You just never know when a mandolin is going to come in handy, do you? We weren’t quite sure what to do with this song throughout rehearsals, but Janine’s vocal arrangement and Dave’s mandolin playing have transformed this into one of my favourite “driving songs”. I hope to one day get this one onto a movie soundtrack, just because I think it would be the perfect song to play in the background during a “Dukes of Hazzard” style car chase. But maybe that’s just me.

I can’t possibly comment on this song without mentioning just how proud Jon was of actually managing to use the word “Malachi” in a song, and how impressed I am that he managed, in the same song, to include the phrase “you don’t want to hear no jive”. For that reason, and for so many others, this is another song that’s very strong lyrically. It shows what the Bible has to offer to kids, who can learn so much from it, and once again it reminds us all of what Jesus has done for us.

This one is far and away the most fun to play, at least as far as Mark and I are concerned (Ange usually makes some comment about “you boys” when we practise it). The song was co-written by Jon Lambert and Graeme Howlett in 1994, and it’s gotten progressively funkier every year. Of course, when I say co-written, apparently that means Jon heard Graeme playing the riff and asked if he could steal it. However it happened, I love the result.

The final version benefits greatly from Tim Fisher’s brass arrangement (and thanks to all the musicians who stayed up very late on a school night to record this one), and of course from Jen Wilson’s vocals, which suit the song perfectly and which absolutely rock.

Everyone in the band has their own favourite song, but I think I can safely say that we all love this one. Jon says that writing the lyrics for this song took longer than for any other, but I think it was worth the effort.

Ange always gets excited about playing “Gifts”, so much so that she wanted to name the band “Ribbit” (or however you spell a frog noise). I think it’s important that we acknowledge that the ‘sha la la’ before the chorus was Ange’s idea (inspired by U2’s “Wild Horses”, trivia fans).

Personally, I just love the sound effects, and you can tell that Jon and Dave had a lot of fun adding those in. Most of the animal noises are computer generated, but listen for the screeching vulture effect in the second chorus, created by Jon Lambert himself (is there anything this man can’t do?)

Seriously, this song talks about the gifts, or talents, that we receive from God, and what these talents are for. It encourages kids to use the gifts they have instead of just sitting around like a frog that doesn’t go ribbit.

Dave Carr strikes again. I laughed very hard when I heard his “Fish, let him go” on the final version of this song. I think it’s great. I didn’t realise how much fun this song is to play live until the CD launch, when I found myself absolutely loving it, and feeling exhausted at the end of it.

To me, this song should be in any textbook that aims to show how Old Testament stories should be put to music. If, as I suspect, there is no such textbook, someone should write one.

This is the only song on the CD that was written in 1997, and it shows how Jon’s songwriting style has changed over the last few years. It would have to have been the easiest song to record, with it’s acoustic feel and minimal accompaniment (The bass line, suggested by Dave about five minutes before it was recorded, is not exactly a stretch even for me).

I don’t think the lyrics on this on require any explanation, but it’s good to see that, while Jon’s writing has changed and progressed musically, his lyrics on this song return to the twin themes of what Jesus did when he was on earth, and what he can do for us now.

Jon though about getting someone else to sing this one, but we talked him into doing it himself, because we just love the way he sings it.

Although this song was written for kids, adults seem to really respond to it as well. Well, we know that Ange loves it, and even after having heard it every week for 18 months, I must admit that I still get a bit emotional whenever we play it.

This song affects me for a lot of reasons. There’s the beautiful chord structures, and Ange’s incredible piano playing, but there’s also the message of how God is with us even in the hardest times. I think we all know what it’s like to feel like a frightened child, but we also know that no matter how afraid we feel, our God is always with us.