Matt Redman’s popular Christian album, “10,000 Reasons,” peaked at No. 1 on the US Christian Album chart for three straight years from 2011 to 2013.
The title song on this album, “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)” is probably one of the fastest songs Redman has ever written.” Redman estimated it took less than an hour to create. When Jonas, his friend, played its melody during one of their songwriting sessions, Redman with guitar in hand, began singing the verse Bless the Lord, Oh my soul from Psalm 103. After that, the remaining lyrics just flowed from him.
In Redman’s own words, this particular song almost didn’t make on the album, ‘I thought, “Oh, that’s a bit simple, it’s a bit folksy,’ he recalls. ‘It doesn’t have a pre-chorus, it doesn’t have a bridge.” That’s how silly I am. We had, like, 20 songs to choose from. Hand on heart, without a team around me, I may not have put that on.’
But the song soon gained traction, more than justifying its inclusion on the album. ‘It seemed like the song was connecting with people,’ he says. ‘I think some of the songs that have traveled around the most with us, I had no clue when I was writing it; had no clue when I was recording it. Sometimes you just write your heart out, record it and just see what God does with it.’
See for yourself what God has done with “10,000 Reasons” by viewing an online video showing thousands of people openly praising God in the middle of New York’s Time Square on August 1, 2016.
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Sources: Premier + Unsplash - Valentina Aleksandrovna