Lightshine!

Description

Lightshine! is “a youth musical” written and conceived by the American composer Buryl Red and lyricist Grace Hawthorne as performed by The Buryl Red Singers, released on Word Records in 1972. Also released in Europe by Word UK. The album was recorded by Rick Horton, Rex Collier, and Jim Williamson at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee; with Billy Ray Hearn producing. Arranged and conducted by Buryl Red.

Featuring a session band consisting of Bill Pursell on keyboards, David Briggs on organ, Pete Wade on guitar, Harold Bradley on lead guitar, Curly Chalker on steel guitar, Bobby Thompson on banjo, Bob Moore on bass, Buddy Harman on drums, and Farrell Morrison on percussion, with Charlie McCoy sitting in on harmonica.

LIGHTSHINE A Youth Musical
Music by Buryl Red, Lyrics by Grace Hawthorne
as performed by The Buryl Red Singers
Arranged & Conducted by Buryl Red
Produced by Billy Ray Hearn

LIGHTSHINE is a youth musical which brings to both the performers and the audience a totally new and joyful understanding of one of the Bible’s most beautiful and significant texts – the Beatitudes. With contemporary musical sounds and up-to-date dialog, the Sermon on the Mount comes to life. Its truths are clear and direct. Its dramatic impact is powerful indeed.

LIGHTSHINE does not side step harsh terms such as persecution, hunger, and poverty. Nor does it offer a panacea for all the world’s ills. It does admit that the search for happiness is common to us all and that finding it is a puzzle for all men.

What is the answer? Isn’t it enough to show mercy, make peace, be meek, have empathy for the suffering, suffer persecution for a righteous cause, or hunger for goodness? No … not without personal involvement. That is the message of LIGHTSHINE – commitment of life plus good works. Only therein does one find happiness.

Nearly two thousand years have passed since Jesus uttered these truths on a mountainside. The message is uniquely relevant to us today in LIGHTSHINE.

The central character of LIGHTSHINE is Mime, a mute who never sings or speaks. Mime, like most people today, is searching for happiness. He sees others who appear to by happy. Each one offers his own formula for achieving this elusive prize. One urges righteousness, another meekness, still another pureness of heart.

On Mime goes through seven members of the chorus, each one representing one of the Beatitudes. Although he learns the joys of being merciful, mourning with the sad, and making peace among men, Mime is incomplete. He has not yet achieved the goal of his long pilgrimage. He is not fully happy.

Then Mime comes upon Teacher seated on a ladder speaking to a group of his followers. Teacher explains that finding happiness is a puzzle. Mime offers to try to work the puzzle. He places in a circle the seven joyful lessons he has learned during his search. The circle is incomplete and lifeless.

“My puzzle has eight pieces,” says Teacher.

Mime, who had been persecuted by the others along the journey, sees the point and adds himself as the eighth piece. He has discovered the answer! The circle begins to come alive. Life abundant is found at last!

The Narrator-Concert version of LIGHTSHINE is a sermon in song. The music is the same as the staged version, but through the use of a narrator, choral speaking, and soloists, a powerfully dramatic performance can be presented without complicated staging and lightning effects. Mel Hawthorne, pastor at the Manhattan Baptist Church of New York City, has provided us with this exciting alternative.

BURYL RED, composer, conductor, arranger, and producer, lives in New York City. He is the head of Generic Company, a music publishing firm, and Buryl Red Productions. Prior to going into business for himself, he was senior music editor for Holt, Rinehart & Winston. He is music consultant for the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and music director of the Centurymen, a 100-member men’s chorus recently featured on NBC-TV. Burly Red received a Honorary Doctor of Music degree from William Jewell College in Missouri.

GRACE HAWTHORNE has been Buryl Red’s assistant for the past year and a half. As a free lance writer, she has published in many religious publications. Her past writing experience includes work in the newspaper field and in public relations. She has also been editor in the book division of Time, Inc. Grace is the wife of Rev. Melvin Hawthorne, pastor of Manhattan Baptist Church, New York City. [Album liner notes featured on the back of the album sleeve]

Lightshine, by Buryl Red, is a musical production designed for youth of the Christian faith, reminiscent in style of the 1970’s folk music of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and other “folk” artists of that genre. Each selection is based upon one of the Beatitudes found in the Gospel according to Matthew of the New Testament. While there are other youth musicals, such as Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, to name a couple, Lightshine is a 10-song program suitable for guitar, keyboard, and simple percussion instruments if desired. The songs are are very pleasant, up-beat, and fun to sing. The words to each song are thought-provoking and reverent, touching the experience and emotions of anyone familiar with Jesus Christ and His teachings. They provide a moral thought process which adheres to the conscience of every Christian. Youth who perform it learn the significance of the Sermon on the Mount through the music. It can be performed in any denomination of the Christian faith, as a concert-style work, or an actual program with narration between each song. There are ten (10) songs in all, and the program, when performed, can last for as short as a half hour, or as long as an hour or more, depending on the length of narration. This youth musical is uplifting to youth performers and audience alike. It can be performed by groups of any age, but it was primarily designed for Christian youth. [A. B. Gardner]

[Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Lightshine” (“Let your light so shine…”) – 2:39
A2. “The Good Life” (“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst…”) – 3:08
A3. “Rain Of Peace” (“Blessed are the peacemakers…”) – 3:45
A4. “Get It Together” (“Blessed are the pure in heart…”) – 2:35
A5. “Inherit The Earth” (“Blessed are the merciful…”) – 3:04

Side Two
B1. “He Felt The Whip” – 3:27
B2. “Would You” (“Blessed are they that mourn…”) (Soloist: Linda Cates) – 2:45
B3. “Weep No More” (“Blessed are the poor on spirit…”) – 2:42
B4. “The Answer” – 2:53
B5. “Lightshine” – 2:39

Note: “Now Available! Full musical score with stage version and Narrator-Concert version from your music supplier or WORD, Incorporated, Box 1790, Waco, Texas 76703. Catalog Number 37601 – $1.95.” (Note featured on the back of the LP sleeve.)

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