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Wood for Your Fire
“Wood for Your Fire,” by 12 Measures of Interest
When your faith is a desert, under darkest of skies
When you wander empty tombs in the wind,
When all your rivers have gone silent, and your streams have run dry
When your roads have all come to an end,
Chorus:
I’m the wood for your fire, what you need in this land
Of prophets and poets, scratching psalms in the sand. [repeat]
When grace is a desert, under hottest of suns
When your love is as bare as the trees,
When there’s nothing in sight, of a swift, clearing dawn,
When your death is a morning to me,
Chorus
When heaven is a wasteland, under clouds without rain,
Your song is the sweetest of springs.
Like you I have wandered, like you I was lost,
Now all that you need I will bring.
Chorus
When your faith is a desert, under darkest of skies
When you wander empty tombs in the wind,
When all your rivers have gone silent, and your streams have run dry
When your roads have all come to an end,
Chorus
I’m the wood for your fire, the sandals for your street
The heart of your desire, the stones beneath your feet.
I’m the honey for your hunger, the well for your thirst
The roar of the thunder, the breaker of the curse.
Lyrics by Melissa Lamberton and Ken Lamberton
Music by 12 Measures of Interest: Melissa, Ken, Bill Devinney, Eric Cross, Celia Major, and Pat Kelly
Process notes
Ken writes:
My daughter Melissa and I have been writing music recently, which my band 12 Measures of Interest then performs at church — a Lutheran church with a rock-and-roll band. The end result, however, is really a composition from six people since each member of the band contributes his/her own artistic flare. Our first original song, “Wood for Your Fire,” was first performed a few months ago. The recording isn’t professional, just a couple of microphones set up in front of us, but it’s not too bad.
Melissa first came up with the idea in a “love” poem she wrote that had the line “I’m the wood for your fire” and some other phrases like “prophets writing in the sand.” She and I then began playing with the lyrics as I worked up a rudimentary melody on my acoustic guitar. It took several months of hashing out the final song, working from the “wood for your fire” theme — Melissa was very particular about every word. She didn’t want the final result overtly “religious” and wanted to maintain the original love poem. Once we had the lyrics and basic melody, I shared the song with my music group, who added their own quality. I play bass, so I turned the guitar rhythm over to Bill Devinney, who also added a harmony line. Eric Cross developed the percussion and additional harmony. Celia Major came up with the wonderful high vocal harmony while Pat Kelly on lead guitar chose the slide bar to add his own particular flavor to the end result.
Melissa writes:
This song began life as a poem. The line “I’m the wood for your fire” stayed with me long after the poem was finished — this idea of a love so pure it consumes itself to keep another warm. Love strips you down to the essentials, so I wanted the scene to be a desert — a place where simple necessities become an abundance. The words changed as we fit them to music, but that sense of haunting desolation remained. It seemed impossible to play in anything but a minor key.
qarrtsiluni 