The Story of HIS
His, c. 1970
The year is 1970 and I’m just starting undergraduate work at Pacific Christian College. The previous decade was tumultuous, to say the least: the assassinations of President Kennedy in 1963, of Senator Robert Kennedy in 1968, and of Dr. Martin Luther King also in 1968 shook the country. The new draft lottery hangs like a cloud over my head as the Vietnam War rages on, along with political protests in our country.
Yet I had hope for the future. I was just starting college and had been invited to audition on piano for a new group the college was forming. (I am the young man with sideburns at the piano.) In its two-year life, we performed around 400 concerts and traveled 100,000 miles across the Southwest United States, performing mostly in churches and also other venues.
The group of 9 included 5 singers, guitarist, bass guitarist, piano, and drums. We performed a variety of music from “Contemporary Christian” (a term that was just then gaining some currency) to a cappella hymn arrangements, to soulful ballads, bluegrass, and even a song or two from secular sources like the musical Hair. Some churches considered the use of guitars in worship to be rather sinful and the use of drums downright outrageous. I’m told that our basic sound reminded some listeners of “The Fifth Dimension.”
The group came to be known as “His.” Since the group was new, it didn’t have a theme song, so I got to work writing one. When I heard the song again for the first time 20 years later, I was impressed (not positively) with the great jumble of musical ideas in the 3-minute piece. “It’s a mess!” I exclaimed. My colleague, the guitarist said, “No! You got a whole rock opera into one piece!” This was high praise since the guitarist had to deal with my piano-oriented harmonies like Am7(-5).
NB: the music includes a direct quote from the song “Don’t sleep in the subway.” Don’t ask me why!
The lyrics of the theme start out:
Meaning and purpose and peace of mind, Shackles of selfishness left behind, Freedom to know the truth as it stands, All these are mine. I still agree with the content of the lyrics, although I think the poetry could be a lot better. I hope you can hear the energy and hopeful tone to the live recorded performance below.
