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Red Letters (song)

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox song

| name = Red Letters

| cover = Red Letters (Southern-Style Edit) - Crowder.jpg

| alt = "Red Letters (Southern-Style Edit)" cover

| caption = Southern-Style Edit cover

| type = single

| artist = Crowder

| album = I Know a Ghost

| B-side = Wildfire

| released =

| recorded = 2018

| venue =

| genre = * CCM

* modern worship

| length =

| label = Sparrow/sixstepsrecords

| writer = * David Crowder

* Ed Cash

| producer = * Crowder

* Cash

| prev_title = All My Hope

| prev_year = 2017

| title = Red Letters

| title2 = Wildfire

| next_title = Testify

| next_year = 2019

| misc =

}}

"'Red Letters'" is a song performed by American contemporary Christian music singer Crowder. It was released as one of the first singles from his third studio album, 'I Know a Ghost' (2018), alongside "Wildfire" on September 19, 2018. The song peaked at No. 9 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart, becoming his fifth top ten single. "Red Letters" was nominated for the GMA Dove Awards for Song of the Year and Short Form Video of the Year at the 2019 GMA Dove Awards.

Background



Crowder released the song on September 19, 2018, and announced his third studio album 'I Know a Ghost'. He explained the meaning behind the song in an video on his YouTube channel, "When I was a kid I remember sitting in the church pew next to my grandmother and asking her why some of her bible was written in red. She explained it was the Red Letter edition and whenever Jesus, Gods only Son, spoke, it was written in red. As a kid I thought that was just how God wrote it. Nope. I was wrong. About this and other things. Turns out it was a guy by the name of Louis Klopsch. It was the late 1800s and he very much wanted the common man to not only have access to scripture but for the story of Gods reconciliation to jump off the pages as it had for him. At the time, translations such as the King James didnt use punctuation marks that are common place now. You can imagine how difficult numerous passages could be with the absence of any quotation marks or full stops. One evening, he was reading in Luke 22:20, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you,' and that is when Mr. Klopsch had an idea -the words of Jesus in red. He didnt stop there, he and the editors went all the way to the beginning and took any scripture in the old testament foretelling the arrival of a messiah as well as any scriptures that Jesus was quoted as quoting and put them in red as well; a scarlet thread woven through all of time and creation."

Composition



The song is played in a B major key, and 148 beats per minute (BPM).

Reception



Critical response

"Red Letters" was described in reviews on 'Jesusfreakhideout' as a "typical Crowder radio song", comparing it to one of his singles from his last album "My Victory". It was also compared to dc Talk's 1998 hit, which both focus on the words of Christ from the bible.

Accolades

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+ Awards

|-

! Year

! Organization

! Award

! Result

! Ref.

|-

! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2019

| rowspan="2" | GMA Dove Awards

| Song of the Year

|

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |

|-

| Short Form Video of the Year

|

|}

Commercial performance



It debuted at No. 29 on the Hot Christian Songs chart. After the release of the album, it rose to No. 16. The song reached the top 10 on its twenty-third week, reaching its peak of No, 9.

Track listing



;CD release

#"Red Letters" 3:48

#"Red Letters (Lead Sheet (Medium Key)" 3:49

#"Red Letters (Vocal Demonstration)" 3:40

#"Red Letters (High Key With Background Vocals)" 3:40

#"Red Letters (High Key Without Background Vocals)" 3:40

#"Red Letters (Medium Key With Background Vocals)" 3:40

#"Red Letters (Medium Key Without Background Vocals)" 3:40

#"Red Letters (Low Key With Background Vocals)" 3:40

#"Red Letters (Low Key Without Background Vocals)" 3:40

*'Digital download'

#"Red Letters"  3:48

#"Wildfire"  3:14

*'Digital download (acoustic)'

#"Red Letters"  3:49

*'Digital download (Southern-Style edit)'

#"Red Letters"  3:42

Music video



The music video for "Red Letters" was released on October 29, 2018. It was inspired by Louis Klopschs statement in the introduction of his Red Letter Bible, It sheds a new radiance upon the sacred pages, by which the reader is enabled to trace unerringly the scarlet thread of prophecy from Genesis to Malachi. Like the Star which led the Magi to Bethlehem, this light, shining through the entire Word, leads straight to the person of the Divine Messiah, as the fulfillment of the promise of all the ages. Crowder also adds, The meta-narrative of the story of Gods rescue woven through the Scriptures is intricate and powerful and thats what I wanted to pick up on with this song. Its worth singing about. I love it and I hope its meaningful for my fans and listeners out there.

Charts



Weekly charts



Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Year-end chart performance for "Red Letters"

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2019)

! scope="col"| Position

|-

! scope="row"| US Christian Songs ('Billboard')

| 27

|-

! scope="row"| US Christian Airplay ('Billboard')

| 29

|-

! scope="row"| US Christian AC ('Billboard')

| 30

|}

References



Category:2018 singles

Category:2018 songs

Category:Crowder (musician) songs

Category:Songs written by Ed Cash

Category:Sparrow Records singles

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