Dr. John W. Telman
John Telman – 3 songs
Michael Jackson – 100 songs
Steven Curtis Chapman – 200 songs
Gordon Lightfoot – 450 songs
Bob Dylan – 500 songs
Bill Gaither – 600 songs
Barry Gibb – 1000 songs
Smokey Robinson – 1000 songs
Solomon – 1005 songs
Curtis Mayfield – 1400 songs
Irving Berlin – 1500 songs
Dolly Parton – 3000 songs
Charles Wesley – 6500 songs
Fanny Crosby – 8000 songs
These are staggering and fascinating numbers. Notice in the list above that I have written 3 songs and that was the most I could muster with all the effort in me. I have a friend who has written hundreds of beautiful song titles. That’s correct. Song titles. Strangely he couldn’t get beyond the title.
To write the number of songs in the above list suggests that the author/composer spent a fair bit of time thinking and considering how to express thoughts. Note that these are the numbers of songs written, published, and known to those who have kept track. It’s not a stretch to believe that these songwriters wrote more songs that were not published, or they didn’t want anyone to know about for various reasons.
There is a song that I once wrote, and I complained to God that I couldn’t get anyone to sing. Immediately I heard God tell me that it was not for anyone else to hear. It was a song just for him to enjoy. That was good enough for me but it got me thinking about not only writing but why writing is done.
Currently, I have 5 published books and 2 published academic papers to credit. These were written to turn the attention of the reader to God. Expressions of this sort are my ways to worship the creator.
So why do I write? Definitely it’s not to make a living. Writing is subject to the whims of the reader or singer unless the audience is God. Writing now is inspired by God and for his glory.
Maybe that’s what King David had in mind when he wrote, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him” (Psalm 28:7).
