30 year anniversary - WOW !!!

BODY BUILDERS

photo by Nancy

The "Body Builders" Team
Fall 1978

Jon Pierce, Bruce Mills, Ralph Merrifield, Don Burke, Barry Nilson
During the recording session in a basement Sunday School room
of the First Christian Church, West Mansfield MA.

THE SONGS

And This I Pray
Blessed Is The Man
Directions
Evening Prayer
Grace
Help Me To Appreciate
How Sweet Are Thy Words
I Wait For The Lord
I'm A Child Of The King
In Every Single Situation
My Father Can Do Anything
Open My Eyes
Romans 4:19-22
That Ye Might Walk  M
To Behold You   M

Now you can hear the MP3 recordings !
(uploaded May 2008)

HISTORY

I became a Christian in April 1975 through the 
influence of a beautiful young lady (who I later married!) 
and the faithful, loving saints at First Christian Church.
In the Fall of 1975, I began attending Westfield State College.

During the summer months,
I worked at Charles A. Richardson Company,
running oily, noisy metal stamping machines
(forming parts for metal barrels).

While my hands were creating barrel parts,
my mind was shaping many of the
Scripture-songs found on this recording.

This was my first attempt to write and record Scripture-based songs.
I described it as "a contemporary Christian song cycle" on the songbook
cover (my music composition & history studies were influencing me!).
My newness as a believer is quite evident in the
simple lyrics and occasionally awkward melodies,
but my heart was sincere...

We distributed less than 75 copies of the cassette,
but did rerecord two of the songs in later years
("My Father Can Do Anything",  "In Every Single Situation").
The latter was recorded and performed by a 
wonderful choir in Finland!

For years, I sang "Evening Prayer" to my children as a lullaby
and periodically use "Open My Eyes" in public
worship gatherings at New Hope Chapel.

A new arrangement of "Open My Eyes" was
written in May 2008.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Don Burke, Jon Pierce and Barry Nilson (the backup singers!)
were in my summer church discipleship group in Mansfield MA.
Bruce Mills (who recorded our session)
was in my college Bible Study in Westfield MA
(and a best man at my wedding!).

Tom Ross (who mixed the tape)
was one of my non-Christian coworkers
at Charles A. Richardson Company.

Arnold and George Giles from the Mansfield Press
donated their services to design and print the
Body Builders songbook (cover below).

the "Body Builders" songbook cover

All songs copyright 1979, Ralph Merrifield
New Hope Music, PO Box 1612, Westboro MA 01581

You have our encouragement and permission
to duplicate and share this song for all "not-for-profit" purposes
(ie. corporate worship, overheads, songbooks, web sites, give-away copies).
Please contact New Hope for other uses. Thanks !!!

photo by Nancy, 1978

HOME    TOP 10     SONG PAGES     HOW TO USE     CONTACT US

Last updated    5/10/08

visits since 7/20/04