Honeytree - Searchlight (lyrics)

8th track from "Evergreen" (1975). Lots of people crave the spotlight, but few the searchlight! Especially God's all-knowing, holy searchlight. After all, it can expose some pretty unsavory stuff. But that's exactly what the First Lady of Jesus Music—with the help of musical greats like Phil Keaggy and Bill Puett—is asking for in this fun, sweet, disco surprise. Like the psalmist of old, she's learned not to fear the tough-as-nails scrutiny God gives each of his children and even to welcome it with open arms.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

This song is the perfect followup to her more subdued 1973 classic Clean Before My Lord as well as the album's previous track, Rattle Me, Shake Me, which describes people thinking she's high because she's so happy in the Lord. And while spiritual examination is a sober process, the song's flavor assures us we need not be downcast about it. Truth is, if anyone can celebrate good times, it's Christians who know their sins are forgiven and are now on the highway to heaven. So open your heart to the rainbow, put on a smiley face, and, yes, feel free to bring out those funky, five-inch platforms!

~thatMimosaGrove

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Album Personnel

Guitars: Phil Keaggy & Honeytree
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Jerry Carrigan
Piano: Ron Oates
Organ: Tony Brown
Harp: Cindy Reynolds
Flute, saxophone: Bill Puett
Voices: Bergen White, Sherry Kramer, Janie Fricke
Special thanks to Phil Keaggy for assisting in arranging and producing

Produced by Billy Ray Hearn
Arranged by Bergen White
Recorded at Superior Sound Studio in Hendersonville,
Tennessee–Engineer: Bud Billings
Remixed at Creative Workshop in Nashville,
Tennessee–Engineer: Brent Maher
Cover photo by Bill Grine
Backliner photos by Janny Grine
Album design by Roger Sanders

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A LITTLE ABOUT NANCY HONEYTREE

After surrendering her heart and life to Jesus... Nancy became a regular at the influential Adam’s Apple coffeehouse in Fort Wayne, Indiana, playing her songs alongside Phil Keaggy, Mike Warnke, Mike Johnson, and the earliest incarnation of Petra. Her self-titled custom album was picked up and released by Myrrh Records in 1973, and was followed by a second album, The Way I Feel, in 1974. At a time when Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Joan Baez and Carole King were popular on secular airwaves, the Jesus Movement had its very own “hippie chick folk singer” in Honeytree. Perhaps the best known female artist in the burgeoning Jesus Music field, she came to be known as the First Lady of Jesus Music...

Honeytree’s next album would make an indelible mark. Mark Allan Powell’s Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music calls it her “masterpiece.” The Ancient Star Song blog says that it is “one of Jesus Music’s most classic albums.” Blogger David Lowman says it’s Honeytree’s “best album” and “considered by many to be one of the Top 10 most important and influential albums of the Jesus Music era.” One thing’s for sure — in 1975 Honeytree took a giant step forward with an album called Evergreen...

Side Two begins with two of the album’s standout tracks.

Rattle Me, Shake Me comes across as a bit of a novelty song...

After I got saved during my senior year of high school I worked as a Girl Scout camp counselor for the summer. I taught all my kids to pray if they got homesick and the Lord gave us a spirit of joy in our unit. My superiors at the camp were very suspicious (I later found out) and had people watching me to see if I was doing dope or doping my kids! I was so in love with Jesus and was just witnessing to everyone without any sensitivity to whether it was appropriate or not – which caused a lot of controversy. But the Lord used it by His grace because everyone kept talking about it so much that eventually quite a few of the ‘opposition’ got saved!”...

Searchlight is another song with an interesting story behind it.

“Searchlight was written on a long road trip out west,” Nancy said. “We went to Nevada and as we were driving along endless blank desert miles there suddenly appeared a green interstate sign for the town Searchlight, which seared into my head by the sheer visual contrast...”

To read more, see: https://honeytree.org/100-greatest-ccm-albums-of-the-70s-64-evergreen-by-honeytree-1975/

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Image Credits (other than album art and artist publicity photos, in order of appearance, all images posterized): Shannon / Dan / Peter Miller / Michael Day / Dan / elliedavies.co.uk / saigerowe / Michael Day / Michael Day / Michael Day / Meagan Fisher / Jiahui Huang / Michael Day / Michael Day / Ann Wuyts / Michael Day / Michael Day / Starving Artist / Romain DECKER / Ann Wuyts / Michael Day / pinterest / Michael Day / Romain DECKER / Michael Day / Sirenz Lorraine / Michael Day
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Видео Honeytree - Searchlight (lyrics) канала thatMimosaGrove