Love is a Verb

Description

Love is a Verb is the debut album by the American singer and songwriter William Flanders, independently released on Back Door Records in 1968, manufactured by Mark Custom Recording Service. The album was recorded at Edgewood Studios. All songs written by William Flanders. Second guitar by Dave Parker.

(Mark Custom Recording Service was founded in 1962 by Vincent S. Morette, a Century Records employee. Originally a satellite of Century Custom Recordings, “Mark” soon differentiated itself from the other recording companies with their superior quality, customer service and attention to detail.)

All this began in the spring of 1967 when I first heard Joe Bash’s folk hymn «Jonah» and Sydney Carter’s «Lord of the Dance». The former uses biblical imagery to evoke our contemporary situation (“We sail a ship with a man named Jonah.”) The latter uses secular images to recast theological statements (“They cut me down and I leap up high – I am the life that’ll never, never die.”) Fifteen months later I find myself the proud possessor of twenty folk hymns, most of which incorporate one or both of these approaches.

Why write folk hymns? For one reason, to preserve biblical culture in an age of in which few read the Bible. For another, to communicate, in a non-preaching way, meanings of biblical symbols that may lie overlooked by those who reject literal interpretations.

William Flanders, August 1968

(The words, melody line and guitar chords to all of these songs, as well as additional copies of this record, can be obtained by writing to…) [Note on the back of the LP sleeve]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Blood, Flow Down” – 2:35
A2. “Tell That Child To Go Home” – 2:12
A3. “Hypocrite Road” – 2:50
A4. “Song Of Epiphany” – 3:29
A5. “Moses Is Dead” – 3:57
A6. “Forty Nights And Days” – 2:14
A7. “Love Is A Verb” – 2:42

Side Two
B1. “To Worship You” – 2:14
B2. “John The Baptist” – 1:51
B3. “I’m Burning Up” – 1:45
B4. “So It’s Christmas Time Again” – 4:15
B5. “It’s So Nice Here In The Pew” – 2:15
B6. “Blind Samson” – 4:30
B7. “I Was Born To Be Me” – 2:01