Let's celebrate the 40th of a great song

We've had some great ideas suggested for marking the 40th anniversary of the release of Light Up the Fire. Sadly band reunions and new releases are outside the scope of this site. Over to you John, Keith, Sue, Jeff, Brian and Pete!

Here is how we are kicking things off:

Can you compose a new song in the spirit of the original Light Up the Fire?

Our first prize will be £90 (UK pounds) and our second prize will be £60 (UK pounds), payable through PayPal. These may be extended if other sponsors come on board. The original emerged from a competition for a great song - so I think this is a great way to honour it.

Here is how to enter:
1/ Record your song and place it on YouTube.
2/ Add the hashtag #lutf40 to your notes together with a link to this site.
3/ Add a comment here with a link to your YouTube entry. We will retain all links that pass the basic standards for entry.
The deadline for entries is Saturday September 8th 2012.


What you need to be thinking about:
Great melody!
Great lyrics - it's that first line "Colours of day dawn into the mind" that captures the imagination.
To capture the other ingredients you need to listen to Parchment's music. We're posting some of the best clips on the Facebook page.

These include:

• great instrumentation;
• great voices;
• great arrangement (which was down to John Pantry - but see what you can do);
• powerful message. It doesn't have to be the same message as Light Up the Fire but it should be spiritually exciting. I recently tried to find a song in our church song-book with a similar message to Light Up the Fire. We ended up singing the original - very cheerfully - as there was nothing else.
• it doesn't have to be a folky syle! Any style is acceptable but it needs to stand out.

Some terms and conditions: By entering you attest that the work is your original work and is not in breach of someone else's copyright. It remains your copyright. Entries must not previously have been published as a commercial recording. We reserve the right to refuse entries. The judges' decision is final.

Our facebook page

The story of Light Up the Fire

Here's some links which bring together the story of Light Up the Fire, now known to many as Colours of Day.

Our original account of the story of the single
Magazine cutting about the launch of the single
How Colours of Day became a hit in schools
Video of a decent schools version of the song

This link takes you to Sue McClellan's version of the words on the River web-site.

Here's a tribute to the song on the Cross Rhythms website.

And here's our new facebook page. If you're on Facebook please like it!

* Details of the anniversary competition will be announced tomorrow.

Bluegrass

Just before we announce details of the 40th anniversary competition - yes it will be a competition - here is the nearest you will get to the sound of Parchment in the modern world.

I came across these wonderful twin sisters, the Carrivick Sisters, recently. They combine English folk and US bluegrass - rather like Parchment did often, especially on Rehearsal for a Reunion.

Their instruments include the dobro - featured here, the mandolin, guitars but also the banjo and fiddle. They also frequently sing in harmony. Sadly as there's only two of them you  mostly only get combinations of any two in any one song. They don't do gospel and although the ingredients of the mix are similar to Parchment, the sound isn't so similar. Did Parchment even play the dobro like that?? But if ever you want to see a dobro in action, track them down as they seem to perform live incessantly. This link takes you to some comments John Pac made on this site a few years ago about Parchment's dobro.

So what are we doing for the 40th anniversary?

I hope to make an announcement soon.....