Normal Rockstar: New Christmas song: "How Many Kings"

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December 10, 2007

New Christmas song: "How Many Kings"

Bethlehem_skyline Everyone I know gets excited about Christmas music at Christmas time. When I was single my rule was that I couldn't start listening to Christmas music until December 1st. However, when I moved to Nashville, I quickly discovered that there was a deeply embedded cultural tradition that the day after American Thanksgiving was not only the biggest shopping day of the year but also the day that people started listening to Christmas music... so in recent years I've given in to tradition and broken out the Christmas tunes a week earlier than I used to.

I told you about a rather classical Christmas album in my last post - here's one for those of you who have a hard time swallowing that kind of music. My band - downhere - wrote a couple of original Christmas songs last year as part of a Christmas compilation CD that our record label was working on featuring various artists on our label. One of the songs - "How Many Kings" - was released to radio this year and has been doing really well. We've had a number of requests for chord charts and such so that people can lead it in their church services during the holidays. The lyrics are pretty powerful:

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe, after all we've projected,
A child in a manger?
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mother's shawl -
Just a child -
Is this who we've waited for? 'cause...

How many kings step down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that is torn all apart
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn Savior
All that we have, whether costly or meek
Because we believe.
Gold for his honor, and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he will suffer
Do you believe?
Is this who we've waited for?

All for me...
All for you...

If you want to pick up the album to add to your Christmas collection (I don't think you'll be disappointed!), you can get a physical copy here or download it from iTunes here. You can ALSO get the accompaniment track here if you want to perform the song. Finally, if you're looking for chord charts for the song, you can download that here.

09:43 AM in downhere, Music | Permalink

Tags: chords, Christmas, downhere, how many kings, lyrics

Comments

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Posted by: GuegetuSajege | October 25, 2011 at 02:07 AM

If God created the world, and set nature into motion, and in what way is God responsible or irresponsible. This is suspect.

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this song is really good. I have some more good christmas songs with me right now.

Posted by: Telugu Songs Free Download | April 18, 2011 at 06:17 AM

Bethlehem Skyline is a really great mix of christmas songs. If it wasn't for your blog I probably would have never heard of it. Thanks

Posted by: Janie | November 29, 2010 at 07:45 AM

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Posted by: dental health services | April 29, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Your song is a blessing! It brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it.

Posted by: Alma | March 05, 2010 at 01:06 PM

I just wanted to tell you how much I love this song. It is so heartfelt and beautiful. A friend sang it at our church's Christmas service this morning and it was such a blessing. Thank you for your music!

Posted by: Andrea | December 20, 2009 at 05:36 PM

I was listening to the radio over a year ago when I first caught the ending of How Many Kings. I finally had to call the station to ID the song. That same day, I found it posted on line as a back ground to pics from the Passion movie. I literally cried like a baby as I watched it over and over. The words were simply put, yet they packed such a powerful punch! It just made His Word come alive in my heart all over again. Thank all of you for keeping open to the Holy Spirit as you write/play His music.

Posted by: Randy Craig | December 13, 2009 at 12:26 AM

This has quickly become one of my favorite Christmas songs. Thank you for such a powerful delievery of the most wonderful message of love.

Posted by: Cynthia Myers | December 04, 2009 at 10:29 PM

i love this song! thank you for allowing the spirit to lead you and write/perform this song!

Posted by: amber | December 04, 2009 at 01:34 PM

Jeremy, I like the song a LOT! The two video's on the Internet are both amazing too. This song and the Middle East have both grabbed my attention recently. This is such an apt response to many of the misguided teachings of many religions in the world. Do you know if it has been translated to other languages yet(Arab, Chinese, etc)? I just refered this song to a friend who's grandfather is going downhill fast and is not a believer. I hope the message gets through to him in time. In the end, it is truly amazing that a commercial enterprise (record label) meant it for gain, even had to push for it, but God meant it for His glory! Remember, His ways are not our ways. What ever you do in the future, I hope it continues to glorify our Lord.

Posted by: Neil | January 15, 2009 at 02:01 PM

This was my FAVORITE Christmas song this year...I could have listened to it over and over. I'm glad to have found the album on iTunes. Thanks for a powerful message!

Posted by: Meredith | January 15, 2009 at 08:09 AM

Thank you for this new Christmas inspiration. I heard it on a morning radio station came home and googled it. OUTSTANDING! I now have my 21 yo daughter learning it to perform at church. Thanks so much....best Christmas song of the year!

Posted by: Darlene | December 24, 2008 at 04:59 PM

I heard this song for the first time just a couple of hours ago. I never heard of this band before. This is the best Christmas song I ever heard.
Thanks!

Posted by: Larry | December 23, 2008 at 12:53 PM

This was sent to me today in an e-mail . WOW!!!!
How Many Kings has become my new favorite!!
Just ordered it.

Posted by: Kathy Campbell | December 22, 2008 at 11:31 AM

Wow, what an awesome song!! The last chords of it are dying away on the radio next to me-- just heard it for the first time-- and here I am already online looking it up.

Thanks for the great music. I am going to blog about this song tomorrow!!

Mary, mom to many

Posted by: owlhaven | December 15, 2008 at 06:59 PM

I am amazed that this song has been around since 2007 and I only heard it a couple of weeks ago. Every time I think about the words it reaffirms the deep all encompassing love that God has for me.

Posted by: Linda | December 08, 2008 at 09:18 AM

I heard "How many Kings" for the first time this week. It is instantly one of my favorite Christmas songs and for that matter one of my favorite songs of all time.

Posted by: Les | November 30, 2008 at 03:59 PM

Hi!

I am from Indonesia, a country in South East Asia. Just want to let you know that the album has reached us here in my country, and I'm one of those who just simply appreciate the sincerity of the song. You don't even mention His name Jesus, yet all the questions embodied in the lyrics (reff) speak louder of His name.

Thanks for such a new spirited Christmas song. I'm going to introduce this song/album to as many friend of mine as I can.

Blessings.

Posted by: Carlo Tamba | November 11, 2008 at 10:42 PM

I've heard this song lately on WGTTS 91.9 and I searched for it on itunes a few days ago and found it. However, apparently I didn't buy it, but now I can't find it anymore! I'm really disappointed becaues I really love this song.

Posted by: Nicole | June 01, 2008 at 01:19 AM

I first heard this song about 4 months ago. My son, who is 5, sings it with excitement every time it comes on Radio Station WGTS 91.9. I'm going to purchase the cd now because I always want to be able to hear it whenever it comes to my mind.

Posted by: CYNTHIA | May 19, 2008 at 03:33 PM

I heard this song over the internet radio! Liked it the first time I heard it =) This song is a blessing and I want to share this song with my friends so much.

Posted by: Wei Li | May 09, 2008 at 08:30 AM

Jeremy, and all of you who were part of making this song happen - Amazing Song!!! I'm listening to it right now and i can barely hold back the tears.. powerful words. God bless you and I pray He takes your band further than you ever imagined for His own glory!!

Posted by: Sheila | April 22, 2008 at 01:06 PM

I am not fond of modern Christian music....but this one is Tops!!

The music supports the words of the song perfectly, and the words are the Most Powerful written today!

Posted by: Roger Duncan | March 12, 2008 at 07:40 PM

Hey Jer,

I don't know if Tiffany has ever come back to read your response to her comments, but if so I prayerfully hope she has taken what you had to say to heart! That hurt a little even reading it myself and feel it was a little unfair.

How Many Kings is such a powerful witness in itself (lyrics/music/presentation), there's NO WAY a person could have written it without having a deeply profound experience and relationship with the Lord!?

downhere's ministry is truly God ordained. You and I both know this and if it was any other way, you guys probably (or for certain) would have already walked away from the music biz some time ago now!

I know each of you honor the Lord in all that you do, and in every aspect of your lives. Thank you for having ministered to me. What a blessing. I know the band has heard countless stories from people all over the world on how their lives have been impacted by your ministry in so many different ways. You have been encouraged by so many to remain obedient to the Lord's calling on your lives. If and when that changes ... He'll let you know.

SOOOO looking forward to the next album. The Lord had already blessed it even before any lyric or melody came to mind, that I am certain of.

Romans 12

Posted by: Mark | March 12, 2008 at 01:51 AM

Hey Jer,

SOOOO looking forward to the next album. The Lord had already blessed it even before any lyric or melody came to mind, that I am certain of.

Romans 12

Posted by: Mark | March 12, 2008 at 12:57 AM

this is my favorite song on the radio right now thanks for the great music guys God bless you all

Posted by: james watts | March 05, 2008 at 10:22 AM

Hi Tiffany! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to post your thoughts about this song and my band on my blog. I hope you do me the favor of coming back to read my response.

First things first: I am a committed Christian as are each of my bandmates. I think if you spend any time at all on my blog (http://jeremythiessen.typepad.com), our website (http://www.downhere.com), our MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/downhere), our fan messageboards (http://www.downhere.com/content/board.php), or any other online presence we may have you will see quite quickly that this is indeed the case.

As far as the interview in question is concerned, I was not personally a part of this particular interview as I was out of town, but I know which one it was and I've been in enough interviews in which we've discussed this song that I'm confident I know what Marc was getting at and can explain his answer. Radio interviews are tough - especially morning shows - because as an artist you are expected to be happy, entertaining, and condense thoughts and song ideas that often took months to "birth" into 30-second soundbytes. What Marc said was true - he and Jason (the songwriters in the band) were against writing Christmas songs because they didn't want to do it simply for the commercial element. However, when our record label pushed them a little bit, they both dug in to the Word, got on their knees, and "How Many Kings" is a result of that - truly a gift from the Lord (as we believe every song on every album we've ever released is). Marc may have decided he didn't have time to expound on the story in that particular interview, or maybe the interviewer cut him off early.

I would encourage you to consider on what grounds you would use such phrases as "totally destroyed your witness for the glory of Christ" or use us as an example of a band not "preserving their witness". I believe you are writing off the validity of our ministry based on a 30-second soundbyte rather than taking the time to examine the complete picture. I doubt from your comments that you have ever seen us perform live - I trust that the songs we sing and the stories we share from stage would remove any doubt from your mind that we are committed disciples of Christ.

Let's put this in a different context: I am currently reading through the Bible in a year with my church and we're about to start Leviticus. If a non-Christian came across a passage like Exodus 32:27-29 and that was their only exposure to the Bible, there's NO WAY they would want anything to do with the God of the Bible! But when they get the whole picture, they see a completely different God represented than they originally thought.

That's a long-winded response, but I hope you get the idea. If, once you have made an effort to see the whole picture of who downhere is, you still feel the way you do now, I will let it go. Until then, you'll have to endure my long-winded responses... :)

Posted by: Jeremy | February 11, 2008 at 10:59 PM

I heard you on a live morning talk show program "promoting" your new single (which I absolutey loved prior to your interview) and your response has bothered me since then. I continue to tell this story when talking about preserving your witness and when I mentioned this to some co-workers, they suggested I let you know, so here's my comment two months later...

This song in particular really had lot of power and was receiving a lot of airplay. When the host of the show asked where this song came from/what motivated you to write this song, you replied something to the effect of "Well, my record label asked for a Christmas song and this is what we came up with, it's great that it's doing so well." Totally destroyed your witness for the glory of Christ and the blessing you had received that the lyrics so eloquently described. I never could believe your performance again after hearing your response.

As a Contemporary Christian Artist, and hopefully a Christian yourself, I hope you will develop the gift of honoring the Lord with every opportunity you have.

Posted by: Tiffany | February 11, 2008 at 03:51 PM

I was driving yesterday when your song was played on WEGS (Pensacola area) and I was deeply moved by "How Many Kings?"... Thank you for sharing this song with us. You have blessed me in ways you can not even imagine.

Thank you!
Dyune

Posted by: Dyune | February 06, 2008 at 09:05 AM

I went to your concert in Calgary on January 6th at the Alliance church. I never worshipped at a more powerful concert before. Your songs moved me, love the song;How Many Kings. God Bless you all.

Posted by: Brenda | January 08, 2008 at 02:58 PM

I went to your concert in Calgary on January 6th at the Alliance church. I never worshipped at a more powerful concert before. Your songs moved me, love the song;How Many Kings. God Bless you all.

Posted by: Brenda | January 08, 2008 at 02:57 PM

I absolutely adore this song. The first time I heard it on the radio this winter it brought tears to my eyes. And what luck to stumble upon your blog- I was doing a google search for the lyrics to post on my blog to share with my friends to encourage them to download the song.

God bless you and thank you for sharing your faith with us through song.

Posted by: jenni | December 28, 2007 at 12:17 PM

There are many orginal christmas songs that are blown away by this wonderfull performance! There aren't any others that can top this one! Anyone is able to listen to this song over and over again and won't get tired of it (unlike other chrismas songs)! Whenever my family and I hear this song on the radio we turn it up really loud and when it ends we can't wait to hear it again!

Blessings and have a very Merry Christmas!

Posted by: bob(thats relly not my name I just don't want people to know my reall name | December 24, 2007 at 12:03 PM

I love this song. Every time I hear it on the radio I have to turn it up and sing along :) - Thank you so much for sharing it. I am blessed by it.
Merry Christmas.

Posted by: Iris | December 24, 2007 at 12:06 AM

Sing a new song unto the Lord. Thank you for renewing the airwaves with a fresh sound! Traditional songs are nice, but these words...just rapture your heart for awesome gift from God, the birth of our redeemer, Jesus Christ! (PS..did anyone every tell you that your voice sounds just like the late Freddie Mercury of Queen?)

Posted by: Angela | December 21, 2007 at 09:55 PM

Hey Ginger! Send me an email ([email protected]) and I'll give you the information. Thanks!

Posted by: Jeremy | December 20, 2007 at 03:45 PM

I heard some of the band on The Fish (my favorite Christian radio station) this morning. Great job!

Posted by: Bonnie McCarty | December 20, 2007 at 09:20 AM

I love this song! I'm trying to add it to my blog and can't figure out where you found just the audio file. Would you share?

Blessings,
Ginger

Posted by: Ginger | December 19, 2007 at 09:16 PM

This song is *incredible*! It has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it, so I went online today to find the lyrics. It's neat to read the perspective of one of the band members! :)

Posted by: Bonnie | December 19, 2007 at 09:14 AM

In addition to the gift He gave us in that long-ago manger, He obviously gifted you guys with music. Thank you for giving that gift back to Him, and to the rest of us, through this song.

Blessings!

Posted by: Renae Brumbaugh | December 17, 2007 at 09:44 PM

I LOVE LOVE THIS SONG!! We recently got broadband (finally) & I heard it a few days ago for the 1st time. The Christian bookstore held the last CD for me. I've listened to it at least 15 times a day since I got it last week!! It's the most original, fresh Christmas song in decades!!!

Posted by: Deena | December 16, 2007 at 01:33 PM

I am LOVING this song! The lyrics are so powerful and each time I hear it, the words become more poignant..."Only ONE did that for me." I posted the lyrics on my blog after doing several searches. Discovering your band and its music ministry has truly been a blessing this Christmas ~ Thank you!

Posted by: Tammy | December 15, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Thanks for posting the link for the instrumental music! I have been wanting to sing this song on Christmas Eve since the first time I heard it, but have not been able to find the music until now!! God Bless!

Posted by: Vesta | December 14, 2007 at 01:27 PM

Great Stuff!

One of our elders started our monthly board meeting with this last night.
We plan on using it Sunday, as we study the Incarnation in Hebrews 2:10-18.

Wow.

Posted by: Lance | December 14, 2007 at 09:51 AM

This is by far my favorite new song of the Christmas season! I hear it several times a day on our local Christian station. They have said it is their most requested song. The message is so powerful!

Posted by: Geri Lynn | December 13, 2007 at 09:24 PM

Wow!! The first time I heard the song on KLTY, I had to pull the car over and just worship God. This was really deep. Thank you!

Posted by: Connie | December 12, 2007 at 08:19 PM

Thanks for coming to my blog. The song "How Many Kings" is wonderful and I look forward to hearing more of Downhere's music (I first heard you guys just 4 days ago!)

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December 10, 2007

New Christmas song: "How Many Kings"

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