HomeARC ML 1091
LET GO & LET GOD!--By Father David DFO1091 11/10/81
1. THE PRODIGAL SON WAS THANKFUL TO BE HOME & OUT OF THE SLIMEPIT & the swinepit & rot of the World & & its corruption & its enslavement & everything, but at the same time it must have been a little difficult for him to get used to not being his own boss anymore, you know? Not having all the freedom & the fun that he used to have. It must have been hard for him to have to be almost like a servant, he had to not only obey his father but the older brother.
2. HE WAS NO LONGER HIS OWN BOSS, NO LONGER FREE & INDEPENDENT TO DO AS HE PLEASED, he had obligations, he had some other people to think about, which is love, love is an obligation. The Worldliness he enjoyed before was pure selfishness. It's hard, I am sure, for you prodigal sons to get back to having to think about somebody else besides yourselves. The Prodigal Son had to learn it all over again, he had to learn responsibility for others & unselfishness & sacrifice.
3. I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED THE PRODIGAL SON WAS PROBABLY TEMPTED TO LEAVE HOME A LOT OF TIMES AFTER THAT, having arguments with his brother & the stern law of his father & the hard work & no more big selfish pleasure fun, & be loving & kind & think about other people. I wouldn't be surprised if he was tempted to leave again. But if he sticks it out, he would get the reward for his own labours. But he doesn't get to inherit it this time, this time he's got to earn it. you have lot your inheritance & you birthright, it's not free any more, you really have to work hard for it. you've got to prove yourselves & you've got to earn it if you want to get any kind of reward or recognition or position or whatever.--Amen? Sorry, but that's the cost of backsliding!--Now:
4. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO TRY TO WORK UNDER INSPIRATION & AT THE SAM TIME BE WORRIED ABOUT ALL THOSE MECHANICS & electronics & timing & all the material & all the mundane things when you're trying to be ethereal & aesthetic. That's why I hate that business of stopping: "Now let's do that over again!" You can't just turn inspiration off & on like that! I know with me it was that way, you get an inspiration & you get into the spirit of it, you get in the mood & you really get inspired & you get into it almost like a spirit trip a drug trip or something. You flip out!
5. YOU'VE GOT TO KEEP GOING, YOU'VE GOT TO STAY IN THAT MOOD, YOU'VE GOT TO STAY IN THAT HEAVENLY SPHERE & keep going while you're inspired like that. It's really like speaking in tongues or being in the spirit or prophesying, & you can't say, "Stop, let's do that track over again!" I think it's impossible to sing with inspiration & turn it off & on like that: "We have to stop & go back! Do that again!" blah blah. That's why I'm against that Worldly kind of recording. I think it absolutely destroys the beauty & the inspiration, the mood, the really tripping-out of the musician or the singer.
6. I'M ALL FOR JUST STARTING A SONG & GOING RIGHT THROUGH, especially if you seem to be really inspired & you're really rolling! If I'm interrupted & I have to sort of come down, it's really hard to get back up again. And it's very hard work! Like we used to say about preaching, I mean, it takes a lot of two hours or real hard preaching, or even singing like opera, drains you so & takes so much out of you both spiritually & physically, it is such a strain & a drain that it's almost like eight hours of hard manual labour!
7. SO YOU JUST CAN'T EXPECT MUSICIANS TO JUST KEEP DOING IT OVER & OVER AGAIN HOUR AFTER HOUR & do this again & jerk'm back & forth, & jerk'm back out of the Spirit into reality with these little ridiculous corrections & re-dos & dubs & whatnot! They're got to get into a song, they've got to feel it with their heart & their mind, their soul, spirit, body, everything! They've got to do it emotionally! And they can't do that if you keep jerkin'm out of it: "Do this over again, do that big again & do that word again," blah blah blah blah! You've just got to turn'm on & let'm roll! Good or bad. Even if they make a little mistake here or there, it's not worth re-doing as long as the wording is right & they're not out of tune or off-key or disharmonious or something.
8. I BELIEVE IN JUST THE ONE-TAKE REVOLUTION, JUST TURN'M ON & LET'M GO & THE LORD WILL TAKE CARE OF THE INSPIRATION & ALL. Nobody's perfect. I don't believe in that going back over. I believe in a lot of practice & rehearsal until they've got the words & the music & everything just about perfect, till they know the song & the musicians know the music & the singers know the words, & they know their parts, until they have rehearsed off-camera, off-mike, more or less, until they really know it, like I used to practice & practice at home, vocals, singing.
9. BUT WHEN IT'S TIME TO GET UP THERE & SING ON THE MIKES OR THE CAMERAS IT'S TIME TO LEAVE'M ALONE, & if they've done well, if they've practiced enough, learned the music & the songs & the words well enough, & the harmony or whatever it is, if they have done enough rehearsal & they really know it, then they can forget all the technicalities & just sing from their heart! It's just like my vocal teacher told me about singing:
10. "PRACTICE YOUR TECHNICALITIES AT HOME, WORK ON'M TILL YOU GET'M PERFECT, but then when you get up to sing, forget'm & just sing from your heart, sing the message to the people, you're singing a message. If you have practiced the technicalities, they will come automatically while you're singing, but you won't be thinking about those or thinking about yourself or thinking about your own singing, your own voices."
11. A SINGER IS A MESSENGER, REALLY, & IT'S JUST LIKE TEACHING IN THE SPIRIT, you're not thinking about your gestures. It was so funny when dear Simon complimented me on my gesticulation & my this, that & the other, things which I'm sure he studied in drama school or elocution school. I get in the Spirit. I never had any of that stuff, I never studied it, thank God I didn't! Like my song leading. Good night, you should have seen the stiff way they taught you how to lead singing. I was dumbfounded! I'd been a song-leader for years when I finally went to Bible College where in the music class they taught you certain specific little movements like this, I mean, it was stiff & formal & ridiculous! You almost looked like a clown the way they taught you how to lead music!
12. WHEN I LEAD MUSIC I PUT EVERYTHING IN IT, BOTH ARMS WAVING! I'm like a cheer leader! It came naturally. I just went into a service & I just pulled it out of'm! (Maria: I always thought the movements had something to do with the music.) Oh yes, of course, the movements of the song leaders were figured out exactly & metrically according to the timing of the music & all that, & the choirs were supposed to understand exactly what each movement meant & blah blah. I found for formal choir singing, if you want that kind of a automaton up there, that any kind of a robot could do those motions, maybe that's OK for the churches.
13. BUT LET ME TELL YOU, THAT'S NOT FOR INSPIRATIONAL SINGING! I think I could pull more out of a congregation than that kind of a robot could get out of a stiff formal choir. (Maria: I guess that's musical perfection.) That's for the technical perfection, see, but you can have technical perfection without the Spirit. And I've said this before, I'd much rather have the Spirit & the heart in it & emotion & throw everything they've got in it without the technical perfection.
14. IF YOU PRACTICE THE TECHNIQUES & THE TECHNICALITIES SUFFICIENTLY AT HOME, or a musicians has really worked on his playing or a singer on his song & the words & tonal quality & diaphragm & all kinds of things like that, if you have worked on those things in private, at home, or in a group or whatever, rehearsal, & practice, practice makes perfect. The practice of the technicalities, trying to attain technical perfection, is fine for rehearsals, but it's not for public performance or recording or filming.
15. THEN YOU'VE GOT TO LET YOUR PERFORMERS GO, YOU'VE GOT TO TURN'M LOOSE & hope that they have practiced enough that they're not going to make technical mistakes or forget the words or lose the melody or something, but that they have done all that until it becomes automatic, unconscious, subconscious, & all those things just come automatically & they're not thinking about it. You cannot sing with emotion & feeling & heart if you're thinking about the technicalities & technical perfection.
16. THAT'S WHAT MAKES OPERA SO STINKIN' STIFF TO ME! They get up there & you know they're not doing a damn thing but showing off their voice & how they can sing & the heights they can reach & the quality of their singing & the technical perfection. They just absolutely take the heart out of it, it's just absolute cold, icy, technical perfection with no heart, no emotion, no real feeling. I mean, it's just going through a rigamarole, a sort of a metrical performance with a lot of mathematical technique!
17. WHEREAS WHO ARE THE SINGERS WHO BECAME WORLD-FAMOUS? NOT VERY MANY OPERA STARS! The only time when even Mario Lanza became famous was when he quit being an opera star & he quit singing all that formal feelingless music & began singing pop music, the popular common ordinary simple music of the public & the people. He came down to their level & sang to them with emotion, with feeling & made them fell it. He made them feel like he was singing about them, he was really singing to them. And that's what you've got to have either as a public speaker or an actor or singer or musician, whatever you are.
18. WHEN YOU'RE UP THERE PUBLICLY PERFORMING BEFORE THE AUDIENCE OR THE CAMERA OR THE MIKE OR WHATEVER IT IS, YOU HAVE GOT TO FORGET YOURSELF, your technique, the technicalities, & if you've rehearsed enough, practiced enough, these should be automatic, you shouldn't have to think about that, much less about the tonal quality of your voice. "Am I placing the sound right? Did I get that last note?" blah blah blah! You're thinking about yourself & your own personal perfection. It's just like trying to save yourself of you works instead of being saved by the Spirit & by grace. And when you're before the camera or the mike or the public, you've got to forget yourself.
19. IT'S JUST LIKE LOVE, YOU'VE GOT TO BE THINKING ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON. You have got to really project & reach them. your song reaches out like a hand to try to get ahold of their hearts & their emotions & you've got to feel it! You've got to project it! We have the advantage of the Spirit, we can really sing inspired or play inspired, speak inspired by the Spirit & project it. The Spirit knows what they need, the Spirit & project it. The Spirit knows what they need, the Spirit knows what will touch their hearts & you just let go & let God!
20. ONCE YOU'RE UP THERE & YOU'RE ON-STAGE & YOU'RE ON-MIKE, CAMERA, WHATEVER IT IS, YOU HAVE GOT TO JUST LET IT ROLL & JUST LET GO & LET GOD! I mean it, you've just got to let go & let God! I've told you that before. Especially as musicians, singers, actors, performers, you have got to forget yourself, forget you own techniques & technicalities & such perfection, it's a self-righteousness in a way, really. Technical perfection is in a sense a self-righteousness, & in a sense it's hypocritical, because nobody's perfect, you can't be exactly right all the time, so you have to depend on the Lord.
21. THE GREATEST SINGERS ARE THE EMOTIONAL SINGERS! Oh my God how Bing Crosby could slide around, sharp & flat & slide, but he sang like he really loved you & he was really singing to you, & you really felt like he was really reaching, & he was, he was putting his heart into it! It's emotional! Perry Como too. Even Dean Martin, Sinatra & Andy Williams, they sing with feeling. If my vocal teacher could have heard some of those guys!--And some of my vocal teaches, I remember were criticising some of their singing.
22. THEY USED TO SAY JEANETTE MACDONALD NEVER COULD HAVE GOTTEN ANYWHERE WITHOUT A MICROPHONE, if she'd come along before the days of microphones & amplification she never would have made it. She had a little tiny pipsqueak voice, but with a microphone it was beautiful. They needed the help of the electronics, the amplification for their volume & so on, but you can't depend on that entirely--you've got to have the feeling, the spirit, the power. Some of the World's most popular singers have murdered all the rules & all the technical perfection, but they have brought to light the feeling & the emotion.
23. AND THAT'S WHAT OUR MUSICIANS, SINGERS, ACTORS & ALL NEED TO KNOW. When they finally get up there & it's the real thing, they are on-stage or on-sidewalk or on-camera or on-mike or wherever it is, they're on, they're recording to they're really up there on the spot, you've just got to let go & let'm loose & let'm roll in the Spirit, with real feeling & heart & emotion & be unconscious of themselves, not self-conscious.
24. THE WORST SINGERS IN THE WORLD ARE THE ONES THAT ARE SELF--CONSCIOUS. You can just tell when they're singing they're thinking about themselves--"How do I look, how do I sound, how am I doing? Oh, wasn't that good the way I sang that?"--And it just turns you off! If sickens you because you know they're not even thinking about you. And what's the point of the song, what's the point of the message if they don't really mean it & they're not sincere about it & they're not really thinking about you to whom they're singing! Do you understand?
25. I MEAN, YOU HAVE TO VISUALISE SOMEBODY! I used to find somebody & concentrate on one person & I'd look him straight in the eye & sock it to him! I watch their reaction, I see how they're taking it, & I'm trying to reach them. I figure if I can reach one person, I'll reach'm all! You've got to find somebody in your audience that you can really sing to personally & forget everybody else in some ways sometimes, although we don't want to exclude anybody. But if you can't do it any other way, that's one good way to do it.
26. ESPECIALLY IF YOU TEND A LITTLE BIT TO STAGE-FRIGHT, MIKE-FRIGHT, CAMERA-FRIGHT, AUDIENCE-FRIGHT, THIS IS A VERY GOOD THING TO REMEMBER, & that is, if you're afraid of all those people together, just look at one person, concentrate on that person, think about them. And then it becomes kind of private intimate thing just between you & them. That's the marvel about the medium of television, why Fred went over to good. That's the way I did my TV series, I felt like I was talking to somebody out there.
27. I LOOKED INTO THAT BIG BLACK EYE OF THE CAMERA & TO ME THERE WAS SOMEBODY THERE! I felt a personal relationship & I felt like I was really talking to somebody! And I think when they view those they'll feel like it's personal, I'm taking to them, really talking to them!--Not just thinking about myself & my elocution & my gesticulation & the quality of my voice & all that blah! I mean, that's something if you want to study it, you can have it! Maybe it'll do some people good. I didn't have to have it.
28. I STUDIED ALL MY LIFE WATCHING MY GRANDFATHER & MY MOTHER & FATHER PREACH, & IT JUST CAME AUTOMATIC! If they studied it I guess I learned it from them, because I just do what comes natural, that's all, & I don't even think about motions. I've been so astounded watching these video shows that I've made, at how much I use my hands, how they're going all the time! Not only my mouth going all the time, but my motions, my body, my head, my hands are going all the time & I'm not even conscious of it, it's just automatic! I do it because I feel like doing it, it comes with feeling!
29. THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GET OFF OF THAT HIGH HORSE! It becomes a hobby horse with the World's musicians, they're just technical, mechanical perfectionists. They've got it down to where you don't even have to know how to play an instrument any more or anything, you just press a bunch of buttons or keys & there it is all electronical & mechanical. I just think music, singing or instrumentals either one, of course acting too, but the speaking has got to be emotional, it's got to be from the heart to reach their hearts, it's got to be really sold. You have to sell'm, in a way.
30. YOU'VE JUST GOT TO REALLY BELIEVE IN YOUR PRODUCT TO SPEAK & PREACH & SELL WITH CONVICTION, & you've got to sing & play the same way like you really believe it & you believe in what you're singing. I mean, you can tell in a moment whether a singer is singing mechanically, self-consciously, not really concerned about the meaning of the song, not really trying to sell anything or persuade anybody or really reach into their hearts or their minds or really grasp their souls & get ahold of'm. You can tell when he's not really thinking about you & his effect on you.
31. IT'S NOT A MATTER OF OPINIONS OF MEN, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT OPINION, BUT GENUINE EMOTION, REACHING THEIR HEARTS, & to do that you've got to sing with heart by the power of the Spirit, & you've got to be emotional & inspired!--And you just can't turn that off & on! Once they start singing & start rolling you've got to let them go! So what if they make a few mistakes! So what if they slide around a little bit or they slide up & down from one note to the other? So what? That's a very popular form of singing. The most popular form of singing got to be the ones that broke all the rules--but got through to you! It was natural, emotional, you felt it, they reached you & you felt a rapport, a communication.
32. YOU'RE IN THE COMMUNICATION BUSINESS & TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE! You're trying to tell'm something, you're trying to give'm the Message. You're not just making a cold statement that leaves you flat, there it is, blah, plunk, take it or leave it, like it or not. You are persuasive, you're like a lover wooing with love. You know? You are really putting your heart into it, you're trying to woo her, you try to win her, you're trying to persuade her to go to bed! I mean, you've got to throw everything you've got into it!
33. BOY, I'LL TELL YOU, SOME OF THESE ROMEOS CAN TURN ON THE CHARM WHEN THEY WANT TO BED A JULIET! It's amazing to me! you can tell the difference between the husbands & the wives & the lovers in any restaurant the way they're talking to each other. The husbands & wives that have been married for years usually sit there like two bumps on a log, deadpan, stony, not even looking at each other, much less talking to each other. I mean, they're just dead, it's all dead, the romance is gone, the life is gone, the feeling's gone, spirit's gone, they're just two dead lumps of flesh, the sweetness is gone & everything's gone out of it.
34. IT'S LIKE A ROMANTIC LOVE AFFAIR WHICH WAS A BEAUTIFUL BALLOON, BUT SOMEBODY PUNCTURED IT & IT'S GONE FLAT, STALE, BLAH! There's nothing left, they don't really have any love anymore, no spirit, no vibrancy, no sweetness, no thrill, no emotion, it's really pitiful!--Like two dead stones, two dead lumps of clay, silent, unemotional, almost dead. They don't even look at each other, they're like a couple of zombies.
35. BUT BOY, OH BOY, WHEN YOU SEE ONE OF THOSE ROMEOS COME IN THERE, THOSE DON JUANS, SOME BOSS WITH HIS SECRETARY, HE IS TURNING ON THE CHARM! He is emoting! He is giving it all he's got! He's on stage he is really working on his audience! and she is just swooning & mooning with his marvellous act, his charm, his line! Oh, they're just really into it! They're unconscious of the cafe, unconscious of the rest of the people, they're only conscious of each other. And they never top a minute, they're talking all the time! I mean, they're really absorbed in each other & they forget the rest of the World. The Empire State Building could collapse on them, & they'd hardly know the difference!
36. THAT'S HOW YOU'VE GOT TO BE WHEN YOU'RE A MUSICIAN, AN ACTOR, A SINGER, A SPEAKER, BEFORE YOUR AUDIENCE. You've got to make them feel like they're the only person in the World & that all you care about is them. You don't care about anything else--you just want to reach them! And you can make them feel it, you can make them know it if you really do it in the Spirit, by the power of the Spirit, & in love & emotion & with heart! I mean, you've got to really mean it & fell it & project it, & the Lord will help you do it!--If you forget yourself & your technicalities & the techniques & all you've practiced, the rehearsal & all the rest.
37. I ASKED MY GRANDFATHER ONCE, "HOW CAN YOU GET UP & JUST SPOUT OFF LIKE THAT? You don't use notes, you don't use anything, you just rant & rave & walk back & forth!" Of course, he'd been an actor years before, but I mean this was no acting, you knew it was sincere, you knew he meant it! I said, "How do you do that without any notes of anything? They used to tell us in school you had to construct a sermon, & & we had to get all the points lined up & fell in the illustrations & you have to have a 1, 2, 3, 4 & you had to have a nice outline & all this stuff. But here you are a great orator & a famous preacher & you get up there without a note, nothing! Do you memorise it? What do you do?"
38. HE SAID, "DAVE, ALL I DO IS BEFOREHAND I GET FULL OF MY SUBJECT! I read the Word & I memorise Scriptures. I just fill my heart with my subject, & then when I get up there it's not hard at all, 'out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh'! That's the secret! You just get your heart filled & when you get up there, no problem!" (Lk.6:45.)
39. OPEN YOUR MOUTH & HE WILL FILL IT, IF YOU'VE ALREADY FILLED YOUR HEART. He'll fill your mouth right out of your heart, if you want to know how He does it. I told the folks in a recent Letters that mine is the easiest job of all, all I have to do is open my mouth & He fills it! But where does He fill it from? He fills it from all that He has stored up in my heart already for years, & I just open my mouth & it rolls out, from my heart. He fills my mouth from my heart. He's already filled my heart. I filled my heart with Him, & so when I open my mouth it just flows out of my heart.
40. AND THAT'S WHAT THE MUSICIANS, THE SINGERS, THE ACTORS, THE SPEAKERS, WHOEVER THEY ARE, HAVE TO LEARN WHEN THEY'RE UP THERE FINALLY, TO JUST LET GO & LET GOD! And if they have filled their hearts & beforehand, if they are full of the Spirit beforehand, if they're full of His love, His Spirit, His emotion, knowledge of the Word, the knowledge of the song or the music, whatever they've got, & knowledge of the message & they want to really get it across, when they open their mouths He'll fill them, right out of their hearts, & the audience will know it!
41. AND WHEN THEY OPEN THEIR HANDS & THEIR FINGERS TO THOSE INSTRUMENTS HE'LL JUST FILL THEM WITH THE POWER & THE SKILL THAT'S THERE, & they'll forget technical perfection & techniques & technology & technicalities & metrical precision, they'll just feel it, really feel it! You can almost feel the Lord taking it away from & playing that instrument & singing that song through you, or speaking those words through you. I'm astonished at some of these things I hear, when I hear these Daily Might recordings & so on again.
42. I'M ASTONISHED SOMETIMES WHEN I RE-READ MY OWN WRITINGS & SAY, "DID I SAY THAT? Did I write that? I don't even remember it!" It must have been the Lord! He must have spoken through me, it hardly even went through my head! It hardly came out of my brain, it just sort of came out of my heart by His Spirit. The Lord just filled my heart & filled my mouth. When you fill your heart with the Lord, that'll fill your mouth with no problem! If you filled your heart with the Scriptures & the knowledge & the songs or the music or part you're playing, whatever it is, it's no problem, just open your mouth & it comes out, because your heart's full of it.
43. IF YOU'LL FILL YOUR HEART WITH THE LORD, WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH IT'S LIKE JUST TURNING IT ON! But you can't just shut it off & on, you can't just suddenly stop & say, "Now run that through again, run that over another time." Once they're ready to record I don't believe in stopping them!--Unless they've made a very gross horrible mess out of it, & a horrible error, somebody's really gotten off-key or off-melody or off the tune & it sounds like they couldn't even carry it in a bucket! Or they really mess up the words which will disconcert the audience.
44. I'VE FOUND IN MANY YEARS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING & SINGING THAT USUALLY THE AUDIENCE WILL NOT RECOGNISE A VERY SMALL MISTAKE that you notice you made, & the best thing to do is go on like you never made a mistake! The show must go on & probably 99 out of 100 of them never noticed it. But if you stop to correct it, then everybody will notice & it will be a real distraction if you stumble, stutter, mumble, & try to re-do it, then it's a mess!
45. JUST GO RIGHT ON LIKE MY DAD DID WHEN HE CAME TO THOSE TWO LINES HE'D TYPED OVER EACH OTHER, HE JUST SANG ON LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED!--And the audience never even noticed it! Except my grandfather had heard that my Mother & Dad were sort of Pentecostal & he asked my Mother afterwards, "Was Hjalmer singing in tongues? What was that?" He noticed it, but it wasn't too bad, he just kept on singing, he just kept on signing la-di-da-di-da & it sounded like some of the songs they do nowadays, they just sing la-di-da-da-da-da-da-da-da & no words at all, just a lot of funny melody!
46. YOU CAN EVEN GET OVER A MISTAKE LIKE THAT where there were two whole lines missing because he typed one on top of the other on his little card he held in his hand for the words to the song, but he got through it! The show must go on! A performer cannot stop in the middle of the act, certainly a singer not in the middle of a song, & catch a mistake! And if you stop'm & they have to go back & do it all over again, to me, every time it gets a little flatter & little flatter, they get a little tireder & a little more tired until they're sick of it & they wish you'd chuck the whole damn thing because they get so sick of the whole thing over & over & over again!
47. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY GET TIRED ON REHEARSALS, BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT GOING TO RECORD, & you should never record after a long day of rehearsal when you're tired, you're felling flat & drained. You should practice until you're exhausted, but then don't record right on top of it! You should catch'm the next morning when they're nice & fresh, run through it one more time for rehearsal to make sure they haven't forgotten, & then record when they're rested & feeling good & strong & healthy & inspired.
48. THEY JUST SHOULD NOT TRY TO RECORD WHEN THEY'RE TIRED & EXHAUSTED FROM REHEARSING & PRACTICING--EVER! It's a real mistake to expect them to have very much punch, verve, life, drive, spirit, emotion, anything! They're just drained, they haven't got a spark left hardly, just like a flat battery. You've got to catch'm when they're charged, & that's not after an all-day or all-afternoon rehearsal. They ought to let it rest awhile. When you're trying to start your car & you can't get it going & you rev & rev & rev your starter, you'll knock it flat! You've got to stop a few minutes & let the battery rest & then try again.
49. YOU SHOULD NEVER TRY TO RECORD WHEN THEY'RE TIRED AFTER A LONG REHEARSAL. Do your rehearsing & practicing the day before, work out the technicalities the day before, work out the techniques & all the things they need to know about the music & the harmony the words & everything else the day before, maybe that morning, & then give them a chance to rest, siesta in the afternoon & come back at it in the afternoon or evening when they're rested & refreshed & ready to go again.
50. BECAUSE IT'S AWFULLY HARD TO PREACH, TEACH, SING, PLAY, ACT, ANYTHING WITH REAL INSPIRATION WHEN YOU'RE JUST PHYSICALLY EXHAUSTED. It's just sort of like you've lost a part to your body. I've had the Lord help me sometimes & really miraculously inspire me & strengthen me in many of those videos & other things that I've done when I was really tired, where He just poured in His strength & His Spirit. But boy, I'll tell you, after that, when it's over & His miraculous supernatural outpouring of inspiration, that touch of His Spirit is gone, & your own physical energy is gone--the prophets even fainted afterwards, they were sick some days!--When both His strength & your strength are both gone, you're flat, I mean really flat, exhausted!
51. THIS BUSINESS OF PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT & PUBLIC MINISTRY OF ANY KIND, whether recording, audio, video, on the street, on the stage, wherever, is a real drain, it's exhausting work. It's both physically & spiritually exhausting. So you have got to remember you have got to have a little strength & not depend entirely on God to supernaturally miraculously give you the strength after you're already exhausted physically, in other words, expecting God to do it all. In an emergency, of course, that has to happen, but it's a lot better for you to strike a happy medium & a good balance & to be well-rested.
52. I NEVER LIKED TO GO INTO THE PULPIT OR ON STAGE OR SING OR ANYTHING WHEN I ALREADY WAS EXHAUSTED PHYSICALLY. When we were in evangelistic work, Gospel show business, we always tried to take a good rest in the afternoon, an hour or two nap if we could, so we'd be refreshed & strengthened & not physically drained & exhausted when we went on the platform. So you've got to remember those things, it's partly practical, it's partly spiritual. You must remember to try to be rested & strengthened physically & spiritually filled & strengthened, inspired by the Word, by the Spirit, by the Lord, or you;'re not going to make it, & it's going to just drain you too much. You can be physically exhausted & spiritually exhausted at the same time.
53. YOU MAY BE PHYSICALLY EXHAUSTED & IN AN EMERGENCY GOD WILL GIVE YOU A HOT-SHOT just like you hot-shot a battery with a quick charge. But it's injurious to the battery, really, & these quick charges from an external power source can even ruin the battery--like the Lord with us. You've already driven your body to the point of exhaustion & collapse, nervously & physically, & it's just like taking a shot or a drug or an upper. You ask God to give you a charge of the Spirit to help you through. Well, He can, & He will!
54. BUT EVEN THAT IS SUCH A STRAIN TO SUDDENLY GET THIS HOT-SHOT OF THE SPIRIT FROM GOD THAT IS LIKE AN ELECTRICAL SHOCK! Afterwards when it's all done & it's over, it can just leave you absolutely flat or broken or exhausted from nervous exhaustion or with a nervous breakdown! You just can't do it! You've got to have a little common sense. You've got to think about your poor participants, the musicians & the singers & the actors & the preachers & or the poor children or whoever it is.
55. THEY'RE TO DO THEIR PRACTICE & THEIR REHEARSALS TO THE POINT OF PERFECTION IF THEY CAN, but then don't start recording or performing immediately afterwards right on top of that, it's too much! They should wait a few hours after they've rested, or till the next day even before they go on with the actual recording. Just before the recording they could rehearse maybe one more time, run it through one or two times to make sure nobody's forgotten their parts or the words & whatever & they know what they're supposed to do. Just a couple times, no more, unless they make bad mistake, then maybe they'll have to go over it one more time, but then rest a few minutes before they actually go on camera or on stage or whatever.
56. AND THEN THEY'VE GOT TO FORGET THE TECHNICALITIES & THEMSELVES & EVERYTHING, God helping them with the words & the music, & sing from their hearts, speak from their hearts, play from their hearts!--And right straight on through non-stop! Don't stop'm! Let'm go right straight on through to the end of the song. I mean, unless they make such a big boo-boo it just breaks up the whole thing, somebody completely forgets the words or the musicians completely forget the music & they just actually totally wreck the whole number! Well, then they might have to stop & start over again.
57. THEY SHOULD PRAY, ASK GOD TO HELP'M, THEY'VE REHEARSED, THEY'VE PRACTICED, THEY'VE LEARNED IT, they've got it almost to perfection the day before & now they're fresh in the morning, or some people are fresher in the afternoon. Everybody's got a certain peak of energy & electricity & aliveness, did you know that? Some people have it early in the morning, some people have it mid-morning, midday. Me, my lowest point is in the morning when I first get up, as you know, that's life's darkest hour! Because all my life I've been used to going to bed late & getting up late. It takes sometimes a few hours to reach a peak. I reach my peak in the afternoon, usually by two o'clock, something like that.
58. THEY MAY FIND OUT IF THEY'LL DO THEIR PRACTICING & REHEARSAL IN THE MORNING, sort of waking up & getting in the groove, then knock off for lunch, take a nice siesta, then in the afternoon everybody's alive & awake, on-fire, strong, rested, inspired & at their peak of energy & they can really do their best! Some people don't even reach their peak till evening, some actors, they sleep all day & then they reach their peak sometime during the night for their performance.
59. YOU'VE JUST GOT TO FIGURE OUT WHEN IS EVERYBODY AT THEIR BEST, WHEN DO THEY REACH THEIR PEAK?--And that's when they should record, that's when they ought to do it. And if most of them reach their peak early in the morning, at mid-morning or noon well, that's the time to do it. But I think in the performing business, most people seem to reach their peak in the afternoon & take good long siesta maybe in the evening. But that's when they need to do it, whenever they're all rested, they're done with their practice, their rehearsal, they've got the technical perfection down pat beforehand, they can do it, & they know it, they're confident.
60. THEY'RE RESTED & THEY'RE STRONG & THEY'RE FULL OF THE SPIRIT & FULL OF PRAYER, FULL OF THE LORD, FULL OF THE WORD, & THEN THEY CAN JUST SING IT OUT & LET IT ROLL, & let it go right straight through to the finish non-stop! Don't stop'm, don't interrupt'm, don't distract'm, don't disturb'm, let'm go! If they don't seem to get into it right away, maybe they'll get into it as they go. Wait till they get to the end & finish the number before you stop'm, turn off the machine or the recording, whatever it is, & discuss whether they did it well or not, "Was that it? Was that the one?"
61. I WOULD SUGGEST YOU NEVER RETAKE IF YOU CAN HELP IT, NEVER RE-RECORD IF YOU CAN HELP IT. If you did it well the first time, passably well, satisfactorily well, I'd say let it go. Unless you feel like it was really a flop, it was a dud, it just really didn't make it, well then maybe after a little rest you can try it one more time. But all the way through, not stopping & starting & turning it on & turning it off & "do that one word again", "we'll dub that line in again", "you've got to count to the count of 12-&-a-half & then start singing it" & blah blah blah blah! Oh, forget it!
62. I MEAN MUSICIANS, THEY CAN'T BE SCIENTISTS & TECHNICIANS & MATHEMATICIANS & STILL SING TOO MUCH WITH SPIRIT! They may be--to learn their instruments, to learn their music, they had to learn all that--but now on the song they've just got to sing it through, or play it through, or the actor's got to act it through, or the sermon, preach it through. Don't stop'm, don't interrupt'm, don't distract'm, don't try to throttle the Spirit! You've gotta let'm go, mistakes or no, just let it go!
63. AND IF THEY'RE SPEAKING FROM THEIR HEART, SINGING OR PLAYING FROM THEIR HEART, ACTING FROM THEIR HEART, YOU CAN FEEL IT! You can feel they mean it & sincerely & it's good & they're reaching through, they're getting hold of you, they're touching you, they're moving you! Let it go! Even if it wasn't perfect, even if they made some little inconspicuous mistake or something that the audience wouldn't recognise, only the people who know would even notice. Let it go, don't do it again! Once you've got a pretty good one, let it go!
64. I'M JUST ABSOLUTELY AGAINST THIS BUSINESS OF DUBBING & RETAKES & all this terrible mechanical technical thing of synchronising, retaking, dubbing, going back & forth & over & over & add another track & add this track & add that track & blah blah blah! If they're going to sing together, I'd rather see them get up & sign together, not just one at a time singing to a piece of metal, adding to a metallic sound track.
65. THEY'RE PEOPLE, THEY'RE FLESH & BLOOD, THEY'VE GOT TO GET UP TOGETHER & FEEL LIKE PEOPLE, NOT LIKE PART OF A MACHINE!--Like, "I'm just another cog in the machine & I'm going to add this other little sound track here, or dub in this word here, & I'm just a piece of machinery, I'm just a part of the mechanics." It's impossible to have inspiration like that! No matter how technically mechanically perfect it may be, it's impossible for it to have feeling, inspiration, emotion or real heart. You just can't do it that mechanical mechanised way & give it heart, it's impossible!
66. THEY'VE JUST GOT TO LEARN THEY'VE GOT TO DO THEIR HOMEWORK BEFOREHAND & GET THEIR TECHNICAL PERFECTION DOWN BEFOREHAND & their practice & rehearsal & the music & the words & all the rest. And once they're up there & on-camera, on-stage, on-mike, you've gotta let'm go, just let'm roll till they're done! And when its done, you can figure out whether it was OK or not. But you know me, I never re-do one, ever! I figure it had it or it didn't & I'm not going to do it again, that's for sure!
67. I HAVE NEVER RE-WRITTEN A LETTER, I HAVE NEVER RE-DONE A RECORDING, I HAVE NEVER RE-DONE A VIDEO SHOW! I just get on & I let it roll & that's it! What I have said I have said, what I have written I have written, & that's it! I'm not going to do it again! If it was bad, that's tough! They'll know it & I'll know it & that's rough! But I've found out that about 99 times out of a hundred it was OK, it was good, & better than if I had tried to write it & re-write it & re-do it again & again.
68. IT'S THOSE LETTERS THAT I HAVE TO CUT DOWN & CUT DOWN & RE-EDIT & EVERYTHING ELSE, THOSE ARE THE WORSE OF ALL, because you can hardly do that with inspiration. But the best ones of all are the ones that are really inspired, direct prophecy, direct visions, dreams, whatever, I mean they just roll! All I do is proofread'm & check the spelling & the punctuation, I hardly have to make a correction, because they're inspired & I just let it roll! And I hope this little talk to you musicians & performers & singers, preachers of the Gospel, missionaries, has done some good.
69. DO YOUR PRACTICING BEFOREHAND, FILL YOUR HEART BEFOREHAND, & WHEN YOU GET UP, OPEN YOU MOUTH & HE WILL FILL IT RIGHT OUT OF YOUR HEART, & you'll fill their hearts & they'll know it comes from the heart. They'll feel it, they'll be moved by it, you'll get ahold of them by it, you'll woo'm & win'm by it, & that's what they have got to learn whether they're on-stage or on-camera or on-mike! You have got to just let'm go & let God, & let'm roll & not worry about it if they make a few little mistakes. If they're speaking, singing, playing under the anointing you can tell it.
70. I MAKE A LOT OF MISTAKES WHEN I'M TALKING & I MAKE A LOT OF BOO-BOOS & TONGUE-TWISTERS & accidentally get my tongue twisted the wrong way or something, & I have to sometimes correct it right there, but I don't let it stop me, I just keep going! Right? I just keep rolling while I'm felling the anointing, the Spirit, like I have even on this little talk! I mean, I'm speaking out of my heart, I'm speaking with conviction, I'm speaking from knowledge, from feeling, emotion, & I mean it! And I'm trying to get it across to you thick skulls & into your thick heads, that you have got to do it this way or it's no good! Either that or it takes forever trying to make it technically perfect & putting it together piece by piece.
71. IT'S FAR BETTER TO GET THEM UP THERE ALL TOGETHER, GET SET, GET READY, ONE, TWO, & A-THREE & A-GO!--And just let it roll! Non--stop! And wait till you're at the end of the piece & you've finished it before you stop to analyse it & see if it's any good or not. Then if you want to, roll it back & look at it or hear it, & I think you'll find out if you did enough of your homework, practicing & rehearsal beforehand, filled your heart with the Word or the song or whatever & you have rested, then you can just roll it, & what you roll will really be good, inspired, you really pray that the Lord will inspire & help you.
72. THE ONE-TAKE REVOLUTION, THE ONE-RECORD REVOLUTION, JUST ROLL IT & LET GO & LET GOD! Praise God? Have we got a Letter by that name? If not, it can be this one! Once they've done their homework, practicing, rehearsing & getting it down as technically perfect as possible off-camera, off-mike & whatnot, then ask the Lord to inspire you & let it roll! I think you'll find you'll save a lot of time, a lot of blood, sweat & tears & a lot of energy, a lot of energy of the flesh, & a lot of wasted tape, a lot of wasted whatever & find out that when they've done what they could, the Lord did the rest, & they won't have to do it over & over & add to & take away & piece it together like some kind of a jigsaw puzzle.
73. YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO PUT A JIGSAW PUZZLE TOGETHER THAT WAY & MAKE A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE, BUT I'LL TELL YOU, YOU CAN STILL SEE THE CRACKS. It's not like the original artistry, where it was painted in beautiful lines & beautiful colours, inspired, really a beautiful work of art under inspiration. That jigsaw puzzle, yes, it looks like the original, the masterpiece, only it's full of little cracks & lines & funny little squiggles. And that's the way your mechanically performed numbers are going to be, the cracks are going to show, & the squiggles & everything else where you tried to be so perfect but it just didn't work.
74. THE ONLY ONE WHO'S PERFECT IS GOD, THE ONLY PERFECTION IS THE LORD, & once you've done all you can do to get ready for it, get up there & ask God to turn you on & it'll flow! You'll be amazed, it'll be beautiful! Just let go & let God! PTL? Is that enough, Honey? You're always doing that, Honey. You do that to me. You turn me on, you ask me a question or something & get me started. Well, I guess our musicians & performers, singers, actors, speakers, whatever, they need that again. I've said it so many times, I've said it before, why do I have to keep saying it again? Well, God bless our kids, they're doing great.
75. BUT THAT'S ONE THING A LOT OF OUR PRODIGAL SONS, WHO GOT OUT INTO THE WORLD & THE WORLD OF WORLDLY MUSIC & their Worldly technical perfection & their mechanical type of performing, need to unlearn when they get home. They were dependent on the money & the World & its mechanics, & now they must trust the Father & even the older brother & do things entirely different & in the Spirit. The One-Take, One-Record, Revolution! Amen? OK! PTL! TYL!
76. LORD, DO HELP THEM IN JESUS' NAME TO FILL THEIR HEARTS BEFOREHAND, even their minds, with the words & the music & the Word & the Message, & then Lord, once they've got it down pat, to get up & reel it off, one time, under inspiration, with heart, with love, with emotion, & we know the audience will feel it if they forget themselves & just be Christ-conscious & love conscious & other-conscious, & think of You & them, & most of all forget themselves.
77. THEY HAVE DONE THEIR HOMEWORK, PRACTICED, REHEARSED, LEARNED, GOTTEN THE TECHNIQUES & TECHNICALITIES UNTIL THEY'RE AUTOMATIC in their singing, playing, performing, recording, the Word, whatever. But when they're up there & on-stage, on-camera, on-mike, they ought to be full of it & it will come out by inspiration in the power of Thy Spirit & love. They'll emote, & it will come from their hearts & they'll speak from their hearts, sing & play from their hearts, & their audience will know it, that they're really trying to reach'm & they really love'm, really care, really inspired!--And that it's real, really true, not just an act!
78. IT'S REALLY GOD SPEAKING, SINGING, PLAYING & THEY'LL RECOGNISE HE'S SPEAKING & they'll know it's more than play, more than you both know, as they sing. It's supernatural love, it's miraculous love, it's a spiritual love, it's beyond anything even human, & they'll recognise the voice of God! That these were ignorant & unlearned men, yet they spoke like gods, sang like angels, played like angels, performed by inspiration, supernaturally, miraculously, inspired, with a love so good, so beautiful, so wonderful, that the people will know that they have been with Jesus!--And they will believe it & receive it, feel it & marvel & believe. TYJ! In Jesus' name, amen. PTL! [EDITED: "HAL!--Did I mk it? Do U feel it?--Then let go & let God & let'm hv it!--Amen? GBY! ILY!"]
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
