Here he talks more about what’s keeping his praise so fresh after all these years.
CT: The message in A New Hallelujah is very refreshing. What’s the thinking behind the song?
MWS: Well, the title was my wife’s idea, which is just incredible, I love the title. It’s about sing to the Lord a new song. Where are the new songs? And being hands and feet – “arise church and reach to the other side”. And “A New Hallelujah” – we’ve got to have more colour. Maybe that’s not an issue in the UK but in America it’s like all white and all black. It’s the most segregated hour of the week. And with the African Children’s Choir, bringing them in was all about coming together. It’s saying let’s sing a new song, go out and change the world.
CT: Do you have a special attachment to Africa?
MWS: When I wrote that song and “When I think of you”, I thought about them. I wrote “When I think of you” for them. I’ve worked with them in the past and love the fact that they are not just a great children’s choir but they are all orphans.
It’s the whole Isaiah 58 thing for me. That is the key chapter in the Old Testament about what we are supposed to do with the downtrodden, the widows, the orphans and the poor.
They are all orphans from Africa and there are problems there. We’ve got Darfur and the Aids epidemic, which is just massive and affects all parts of Africa from north to south. So we’ve got to get busy. We can help solve this thing. For us to stand back and be judgemental and not do a thing, well, God have mercy on us.
CT: You’ve been around a long time!
MWS: Yeah it’s been a great run! I've had a lot of fun!
CT: How do you keep your song new, how do you keep your hallelujah new on a personal level?
MWS: I think great friends. I’m really, really close to my family, to my kids. I’ve got an amazing wife who is extremely godly and will tell me if she doesn’t think I’m doing the right thing. She is just awesome and extremely supportive. And of course my pastor who I’ve walked with for 29 years, I’ve just got people who speak into my life on the spiritual level.
And on the musical level you surround yourself with great thinkers and innovators and creative people and great writers and you listen to great stuff so you just sort of keep yourself at the top of your game. And believe me I’ve made my share of song blunders, songs I wish I’d never written! But it’s all part of growing up and learning and you get better at it. You’re in trouble if you’re not getting better at what you do!
