10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

"10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" is a contemporary Christian music song co-written by Matt Redman, an English Christian singer-songwriter based in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom and Jonas Myrin, a Swedish singer, musician and songwriter based in Berlin, Germany. The song is copyrighted to sixstepsrecords / Sparrow Records and was recorded by Matt Redman in his 2011 album 10,000 Reasons that was released on Kingsway Music. The song has been included in a number of compilations and was covered later by a number of other artists. The song is heavily used as part of worship in various Evangelical Protestant churches and at many youth camps in English or in translations into other world languages.

Context

The song is a contemporary version of a classic worship song making the case for "10,000 reasons for my heart to find" to praise The Lord Jesus. The inspiration for the song came through the opening verse of Psalm 103: "Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name". It is also based on the 19th century English hymn "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" written by Henry Francis Lyte.

Redman recalled the writing of the song was through an initial idea or suggestion from co-writer Jonas Myrin. Redman told Worship Leader magazine: "He [Myrin] played me an idea for some of the chorus melody, and I found it immediately inspiring. In fact, it felt like a perfect fit for a song based on the opening of Psalm 103. The song came together really quickly - a good chunk of the song was actually a spontaneous moment",^[1] adding that the song reiterates how "we live beneath an unceasing flow of goodness, kindness, greatness, and holiness, and every day we're given reason after reason why Jesus is so completely and utterly worthy of our highest and best devotion".^[1]

The song enumerates various attributes of The Lord in his love for mankind that makes Him worthy of worship for "ten thousand years and then forevermore", a Lord worthy of "unending praise" with the break of dawn and when the evening falls... for whatever has passed and whatever may lie ahead, from beginning to end, up to one's last days on the death bed.

The refrain says:

Music video

A music video was filmed in a church setting in Berlin, Germany. The black and white video filmed by Andy Hutch of Yodo Creative in 2012 shows Matt Redman singing and playing the guitar accompanied by an acoustic music band and a number of backing vocalists.

Charts

"10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" was released in 2012 as a single and spent 16 weeks at the top spot on Christian Radio and remained No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Songs Chart for 13 weeks^[2] and was certified gold. The album containing the song as its title track peaked in its own right on the US Christian Album chart at No. 1.^[3][4] and No. 149 on the UK charts.

Awards

In 2013, Redman and Myrin won two Grammy Awards for "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" in both Best Contemporary Christian Music Song and Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance categories.

The song also won in 2013 Gospel Music Association's "Dove Award for Song of the Year" during the 44th GMA Dove Awards. Redman also won the "Contemporary Christian performance of the year" for his performance of the song^[5] during the same event.

Covers

The song has been covered by a number of artists and bands including:

• Irish worship band, Rend Collective Experiment, in their 2013 album Campfire.^[6]
• Contemporary Christian music group The Katinas in their 2014 album Sunday Set,^[7] accompanied by a music video^[8]
• The vocal quintet Veritas in their self-titled 2014 album Veritas^[9]
• Worship Together Kids in their 2014 album 10,000 Reasons Kids Worship^[10]
• The Christian reggae band Christafari in their 2015 album Anthems. Their version features additional vocals by Avion Blackman. The release was accompanied by a music video.^[11]

At Passion 2014 in Houston, it was sung by the song's co-writer Matt Redman and Passion 2015 Houston featuring vocals from Chris Tomlin, Brett Younker and Kristian Stanfill.

The song has been translated into a number of languages. It was recorded in Spanish as "10,000 Razones" by Evan Craft in an acoustic version in his 2012 album Yo Soy Segundo.^[12] and in German as "Zehntausend Gründe" ("10,000 Gründe") by the German Christian band Outbreakband and recorded on their album Das ist unser Gott, a live album performed at the Glaubenszentrum Bad Gandersheim.

References