Fee‘s new album, Hope Rising, drops on October 6^th but they’ve already released “Glory To God Forever” as their first single off the record. The song was written by Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching.

I first saw/heard this song earlier this year on their blog while they were in the studio. I instantly connected with it and have been playing it ever since.

Lyrics

Verse 1

Before the world was made
before you spoke it to be

You were the King of Kings
yeah you were, yeah you were

And now you’re reigning still
enthroned above all things
Angels and saints cry out
we join them as we sing

Chorus

Glory to God, Glory to God
Glory to God, Forever

Verse 2

Creator God you gave
me breath so I could praise
Your great and matchless name
all my days, all my days

So let my whole life be
a blazing offering
A life that shouts and sings
the greatness of the King

Bridge

Take my life and let it be
All for you and for your glory
Take my life and let it be yours

Audio

• iTunes
• Amazon

How To Play

Fee has a chord/lyric chart posted on their site here. It’s pretty straightforward. The song is in “B”, but sounds best played capo 4 in “G” like the chord chart says. Biggest things to watch for are tempo (82bpm) and the beat changes between the verses, chorus, and bridge. You gotta keep the verse and bridge straight and syncopate the chorus.

Congregations pick up on the chorus and bridge pretty quickly, verses take a little getting used to. The melody is simple yet captivating and the theology of the song is rich and accurate. It’s a great congregational song. It’s like being in the throne room with the angels when people are singing this one out – simply beautiful and humbling.

Let me know if you have any questions. Hope you enjoy worshipping the Lord with this one!

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us.

Audio

Check out the David Crowder Band version – early release from their upcoming album.

How To Play

Grab the chords and lyrics here.

I’ve been playing it capo 5 in “G” to give it that nice ringing, pedal tone sound. Ends up sounding more like DC*B’s version of it than the original. Capo 5 also makes it easy to transition into a couple others I do capo 5 (Everything Glorious, Everlasting God, and All Because of Jesus.

The original uses “sloppy wet kiss” in verse 2, and from what I can tell, Crowder changed it to “unforeseen kiss.” I’ll change it up and use “lover’s sweet kiss.” (We ended up reverting to Crowder’s choice for the lyrics.) Sloppy wet kisses in congregation singing just sounds a little odd but is definitely some powerful imagery for God’s love. Kudos to John Mark for writing such a moving song.

Update: Check out John Mark’s blog post about changing the lyrics to How He Loves