Notice: if you are the kind of person who is offended by the idea of arranging a hymn so it sounds like it could be played in a smoke-filled bar (or at least a Famous Dave's), please click the "back" button.

*waits*

Are they gone? Okay, here we go:

Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.” - Luke 5:31-32 (The Message translation)

This one's for my pal Brooke. I'm convinced that she, in premortal life, marched up to the Lord's desk, slapped her hands down upon it, and said, "I wanna do life in HARD MODE!"
And He said, "Sounds good."

She's a Broadway fan but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to Broadway this up so instead she got this bluesy version of one of her favorite hymns, "More Holiness Give Me."

I found out that this text is married to the tune, so no chance of switching out melodies, but I think I came up with an interesting twist on the third verse...Take a listen!
(You're hearing me Live from My Apartment Living Room™, so sorry if there's neighbors or cats in the background!)

It took me two years to complete this arrangement. Not because it was two years difficult, but I was two years frightened...it sounded *soooo* good in my head, and I was afraid, given my ignorance of blues composition, that I couldn't do the song justice. Prayer works, though, so I finally completed it--and it matches my imagination pretty close. (Someday, though, I hope to hear this performed live with a barbershop quartet, a soul singer, and a BIG OL GOSPEL CHOIR, EXACTLY how I imagine it!)

Oh--why'd I put a cigarette on the cover? Because when Brooke was serving as a missionary serving in Alaska, she once told me missionaries up there LOVED smelling cigarette smoke in sacrament meeting, because that meant investigators were attending!

Enjoy my arrangement? Consider purchasing a thank you copy here.