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The Saviour Is Waiting
Ralph Carmichael
The Savior is
waiting to enter your heart,
Why don't you let Him come in?
There's nothing in this world to keep you apart,
What is your answer to Him?
Chorus:
Time after time He has waited before,
And now He is waiting again
To see if you're willing to open the door:
O how He wants to come in.
If you'll take one step toward the Savior, my
friend,
You'll find His arms open wide;
Receive Him, and all of your darkness will end,
Within your heart He'll abide.
Chorus:
Time after time He has waited before,
And now He is waiting again
To see if you're willing to open the door:
O how He wants to come in.
Behind the Song: The Savior is Waiting
Mr. Carmichael shares that his
pastor, Lester Harnish, requested he write a new hymn to be used as an
invitation each night for the upcoming revival. This revival was
scheduled to last for two weeks and would be sung at the end of the sermon.
At the beginning of the revival a
ladies trio would step forward to sing the hymn. By the end of the
revival the words were printed in the church bulletin for the congregation to
sing.
Dr. Bob Pierce, of World Vision, had
attended a meeting and called him one day. World Vision was planning a
month long revival in Japan and asked Mr. Carmichael if he would serve as music
director. He requested that The Savior is Waiting be used each night as the
invitational hymn.
Numerous ministers attended these
revival meetings and requested permission to take a copy of the hymn back to
their home churches. Soon request came flooding in to include the song in
numerous hymnals.
This song is an example of how God
can take something that is meant for intimate use and give it a worldwide
impact.
Author: Ralph Carmichael
Ralph Carmichael (born 28 May 1927, Quincy,
Illinois) is a composer and arranger of both secular pop music and contemporary
Christian music, being regarded as one of the pioneers of the latter genre.
Married to Marvella and father to composer and artist Carol Parks. His big
break came at the end of the 1950s, when his work came to the attention of
Capitol Records, who asked him to provide the arrangements for an album of
mainly sacred Christmas songs by one of the label's biggest stars, Nat King
Cole.
The result, The Magic of Christmas, was released
for the 1960 festive season, by which time Capitol had already set Carmichael
to work with Cole on more secular albums.
Carmichael duly became Cole's most regularly
utilised arranger from then until the singer's death in early 1965, their first
mainstream pop collaboration being The Touch Of Your Lips (also
1960), an album of romantic ballads backed by lush strings, and their final
team-up being Cole's last album, L-O-V-E, with jazzy big band
arrangements, recorded in December 1964, only two months before Cole succumbed
to the lung cancer which was already in its advanced stages, although that is
little evident from the recordings.
In between these two very different albums were
Cole projects which demonstrated Carmichael's versatility even more, from the
Latin arrangements of More Cole Espanol (1962), through the
old-time music hall style of 1963's Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer
(album), to the plaintive, country and western charts for I Don't Want to Be
Hurt Anymore (1964).
The twin highlights of Carmichael's stint with
Cole, however, were the critically acclaimed Nat King Cole Sings/George
Shearing Plays (1962) and the ambitious Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady (1964).
Carmichael wrote arrangements for many other top
performers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Stan Kenton, Jack Jones,
Peggy Lee, Julie London, Al Martino and Roger Williams. Worthy of particular
note are his charts for Sue Raney's comeback album All By Myself, recorded in
1963 and released in early 1964. Capitol Records had wanted Stan Kenton to back
Raney on the project, but when the celebrated bandleader proved to be
unavailable, they turned to Carmichael, who wrote hip, bluesy, big band arrangements
in the Kenton style, which were considered to be accomplished substitutes. When
Capitol promptly dropped Raney after she was knocked down by a car and left
largely unable to promote the album during a long convalescence, the singer
stuck with Carmichael to provide the arrangements for her next album on Philips
Records.
Carmichael was also Musical Director for I
Love Lucy during the later years of the show.
He arranged most of the carols on the Stan Kenton
album "A Merry Christmas"
It is in the field of Christian music that
Carmichael has been most prolific. In particular, his experiments in pop-rock
style in the 1960s and 1970s have brought him recognition as the "Father
of Contemporary Christian Music". He founded Light Records in order to
widen the audience for the music of the Jesus People. He was subject to
controversy from within the church, being called a heretic for his use of
guitars in worship and his adaptations of Gospel songs to big band stylings.
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