BACKGROUND
‘I can only Imagine’ has been covered by so many artistes and bands including David Archuleta and Casting Crowns. Originally written by Bart Millard, lead singer of MercyMe, it was inspired by his father’s death.
This year, Johnny Drille also did a magnificent cover.
Enjoy!
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MUSICALITY
The cover starts with notes from the digital piano on E major, Johnny Drille’s voice following without drums, and the string quartet coming in toward the end of the verse.
Drille sorta has a natural country drawl in his vocals, which is perfect for his ‘I Can Only Imagine’ cover. At the chorus, the quartet comes in richer, adding more colour and emotion to the piece. Johnny takes the chorus to the descant immediately, without repeating the verse. At the line ‘Will I be able to speak it all’, Johnny infuses a falsetto that makes the song unforgettable, even though the ballad ends shortly after. He then adds some dynamics as the song does a decrescendo to al fine.
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VIDEO
This colour palette of this video is whites, browns and reddish browns. Set at the beach, the coolness of the breeze and waves add to the easy going message of the song.
Immediately I see the instruments in the video, I just know it’s the P4 String Quartet, with its legendary instrumentation fitting for a musical. The posture of the artistes are also fitting for the video.
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MESSAGE
This has always been one of my favourite songs. A lot of the time, I find myself wanting to be in heaven in real time because everything would be so perfect in the presence of God with his glory 100%. This song just makes the imagery more alive and adds more pizzazz to worship! The funny thing is heaven would be more awesome than our imagination, so I suggest we get our imagination up in gear!
Do you think about heaven often? Even if you don’t, find joy and peace in the fact that we are already seated in heaven with Christ at the right hand of God, since we died with Christ and are resurrected with Him (Romans 6: 4 – 5, Colossians 3:1).
This song personifies the truth that we are not a people without hope.
#Checckit!