An Adrian version: https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=14390659
Performed by Salt:: https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=14390664
Live in concert with Salt: https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=14390665
In Welsh/Cymraeg: https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=5452225
In Welsh on TV (from 1985): https://youtu.be/pH_qEF0DEvs
A multiple choice option this week!
Why choose this song right now?
I have reached one of those points in my life journey where multiple options lay before me and I truly don't know which ones will work out and which are the ones I should pursue. That was exactly the situation when, along with a wonderful songwriter/musician called Rob Fisher, we wrote this song.
Right now my career is nearer its conclusion than its beginning. I have to make some pretty HUGE decisions. When would it best to retire? What would be the most sensible option in terms of finances? What would be the most sensible options in terms of family? (and bear in mind my family is on two different continents.) Where should I live? How long am I likely to live? (I do not even want to know the answer to that one!) So, yes, some decisions that literally have to do with the remaining life I will have on the planet.
The local governing body (The Presbytery) of the area in which I am serving are having to ask some serious questions. When I arrived, the eight churches on the South Fork of Long Island all had ministerial oversight. Now, following Covid, only three of them do.
In one of those the minister is on maternity leave. The position I occupy is a dual part-time position and the denomination I serve has decided, in just over a years time, to no longer fund their part of the equation. This came as rather unwelcome suprise to both myself and the other half of the equation, which is the congregation I am currently working with.. We could interpret that as 'throwing us under the bus' but our more worthy side refuses to be that uncharitable! So other peoples decisions, beyond our control, are influencing the decisions that I have no option but to make.
The circumstances of the original song,
I was playing in a band called "Bananas" and all sorts of stuff was happening. We had our whole lives before us. None of us had any idea what the future held for us. I was hoping it involved writing songs playing music because I LOVE writing songs and making music. But I was, and am, a person of Christian faith. And my life has always been tied up with trying to understand what a higher power had in store for me, It was then. It is now. And faith is all about trusting that the "Big Unknown" knows what is going on. That has worked pretty well for me and I'm hoping will continue to do so. So Rob and myself wrote the song.
A little more history of the song and these recordings.
Rob and I wrote it originally for ourselves and for the band we were playing in to perform. Then "Banana's split" (pun intended.) The next band I played in, called "Salt", liked the song and also played it and recorded a version of it. But the recording, complete with copying the guitar solo almost note for note, came after I had left that band. (And what was it about me and bands with food products in their name?) We are still great friends and when they had a reunion gig I was invited to join them to perform it … which is the "Salt Live" version.
I had moved on to study theology in Wales and, of course carried on playing music. The song became translated into Welsh and played on the radio and on the Welsh TV pop show, "Ser" in 1985. (Featuring a future General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Wales - Rev. Meirion Morris - on Bass guitar.) Which accounts for those two versions. I'm told all of "Ser"s TV broadcasts are preserved in the National Library of Wales, so if any future generation searches for examples of "Christian Welsh language Rock Bands performing on TV" they may well find it.
But enough of this rambling. Give it a listen. Or watch it. Most of all hope you enjoy it and find the message relevant for your own life.
Decisions
© Adrian J Pratt/Robert Fisher 1977
Don't want to make a mistake
I want to do what's right
Gotta make my decision
I want to do what's right
Because I've got to do what's right
Sitting thinking, Confusion on my mind
Don't want to wait till tomorrow
Feel like I've just got to decide what's right to do
Got to make my decision, Got to make my decision
Got to make my decision, Got to do what's right
Decison oo- oo
Got to make my decision, Got to make my decision
Got to do what's right
It's not a straightforward direction
Do I turn left or right
It's more a case of being guided
To where I do what's right
Because I've got to do what's right
Should I do just as I feel
Follow my desire
Should I go ahead and take the plnge
And risk being brainwashed by the liar
Got to make my decision, Got to make my decision
Got to make my decision, Got to do what's right
Decison oo- oo
Got to make my decision, Got to make my decision
Got to do what's right
I'm gonna do what You want me to do
I'm going to do what's right
I'm going to follow where You lead me
Because Ii've got to do wjat's right
I want to do what's right
Now I know the feeling
That You are by my side
I know that You will guide my decision
I know that You will be what I decide
Got to make my decision, Got to make my decision
Got to make my decision, Got to do what's right
Decison oo- oo
Got to make my decision, Got to make my decision
Got to do what's right
Decision, Decision, Decision
(Iconic guitar solo)