Kim Walker's "How He Loves Us"

**tenwatt** · 10-16-2009, 08:18 AM

I’ve recently be introduced to the Jesus Culture which is a surprise to me because they are just about identical to our style at church. Maybe this has been discussed before (I search and didn’t find anything) but, the song “How He Loves Us”…wow. Amazing song, amazing passion, amazing lyrics…except that ONE uncomfortable line. I’m jamming to the song and in the last verse Kim Walker sings:

“We are His portion and He is our prize.
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes.
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.”

So far I’m intrigued and it’s beautiful and intelligent and I LOVE it…but then:

“So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss…”

What!? I rewound it and played it again…“So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss…”

The full verse reads as this:

“We are His portion and He is our prize.
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes.
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.

So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
and my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us.”

All I could think was “Really!? You’re going to sandwich THAT line in THIS song?”

It’s not that it offended me or wounded me in any way, in fact I immediately joked with the others in the car that she had another song on the album called “I Wanna Make Out With Jesus". It’s just that this line managed to distract myself and two other adults in the car and I can only imagine it would kinda shock anyone in a worship environment. I can see kids and teens giggling, adults frowning, and fogies fainting.

I’m thinking about doing the song BUT I will change that line if we do it.

Anyone have experience with this song? Any thoughts?

playing4one · 10-16-2009, 08:48 AM

You may want to check this link out. It is an interview with the guy who wrote the song and his reason for writting that line.

John Mark McMillan discusses David Crowder and “Sloppy Wet Kiss” | Our Rising Sound

I agree with you though it is one of the weirdest lines in praise & worship right now. The article in the link above does a very good job of explaining it though.

Joe F · 10-16-2009, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyskankrye

I’m thinking about doing the song BUT I will change that line if we do it.

Just an FYI based some research I did last year when I wanted to alter the lyrics to a different song we were planning to use.

You can sing the song in whatever way you choose, but if song lyrics are copywritten and you alter them in written form, either by the lead sheets you give your vocalists, or the words you put up on a screen without permission of the copyright owner, you are breaking copyright law. There is no gray area either. The copyright owner declined to authorize the change and I had to abandon the song I was planning to use. I had only wanted to change one sentence.

How He Loves
CCLI#: 5032549
Author: John Mark McMillan
Copyright: 2005 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
Catalog: Integrity's Hosanna! Music
Administrator: Integrity Music, Inc.

gtrdave · 10-16-2009, 09:54 AM

Yeah, it'd be easy enough to change "sloppy wet" to "intimate" (same number of syllables and same 'intent'), but then you've got 'THE LAW' to deal with in regards to amending someone else's work.

I'm torn on the issue. As a songwriter, I think I can understand the desire of the author of the song to express themselves as they are uniquely led, but I also think that I would have had at least some awareness that the song and specifically that line in the song may not be the best option for corporate worship.

Frankly, if we did the song, I'd make the change regardless of what 'THE LAW' says. If the author requested that we stop playing it, fine.

“I Wanna Make Out With Jesus"?
Wasn't that the name of a song from the Christian Rock episode of South Park?

metropolis4 · 10-16-2009, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe F

Just an FYI based some research I did last year when I wanted to alter the lyrics to a different song we were planning to use.

You can sing the song in whatever way you choose, but if song lyrics are copywritten and you alter them in written form, either by the lead sheets you give your vocalists, or the words you put up on a screen without permission of the copyright owner, you are breaking copyright law. There is no gray area either. The copyright owner declined to authorize the change and I had to abandon the song I was planning to use. I had only wanted to change one sentence.

How He Loves
CCLI#: 5032549
Author: John Mark McMillan
Copyright: 2005 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
Catalog: Integrity's Hosanna! Music
Administrator: Integrity Music, Inc.

Hasn't anyone heard David Crowder's newer version of this song?!

He changed the line to "Heaven meets Earth like an unforseen kiss"

I did it last week at church with that line and it went over extremely well!

Personally I absolutely love John Mark McMillian's original version, but I don't feel right using it as a worship song. Not because of that line, but because it's an intensely personal song and he didn't intend for it to be a worship song. The last verse in his original hits you hard...
I love that David Crowder kinda took this awesome song and turned it into a worship song.

Oh, and about the copyright thing. David Crowder personally asked John Mark McMillian's permission to change the line. So I don't see the problem with using that version...

**tenwatt** · 10-16-2009, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtrdave

“I Wanna Make Out With Jesus"?
Wasn't that the name of a song from the Christian Rock episode of South Park?

I don't watch South Park. That's kinda funny that we came up with the same thing if they did that though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by metropolis4

Hasn't anyone heard David Crowder's newer version of this song?!

He changed the line to "Heaven meets Earth like an unforseen kiss"

I just read about that a minute ago. I haven't heard it yet.

Joe F · 10-16-2009, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metropolis4

Oh, and about the copyright thing. David Crowder personally asked John Mark McMillian's permission to change the line. So I don't see the problem with using that version...

Yeah, it's not like the Copyright Police are going to storm into your church and start arresting people. Last year, when I was refused persmission to make a change, I started having the thoughts like "Who would know?" "Who would it hurt?" "I'm not making any money off of it." etc.. but in the end, I just felt it was morally long to violate "the law" regardless of how harmless it seemed or even that the law seemed like overkill.

Even if David Crowder obtained permission to alter the lyric, if you plan to alter the lyric in written form, you are still supposed to get your own approval from the copyright owner unless Crowder's version has also now been copywritten.

Still, as I said, it's not like a SWAT team will roll up in your church parking lot so make it a personal decision based on how you feel about it from a moral and ethical standpoint...

gtrdave · 10-16-2009, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyskankrye

I don't watch South Park. That's kinda funny that we came up with the same thing if they did that though.

I don't watch the show as a habit, but I'd heard others talking about that episode and finally caught most of it (in it's censored form) on tv one night.
As much as the creators of that show can be accused of being raunchy, they can also be accused of exposing a lot of truth through comedy. btw: the episodes on Mormonism and Scientology are frighteningly accurate.
Yet I digress...and I had forgotten that I heard the Crowder version before, but never paid attention to the lyric change. I'll have to check it out again.

**DaGeek** · 10-16-2009, 12:18 PM

Personally, I wouldn't change it. We've done that song in our church, and we use the line "sloppy wet kiss," and it's always worked out just fine. Sometimes we'll explain it; other times, we'll just leave it alone and do it anyway. Either way, the song always goes over really well. I really like the imagery in that line, even though it is a bit on the amusing side mental-image-wise.

**Sean** · 10-16-2009, 12:59 PM

My favorite version of the song is Jeremy Riddle's version. It's on a 3 song live EP he released on iTunes a month ago. His voice fits the melody perfectly.

I like the line "sloppy wet kiss," but that's probably because I'm inclined towards things which are shocking and stir an emotion and reaction out of people.

1 Into God · 10-27-2009, 03:18 PM

DCB's version has "Unforseen kiss"... I don't know, I like sloppy wet kiss better. First time I heard the song at Campus Crusade I smiled when that line came up... just something genuine and real about it. I'm sure God gives the best sloppy wet kisses around, and I'm doubly sure I wouldn't mind getting one from Him.

Adam B · 10-27-2009, 04:28 PM

At the church I go to, we do that song...I actually think I like the version we do better than the Kim Walker version (the girl who sings it has a really nice high range so we key it up to A instead of F# - something about that key makes the big part feel more majestic somehow )...and yes, we use the "sloppy wet kiss") line.

**Gustin** · 11-05-2009, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtrdave

Yeah, it'd be easy enough to change "sloppy wet" to "intimate" (same number of syllables and same 'intent'), but then you've got 'THE LAW' to deal with in regards to amending someone else's work.

I'm torn on the issue. As a songwriter, I think I can understand the desire of the author of the song to express themselves as they are uniquely led, but I also think that I would have had at least some awareness that the song and specifically that line in the song may not be the best option for corporate worship.

Frankly, if we did the song, I'd make the change regardless of what 'THE LAW' says. If the author requested that we stop playing it, fine.

“I Wanna Make Out With Jesus"?
Wasn't that the name of a song from the Christian Rock episode of South Park?

John Mark didn't really write this as a worship song, at least not in the corporate sense. There's also a third verse that most people don't know about. Full song and story: YouTube - How he loves us - John Mark (Legendado)(Habilite Legenda)

metropolis4 · 11-05-2009, 11:25 PM

I just did this song again and decided to use sloppy wet kiss this time and it still went over very well. I didn't hear any complaints. I actually had a couple people mention they were glad to hear the original line this time

Of course I also sang the words "whore" and "bastard" in the same service so those could have cushioned the shock a bit

Quote:

John Mark didn't really write this as a worship song, at least not in the corporate sense

But I love that he says he sings it now as a worship song. The song has evolved and become something bigger through God's plans than his original intention for it.

Dave H · 11-08-2009, 09:22 PM

We did this song today and used the Crowder re-wording. The first time I listened to the song I was taken aback by the line; mostly I think, just because I was surprised to hear such a line in a song being used for worship. I also think the line has the potential to be distracting for a lot of people, so on the one hand, I was glad we didn't use it. On the other hand, the more I listen to the song the more I like the line and found myself wishing today that we would have used it. Some people may have been distracted, but I don't think anybody would have been too bent out of shape over it.