I wrote ' Children of the Father ' on Wednesday
6th January, 1988. The idea for the song came to me on Sunday 3rd January, 1988
at the close of the Sunday morning worship service at Christ Chapel, the church
founded by Revd. Chris Tunde Joda. As I became a practicing Christian in his
ministry, that makes him my spiritual father, as we say here. At that time the
church congregated on the premises of Yewande Memorial Nursery and Primary
School at James Robertson Street, Surulere, Lagos.
The church service had ended and everybody was
going home. I was part of the throng trekking up to Onilegogoro Bus Stop on
Alhaji Masha Road. From there I would get transportation to Block D9, Eric
Moore Towers, where I shared an uncle’s official quarters. As we moved along, I
sensed heaven present with us and I thought:
‘God, these are your children. We are your
children, Lord’. As the people slapped their footwear on the well-tarred James
Robertson Street it gave a rhythm to me. I got the melody of the song
We are your children, Lord
Children of the Father
We
are your children, Lord
Children of the Promise.
It was a pattern of play I had not done before
then, so I mulled over the song idea for the next three days until Wednesday
the 6th when I tried again to play it. But I still could not. So I
recorded it just as a chorus and thought to lazily leave it like that as a
chorus. Still, every time I came across the song script over the years I always
felt it was a song that could be more but which has taunted my skill level. I
played and enjoyed my songs, but I just couldn’t play this one because I always
tied myself in knots with it. For no other reason than to see if my producer
could work it out, I put the song among others I had planned to record. And
strangely as it happened, he took an instant liking to it among so many I had
thought he would prefer. But he did not know the song was incomplete. So we
played out the chorus and made adjustment. The present second verse was
supposed to be just an inflection varying from the main chorus; and that was
all to it, I thought. However, as we progressed, Chris demanded for not just
two more verses, but verses with different melodies as well as parallel response
verses on the same beat!
Now challenged, I went into the Mike Booth pen in
hand. And I did what I had been unable to complete since 1988. Thanks to the
issues of living I easily found a few pointed words to say to God, and they
were rendered in the most impromptu and heartfelt melodies I ever made.
We re-ordered the verses and Chris rendered the
verse 2 himself because it was the highest pitched and my voice had not quite
woken up and we had to pack out of the studio that night!
Here are the lyrics to Children of the Father.
Children of the Father ( Lyrics )
Author and Composer : Richard Okwudili-Chukwu ( a.k.a StormWind )
Hmmmhmmhmmmm
Hmmmhmmhmmmm
Hooohoohooooooo
Huuuhuhuhuuuuu
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
We are your children, Lord shubidu
Children of the Father
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
We are your children, Lord shubidu
Children of the Father
Have mercy, oh Lord Almighty God
Have mercy, oh Lord Consuming Fire
Have mercy, oh Lord Prince of Peace
Have mercy on us Judge of all the earth
Have mercy, oh Lord Everlasting Father
Have mercy, oh Lord Lord of Lords
Have mercy, oh Lord King of kings
We are your children Oh Lion of Judah
Have mercy Have mercy
Have mercy Have mercy
Have mercy, Lord Have mercy
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
We are your children, Lord shubidu
Children of the Father
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
We are your children, Lord shubidu
Children of the Father
We are your children We're your children, Lord
We are your children You're our Maker
We are your children You're our today and t'morrow
Children of the Promise
we are your children You're everything we.....hope to be
We are your children No other
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
We are your children, Lord shubidu
Children of the Father
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
Look down from heaven
Look down Lord and see
We're looking to do good
Help us Lord
Help us Lord
We can do nothing without you
You're the reason we can face this day
Oh Lord
We're your own
Your own image
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord wou wou wou
We are your children, Lord shubidu
Children of the Father
We are your children, Lord shubidu
We are your children, Lord
We are your children, Lord
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