Written for solo singer.
This is something I wrote – but unlike my other music, this number is NOT for worship.
Here is its origin:
Of my many years in the Navy chaplaincy, none was more fulfilling or spiritual than those at CREDO – Chaplains Religion Enrichment Development Operation. While there, my job was to provide personal, spiritual, and marriage enrichment retreats and pastoral counseling.
On an early retreat there, which happened to be primarily for chaplains, I was astounded at how many of them seemed totally out of touch with their emotions. It was as if what they felt had no connection to their beliefs and actions. (It was as if they had never had a quarter of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) in their seminary years.) In light of that, I decided to write a song to try to address this disconnect for any future attendees.
When I started to write, the words seemed to just flow out of my pen. Verse after verse came out. Looking back, too many verses. The song was way too long and rather monotonous, but it did seem to have quite an impact on future attendees. The number began with words spoken to music, followed by six verses, then an ending. I eventually wrote it out – this was before the days of computers and computer- generated songwriting – then played it on our old upright piano while my wife, with her lovely voice, spoke and sang the words. We recorded it in our living room and still have a tape of her beautiful rendition. With the approval of my colleagues, I added the song to the many other popular songs we used during the 72-hour retreat.
There were more than 80!
Since we were periodically adding and removing various songs — always trying to keep those which seemed most helpful – as a part of the after-retreat written evaluation, we had the participants list the five-or-six songs influencing them the most. Most of the time they listed this song in the top five. In light of that, I shared the song with other Navy CREDO retreat installations around the world.
One of the retreat’s volunteer team members, whose nephew had written the popular song, “You Needed Me,” actually encouraged me to try to publish “Hey, Mr. Nice Guy.” Though I did copyright it, I was never able to get it published.
Looking back, the best thing about the song was the lovely recording we still have of my wife’s singing it – plus the lives it touched at the time.
