Here is the story behind how I made this song.

Back in the 80's, I was into fiddle music, old-timey string bands (pre-Country), and Celtic music. One of the more memorable songs was on an Album by a folk group from Wales, Ar Log (which means "For Rent" in American, "For Hire" in English). Last Fall, I got a turntable for my birthday, so I could listen to my old records. Unfortunately, my wave to MIDI software (the free, Amazing MIDI) couldn't convert that song. So, I ended up picking the melody out on my keyboard while listening to it over and over. Then, I recorded a MIDI at the keyboard.

I sent an E-mail to the Ar Log band member in order to make sure this song was really an old folk song, not a new composition. He did confirm that it was a traditional song, and as for an arrangement, I could use his chords. He knew of the song because it originated from the area of Wales he came from. The song is, "Difyrrwch Gwyr Dolgellau" ("Delight of the Men of Dolgellau" in English). Dolgellau is a town in north Wales.

From listening to the song's melody, I felt it was about overcoming some obsticle. Around Christmastime, my wife, listening to it and liking it, suggested making it into a Christmas song. So, I wrote some raw lyrics for that. Christmas passed. Then, I thought a song about 'wonders' would be good. The 'delight' in the title helped my thinking about that. I ended up using the delight idea for another song. Then, I thought about writing a song about faith or grace, thinking that 'wonders' wasn't really the substance of Christianity. I wrote some raw lyrics based on Hebrews 11, but only three verses. How does one limit a song to three heros?

Then, about three weeks ago, I was watching a TV program early Sunday morning. It was retelling the story of a Welsh girl, Mary Jones. I hadn't heard of her before. Here is a link to the program transcript and video,

Mary Jones and Her Bible, TV Program

After seeing this TV program, I got the idea about making this song be about the reasons and inner motivations that people have for reading the bible. Mary Jones was an unusual youngster. She showed an unusual interest in church meetings and bible stories for a girl her age, in the late 1700's. She wanted a bible of her own. Over several years, she saved up enough money to buy one, but then, needed to walk 25 miles (to Bala, Wales) to buy one in the Welsh language. This was in 1800.

Map - North Wales

After I started thinking about all this, I looked at the internet for info on this story. Mary Jones' hometown was the little village, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. While locating this I noticed that this village was probably less than 10 miles from the town of Dolgellau.

The song, Delight of the Men of Dolgellau, probably is a hunting song. Delight ('spectacol' in Romanian) is some sort of event that is a delight, an amusement or distraction. Other Welsh songs that start with 'Delight' ('Difyrrwch' in Welsh) are in fact hunting songs (squirrel or rabbit). Some go back to the 1600's and 1700's.

So, even going back centuries ago, this area had hunting, and it also had people 'hunting' for God. And it appears Dolgellau was on the way to Bala in 1800.

The British and Foreign Bible Society has used this story of Mary Jones as a prime example of why they were formed, in order to translate, print, and distribute bibles worldwide. I think it was the first such bible society.

So. I wanted to make a song about the bible, specifically, about what motivates one to read it. I took a look at the cyberhymnal website and found plenty songs about the bible, but only one about motivations to reading it. Here it is:

Holy Bible, Book Divine