In the Promised Land

Why listen to Christian music? It can give you hope. Even in the storm.

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After Russ Taff left for a solo career, the dynamic Paul Smith joined the group as lead in 1982, and he still sings with them today. Smith’s voice had the force of Taff’s but arguably without the raspy heart that made the group under Taff famous. Again, what makes a song by the Imperials distinctive is the background blends and informal riffs where all four sing vocables together, ba-ba-baing, mm-m-mming, and so on. They honestly didn’t care that this doo-wop beat, this background jazz had gone out of style: they knew who they were and they knew who they weren’t.

And what they were was a group of four strong singers who knew how to have fun with a song in a way that has uplifted myself and my family through the years. Here’s an overview of my top songs from the Smith-and-beyond era to round off my chapter on the Imperials, which nearly brings us up to today. The Imperials are still singing, and you can book them today.

1. Stand by the Power (from the album of that title)

Just as Taff introduced himself with the hard-rock sound of Water Grave, so Smith’s first song dives in with lots of electric guitar and driving beat, but the bridge cuts abruptly into an easy-listening free-styling scat singing with all four members contributing, turning just as abruptly back into electric guitar. Again, the Imperials match the heavy metal beat to a song with the metaphor of electric power: Christ is the power: we believers are the conductors. We have no power in ourselves unless we’re connected to Him. Every baptized Catholic has that power, and it’s absolute in the sense that Christ Himself is the absolute power in the universe. Again, it’s good for us to remember that, especially in these days when we Christians tend to feel beaten down:

There is a power:
An absolute authority that you possess—
For all who receive it—
Those who will just say yes—
Wake up!
It's time for you to realize just who you are!
No more a stranger,
You are a shinning star!
Stand by the power,
Power of His light,
Now is the hour
For you to stand by the power!

The scripture referenced here is that we “are no longer strangers and aliens, but … citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” (Eph 2:19). Belonging in the Family of God is what gives us power “greater, stronger than any strength the world can find,” as the song says.

Paul Smith and the whole band tear it all down during a live rendition of “Just Want to Know” during a very 1980s concert

2. Part-time Servant (from Stand by the Power)

For those who find the upbeat songs by the Imperials tiresome (I hear you, I see you), I encourage you to try their slower songs, which I’ll try to point out. This is gem, sung by Dave Will, which has a similar theme to “Just Want to Know” but a more relaxed tempo.

Pieces of promises, parts of a prayer—
No real commitment to stay or to care,
Partly believing and partly in doubt,
Not quite in the Kingdom, but not really out—
Tied to Your Word, Lord, just by a thread—
The need in my heart but the world in my head—
So long in confusion that I couldn't see
That full time, not part time, it's You that I need!

The singer has come to see the lukewarmness in his heart: he knows he needs God but is distracted by “the world in my head.” He identifies his problem: he is a servant of God, but “part time.” He recognizes he needs a deeper conversion and responds with an invitation:

So, Lord, come on in!
'Cause I want to start all over again—
From this day on, my life's an open door:
I won't be Your part time servant anymore.

I feel we can all relate to this in following Christ. A great repentance song.

“Golden Harvest” by David Merrill. Buy it here.

3. Lord of the Harvest (from Stand by the Power)

One of the all-time greatest songs of the Imperials appears on this album. Sung to perfection by Jim Murray, this sweeping, fully orchestrated ballad is a response to Our Lord’s words in John 4:35 and Luke 10:2: “I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are white for harvesting,” and “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his Harvest.”

See the fields
Ripe and white as snow,
Up from the seeds of faith
We planted long ago.
So many the hearts in season!
With every prayer they've grown—
He has made them ready,
But we must bring them home.

The song then becomes a prayer for every believer, especially those like me for who are afraid to evangelize:

Lord of the Harvest—Place Your fire in me!
Servant You need now—Servant I will be!
Give me the eyes of Your Spirit,
Your heart of compassion to know—
Lord of the Harvest, show me where to go.

Murray’s tenor is flawless and the other singers provide a rippling background reminiscent of wind moving through wheat stalks. It’s a needed prayer and a majestic song that is frankly, unforgettable.

4. Because of Who You Are (from Stand by the Power)

Even though Dave Will is a powerful singer, he seems to be choosy about his solos, but his songs on the Imperials albums inevitably are outstanding. This is another slow song whose message has come back to me again and again. We Catholics tend to focus on prayers of repentance and petition, but neglect the power of praise. This song is a fantastic corrective:

You spoke the words, and all the worlds came into order,
You waved Your hand, and planets filled the empty skies,
You placed the woman and the man inside the garden,
And though they fell, they found compassion in Your eyes—
Lord, I stand amazed at the wonder if it all,
Yet a greater wonder brings me to my knees—
Lord, I praise You because of Who You are—
Not just for all the mighty deeds that You have done.
Lord, I worship You because of Who You are—
It's all the reason that I need to voice my praise—because of Who You are!

“Who is like the Lord?” asked St. Michael of Satan in explaining why he would not follow him. Moses and Miriam were to echo this after crossing the Red Sea, and David in so many of the Psalms. As the Catechism of the Catholics Church says, “Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS.” (2639)

5. Bread of Life (from Let the Wind Blow)

This strikingly unusual song is the second track on the very 80s album Let the Wind Blow. Now, the Imperials, as I hope I’ve pointed out, are not Catholic (not yet), but yet when they decided to make a song about that troubling chapter of the Bible, John 6, they managed to come up with lyrics that, considering their lack of Eucharistic theology, are remarkable. They begin with comparing the faces of their neighbors to the faces of people dying of starvation in Third World countries:

The neighbors just next door
Have a look that I have seen before—
Was it on my TV screen or in a magazine?
Reminds me of a face,
Someone starving in a distant place,
A lonely inward stare
That says that no one's there
Left to care—
They need the Bread of Life!
Manna from on high!
They need the Bread of Life
So they will really live
And not live to die!
The hope that He can give
Is the change that comes inside—
So when we come to Him
His spirit will abide
In the Bread of Life!

As Catholics, we know that the single greatest gift we can give to a fellow human being is to lead them worthily approach the Eucharistic Feast. The Eucharist, the Bread of Life, Christ Himself is yearning to feed the world. If we Catholics really and truly believed that He is there and that people we know are starving for want of Him, would we be so afraid of evangelizing?

Starvation of a soul
Is very real and takes its toll—
Afflicting anyone
Who doesn't know the Son.
The case may be near—
It might be one that you hold dear—
It's up to you to intercede,
And bring the hope they need—
We've got to plant the seed!

…Take a look around,
Listen to the sound
Of people crying for the Bread of Life!
Don't turn your head,
But meet the need instead!
They're wandering alone,
And you can bring them home—!

It’s remarkable and very humbling when a music group that does not even share our knowledge of Christ in the Eucharist can create a hard-hitting song like this one. I would like to see this song played at every Catholic high school dance and covered by every Catholic rock group. We need to plant the seed, and share the Bread of Life with everyone we can.

6. Warriors (from This Year’s Model)

I’m including this song because my son loves it. In 1986, the young Ron Hemby took over as lead and became one of their best vocalists. His albums moved away from easy listening to a techno sound and songs like The Power of God that were adopted eagerly by Christian body builders. I can see why these lyrics speak to young men today: the challenge of true masculinity offered by Christ: of a life transformed and with the drive to help others find the same transformation.

I see the tragedy of wasted time—
I want no more to be way out of line, oh—
We may be far away, rotten to the core,
But we've the power to be living no more
Under the threat of war—
We are the warriors
And we fight with open hands!
We are the couriers
Of a power to change this land.

FYI In 2021, Ron Hemby rejoined the Imperials and is singing with them today.

7. Better than I know Myself from Free The Fire In Me

On this album, Dave Wills, now white-haired, still sings like a man of thirty, backed by new tenor Jimmy Lee Sloas. I have a hard time resisting some of the love songs to God performed by the Imperials, and this is one of them.

You were there at the moment I began—
When the child became a man,
Saw my future in the making,
Saw the path my life was taking,
Saw a million things I'll never understand—
You know me better than I know myself
Better than I know myself—
Time after time, You've shown it to be true
That no one loves me like You.

Anyone familiar with Psalm 139 will recognize these lyrics as a reworking of that justifiably famous song of David: “O Lord, You have searched and know me.” I love how well this song re-imagines this Psalm, and transfigures a music style familiar from countless secular love songs into an intimate appreciation of Our Lord.

8. In the Promised Land (from Let the Wind Blow)

2006 was a hard year for our family. The grief was so deep that on some days we walked around with dry eyes because our tear ducts were exhausted: we had literally no tears left to shed. It was sometime during those dark days that my little daughter, who always loved dancing, came up to my husband and I and said, “Come here. I want you to dance with me to this song.”

I’ve warned you at the beginning of this series that the Imperials are a dance band. They do not pretend to be deep, or reverent, or to perform anything approximating liturgical worship. Their works are there, in the main, to be danced to with modern dance—not swing or folk or Big Band, but regular old modern dance, bopping around with no particular form. I will say that normally modern dance drives me nuts.

But for all the shortcomings of modern dance, there are times when it is the one thing that can stir you to move your feet, escape the mental gymnastics of your own head, raise your head, and lift your spirits. It’s why exercise can alleviate depression. Its lack of form is a virtue when you’re too crushed to worry about which foot or which form.

I remember my husband and I, a bit somnambulisticaly took her hands and started to move our feet as she danced. It was an easy groove. And then I began to listen to the words.

Take a walk this way
Listen to the words I have to say—
I don't need this life
To try and help me find a better way—

And then the tempo began to pick up as the song began to build, the group starting their classic call and Paul Smith doing the response until the horns joined the chorus:

I've found—The gold that I've been looking for!
I've found—The key that opens every door!
I've found—The One who takes the credit for
This music we enjoy! (Oh yeah!)

Don't you know the sun will shine—In the promised land?
And we’ll be dancing all the time—In the promised land?
Don't you know that you can go—To the promised land?
Can't wait for love to show you—To the promised land?

And we understood the song. It was about heaven. And I began to understand why she wanted us to dance: Our daughter believed that her little brother had found the key and opened that door, and that in Heaven, he was dancing. And by we were dancing here on earth, we were joining in that heavenly dance with him right now.

Now you've come this far—
This love is here to meet you where you are
You don't need your past—
Take this love, I know it's gonna last…

Don't you know the sun will shine—In the promised land?
And we’ll be dancing all the time—In the promised land?
Don't you know that you can go—To the promised land?
Can't wait for love to show you—To the promised land!

We all danced together, all our family, and we found some tears, and we laughed again, and hugged. There was still a long journey of grief to walk, and there’s no rushing the river of grieving. But I remember that family dance as the beginning of hoping again. And so in some way, in these reflections on what might seem to some very shallow songs, I hope to show how they have spiritually enriched me. More, how in dark times they have thrown out a lifeline and helped pull me out of dark places. When formal religious music and prayers seemed hollow, it got around my defenses in a child-like way. As the song says, Christ takes the credit for this type of music. Yes, God can even use fun.

Thanks for reading, and please share if you found it moving. And please do share the music you’ve found that inspires you.