the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. Click the image to listen.

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do

This is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded in January - March, 2020 while on sabbatical from ministry. They each deal with a different aspect or expression of the Gospel. Click on the image above to listen.

Three Hands Clapping

This is my latest recording project (released May 27, 2019). It is a double album of 22 songs, which very roughly track the story of my life... a sort of musical autobiography, so to speak. Click the album image to listen.

Ghost Notes

Ghost Notes
A collections of original songs I wrote in 2015, and recorded with the FreeWay Musical Collective. Click the album image to listen.

inversions

Recorded in 2014, these songs are sort of a chronicle of my journey through a pastoral burn-out last winter. They deal with themes of mental-health, spiritual burn-out and depression, but also with the inexorable presence of God in the midst of darkness. Click the album art to download.

soundings

soundings
click image to download
"soundings" is a collection of songs I recorded in September/October of 2013. Dealing with themes of hope, ache, trust and spiritual loss, the songs on this album express various facets of my journey with God.

bridges

bridges
Click to download.
"Bridges" is a collection of original songs I wrote in the summer of 2011, during a soul-searching trip I took out to Alberta; a sort of long twilight in the dark night of the soul. I share it here in hopes these musical reflections on my own spiritual journey might be an encouragement to others: the sun does rise, blood-red but beautiful.

echoes

echoes
Prayers, poems and songs (2005-2009). Click to download
"echoes" is a collection of songs I wrote during my time studying at Briercrest Seminary (2004-2009). It's called "echoes" partly because these songs are "echoes" of times spent with God from my songwriting past, but also because there are musical "echoes" of hymns, songs or poems sprinkled throughout the album. Listen closely and you'll hear them.

Accidentals

This collection of mostly blues/rock/folk inspired songs was recorded in the spring and summer of 2015. I call it "accidentals" because all of the songs on this project were tunes I have had kicking around in my notebooks for many years but had never found a "home" for on previous albums. You can click the image to download the whole album.

Random Reads

First Man Standing, a song

When writing a song, sometimes the whole thing comes to you in a single flash, and it's simply a matter of getting it down clearly. Other times the song sort of reveals itself to you as you're writing it and you have no idea where it's going to end up when you're done. This song was more of the later. When I started it, I had it in mind to write a sort of Chrsitian version of that classic Meatloaf song "Bat out of Hell." Musically, I mean, not thematically. I've always loved the breakneck piano riff that opens the tune, and the chaotic structure of the song, shifting between verses and bridges and choruses and solos with narry a nod to the traditional pop-song format. It didn't take long to realize how far beyond me it was to write something that came anywhere near to approximating Jim Steinman's genius, but I kept at it until I had a piano riff that captured as best I could the uncontainable energy and wreckless abandon I feel when I listen to that 70s rock masterpiece.

After I had the music, I was scrolling through an old file on my phone where I'd written down some bits and pieces of ideas for song lyrics, and I came across the phrase "First Man Standing," a little play on the expression "Last Man Standing," that I'd jotted down in 2018. It brought to mind for me the line in Philippians 2:10-11, how every knee will bow when Christ returns. This image of Christ, the only one standing amid a countless throng of kneeling worshippers, stuck in my mind, and after a dozen or so discarded drafts, I'd penned some words that I thought had enough energy to keep up with the music.

Here's the song I eventually arrived at, after that long and winding creative journey:



After the stars fall and after the earth quakes
And after the powers of heaven are shaken
And after our sorrows are beaten to plowshares
At the final tomorrow, You will be standing there

With the firm foundation
Of new creation beneath your feet

You’ll be the first man standing
At the last sunrise
When the angels bow before you
And your glory fills the skies
After every knee is bended
And the heavens all declare
That you alone are worthy
You are worthy of standing there
On that dawning day
You’ll be the only one standing there
We fall on our knees
And you’re the only one standing, there

After the darkness is bleeding with daybreak
And after your mercy has healed every heartache
And after your passion has dried every tear
When the last word is spoken, You’ll still be standing there

With a firm foundation
Of new creation beneath your feet

You’ll be the first man standing
At the last sunrise
When the angels bow before you
And your glory fills the skies
After every knee is bended
And the heavens all declare
That you alone are worthy
You are worthy of standing
Worthy of standing
Worthy of standing there

Holy, holy, holy all creation sings your praise
Just one glimpse of your glory and we’re falling on our knees
Holy, holy, holy, all creation sings your praise
Just one glimpse of your glory and we’re falling, falling

You’ll be the first man standing
At the last sunrise
When the angels bow before you
And your glory fills the skies
After every knee is bended
And the heavens all declare
That you alone are worthy
You are worthy of standing there
On that dawning day
You’ll be the only one standing there
We fall on our knees
And you’re the only one standing, there

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