NOTE FROM PHILIP JOHNSON ABOUT THE ALBUM "SAILING HOME
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON SOME OF THE SONGS
1. One day I had the wonderful opportunity to take a walk (with my guitar) right in front of Mount Fuji in Japan near a lake on a clear day. As I lifted up my eyes I saw an eagle flying high and the Lord gave me the song "The Heart Is Trying to Talk". A Japanese man came walking by so I asked him in Japanese if he would like to hear a new song. After singing it I asked him if he understood the words (he could not speak a word of English), and he said, "Yes, I think so". Maybe his heart got the message.
2. I have made many mistakes in my life, and there have been times when I felt a had missed the Lord’s will for my life. Well, to make a long story short "The Wrong Train" is a song to help lost travelers get back on the right track.
3. When one of my close friends--who is also a brother in Christ--was going through some major life changing trials, the Lord gave me a song for him, to try and express some of the sorrows and joys of life. I had the verses written but I still needed the right words for the chorus. Then one day I was reading a portion from Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan when these lines hit me...Through wind and high tide... and I got a check in the Spirit. (In the book it was referring to Christians who give up too easily because of wind and/or high tide.) After Sylvia recorded this song, "Blessings in Disguise" became one of my favorite songs on the whole CD.
4. A very sweet beautiful young lady I know had a complete mental breakdown and was put in a psychiatric institution. My heart went out to her and I was praying for her one night because I was going to see her the next day. Then the Lord gave me the song, "Ease Your Troubled Mind", and I have sung it for her often since then. I am happy to tell you she is perfectly fine now. Thank You Jesus! It works! Prayer really works!
5. About 6 or 7 years ago a child in our home wrote a little poem, and I got to read it. I liked it a lot because it seemed to express the simple sincerity of a child longing for a good friend. (The girl who wrote the poem was about 10 or 11 at the time). I toyed around with the words a bit and made a melody and added chords. That child’s poem grew up and became the song "A Friend of This Kind". It's funny, that kid is now a high teen and wants to remain anonymous. She is very cool and popular, and now she seems to have a lot of friends
6. I know a girl who was battling depression. At that time, she even used to talk about taking her own life. I worried a lot about her when she was going through that darkness. I wanted so much to cheer her up somehow and the Lord gave me the song, "Though I Don't Know Why" for her. At first she thought the song was a joke, and she would change the words and sing it back to me, playfully sort of teasing me. I loved it when she would laugh. She has since then climbed out of the pit of depression, thank God!
Those were some of the stories behind the writing of some of the songs on the new CD. I am very happy about this CD and the way it came out. It is all about God and Jesus and it is very fulfilling to have an entire album of serious songs. I have recorded a lot of slightly comical Japanese CDs in the past, but these new songs are more the way I really truly feel now days. We made the music very clean and not too rocky because we were hoping to zero in on hearts and souls. Plus we hoped any one could learn to play them, so we tried to keep the music fairly simple. That is why there is not much in the way of flashy riffs and/or massive drum solos in these arrangements; it is mainly pretty mellow stuff--you know, "healing music". (Oh, by the way we have another CD in the works coming out soon, full of electric guitar lead breaks and rocking drum beats and freaky organ solos.---For those who just can't seem to be "healed" any other way. Ha!)
Much love in Jesus, Philip Johnson
