A Song You've Never Heard: "Calvary"

A Song You've Never Heard: "Calvary" March 28, 2011

Oh the myst’ry of that cursed, blessed hill

Where the sinless Son fulfilled the father’s will…
***

Today I’m going to point my readers to a song that, as far as I know, has never been professionally cut. It was written by Ben Storie, who was recently interviewed along with Lee Black by Daniel J. Mount. Ben is a gifted writer, and even though nobody has picked this song up yet, I consider it to be among the best I’ve heard from him. The melody is beautiful, and the lyrics are smoothly crafted. You can hear a demo of it (presumably his own), on his spot at American Songspace. [Edit: Ben Storie has clarified that the demo was actually done by Lee Black. Thanks Ben!] [April 18, 2014 EDIT: This link no longer works.] Just scroll down and find “Calvary” in the player. The demo is naturally a little rough, but it will give you a good idea of the song.
If I had to pick a nit, I would say that the one misstep in the lyric is the use of the word “tragedy” to describe Jesus’ crucifixion. Ordinarily, one would use the word to describe an unfortunate event, something sad that happened without warning. Of course Jesus deliberately chose the cross, and his tormentors deliberately chose to kill him. The other meaning of the word is “A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw.” Jesus’ story is of a rather different nature, obviously.
But setting that aside, I am baffled that this song hasn’t been recorded by a major gospel artist. It’s far better than a good many other songs I could name that have found success. Well worth a listen!


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