"Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" is a
worship song written by
Rick Founds in 1989.
Founds wrote the song during his morning devotion, while reading the scriptures on his computer monitor and watching television. He plucked his guitar thinking about the "cycle of redemption", comparing it with the
water cycle
The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle) is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs. The mass of water on Earth remains fai ...
.
Founds performed the song as a
worship leader
Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the 20th century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found in a wide range of churches, including many ...
in his church. It was picked up by
Maranatha! Music
Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, Universal Music.
Background
...
and initially recorded by the Maranatha! Singers followed by the Praise Band.
Promise Keepers
Promise Keepers is an Evangelical Christian parachurch organization for men. It opposes same-sex marriage, and champions chastity and marital fidelity and the man as being head of the household.
Promise Keepers originated in the United Sta ...
performed the song in English and Spanish in their drives.
Since the 1990s, it has been one of the most popular Christian songs. In the United States,
Christian Copyright Licensing International
Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) is a privately owned company that was founded in the US in 1988 by Howard Rachinski. CCLI was launched after being developed by Rachinski for 3½ years while he was a music minister at a large ch ...
(CCLI) reported ''Lord I Lift Your Name on High'' as the most popular song used in churches every year from 1997 to 2003. Currently it is No. 24 on the list. CCLI UK report it as the fifth most popular printed, projected or recorded song in mid-2006. In Australia this song was the seventh most used song by the beginning of 2007
There have been many interpretations of the song by many artists in all styles:
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
,
R&B,
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
,
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
,
hip hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
,
rap,
soca,
ska
Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
,
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
a cappella
Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
amongst others and has been translated to a number of languages and recorded in a number of countries.
Versions
*In 1989, the first recorded version was by the
Maranatha! Singers
Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music.
Background
In the early 1970s Calv ...
on the label
Maranatha! Music
Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, Universal Music.
Background
...
. The recording was done on the album ''Double Praise 12'' of the ''Praise'' series and was released on the Maranatha! Music and distributed by WORD Inc. The recording was done in classic style.
*In 1992
Paul Baloche
Paul Joseph Baloche Work ID No. 884337863 ISWC No. T9126089325 ( ; born on June 4, 1962) is an American Christian music artist, worship leader, and singer-songwriter. A native of Maple Shade Township, New Jersey,Price, Deborah Evans. "Higher Grou ...
performed the song on his Album ''He Is Faithful'', published by
Hosanna! Music
Integrity Music is part of the David C Cook, David C. Cook nonprofit group. Founded as a direct-to-consumer music club in 1987 as ''Integrity Music'', Integrity was at the forefront of contemporary worship music's widespread popularity of prai ...
*In 1997, Christian band
Petra
Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...
on their album ''
Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus''
*In 1998, Christian ska-punk band
The Insyderz
The Insyderz were an American Christian ska-punk musical band, band from Detroit, Michigan. They formed in 1996 and disbanded in 2005. The band reformed in 2009, but have not been actively playing shows in the last few years. The Insyderz are on ...
on their album ''
Skalleluia!''
*In 1999, Christian singer
Carman
In Celtic mythology, Carman (Carmán) or Carmun was a warrior and sorceress from Athens who tried to invade Ireland in the days of the Tuatha Dé Danann, along with her three sons, Dub ("darkness"), Dother ("evil") and Dian ("violence"). She use ...
on his album ''Passion for Praise, Vol. 1''
*In 2000, American Christian singer
Lincoln Brewster
Lincoln Brewster (born July 30, 1971) is an American contemporary Christian musician and worship pastor. As a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Brewster became a sought-after session guitarist in the early 1990s. He is the former senior worship ...
on his album ''
Live to Worship''
*In 2000, American Gospel singer and composer
Donnie McClurkin
Donald Andrew McClurkin Jr. (born November 9, 1959) is an American gospel singer and minister. He has won three Grammy Awards, ten Stellar Awards, two BET Awards, two Soul Train Awards, one Dove Award and one NAACP Image Awards. He is one of t ...
on his album ''
Live in London and More...''
*In 2001, Christian Contemporary band
SONICFLOOd released a live rock version of the song on their album ''
Sonicpraise''. It was recorded in 1999 during the
Flevo Festival
The Flevo Festival was an open air Christian music festival held each August in the Netherlands. The festival was first organized as the Kamperland Festival in 1978 by the Dutch arm of Youth for Christ and became a private foundation in 2002. T ...
*In 2004, South African-UK musician and singer
Jonathan Butler
Jonathan Kenneth Butler (born 10 October 1961) is a South African singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music is often classified as R&B, jazz fusion or worship music.
Biography
Born and raised in Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa, during apa ...
released a soul cover version on his worship album "The Worship Project."
*In 2005, the Christian pop group
Worship Jamz recorded a pop version in their self-titled album ''Worship Jamz''
*It has also been covered by Jamaican singer
Chevelle Franklyn
Chevelle Franklyn (born 4 March 1974) is a Jamaican reggae and gospel reggae singer.
Early life and reggae career
Born in the Tawes Pen area of Spanish Town in St. Catherine Parish, Franklyn was the fourth in a family of ten children. She was ...
.
*In 2009,
Coffey Anderson
Coffey Anderson (born December 15, 1978) (sometimes using just his mononym Cofféy or Coffey) is an American country singer-songwriter and internet personality, originally from Bangs, Texas. He came to fame through his YouTube videos releasin ...
performed the song on his album ''Worship Unplugged Vol. 1''
;Language versions
*In 2005, the song was done as "" in
Lingala
Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser de ...
by the Dutch-Congolese band
Makoma. It appeared on the Makoma album ''Na Nzambe Te, Bomoyi Te'' (also known as ''No Jesus, No Life'').
*The song was also translated into:
**
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
– "" (I profess Your name)
**Cantonese - "讓我高舉頌讚祢" (May I Lift and Praise You)
**
Dutch – "" (Lord, I praise Your great name)
**
Finnish – "" (Lord, I exalt You)
**
French – "" (I praise your name, Eternal One)
**
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
– "" (Lord, Your name be exalted)
**
Portuguese – "" (I will exalt your name)
**
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean
**Korean dialects
**See also: North–South differences in t ...
– "" (As I Lift Lord's name)
**
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
– "" (Let us lift Jesus' name)
**
Norwegian – "" (God, I exalt your name)
**
Polish – "" (I want to exalt Thy name)
**
Slovenian – "" (I elevate your name)
**
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
– "" (I will Lift your name On High)
**
Swedish – "" (God I lift up your name)
**
Mongolian "" (Let's praise the name of Lord)
**There are also versions in Chinese, Japanese, Hmong, Tamil and Turkish.
References
{{authority control
Christian songs
1989 songs
Promise Keepers