Dan MacIntosh (Songfacts): So I read the whole thing about an incurable cancer. How have you reacted to that with your songs? I mean, have you written songs specifically in response to that?

Tim Timmons: Yeah. I think everything in my life is in response to that. I mean, I've known for 10 years about cancer.

Songfacts: And what kind of a cancer is it?

Timmons: It's a really rare cancer, slow growing tumors. So it's in my blood and on my organs. It travels in my blood, fed by my blood. So it's just one of those things that's really rare, they don't really know how to fix it.

Songfacts: Do they treat it? Do they minimize the symptoms somehow?

Timmons: Yeah. They try to minimize some symptoms, and I've had many surgeries and different procedures. But we just found a couple more tumors.

Songfacts: So what is it called? Is there a name for it?

Timmons: It's called carcinoid. I got hot flashes all the time. That was my symptom.

Songfacts: Hot flashes?

Timmons: Hot flashes. That's how they found it.

Songfacts: Oh, really? So you thought you were going through menopause or something?

Timmons: Yeah, exactly. Which is just wrong. So I think as far as songwriting goes, when you have some struggle in life, as a songwriter, I think our job is to be honest with who we are and what our struggle is and what our journey is, whatever it might be. If it's just doubting God, if it's hurt by a girlfriend or whatever. I mean, our job is to be honest with our journey.

Songfacts: Now, you're a worship leader?

Timmons: Yeah.

Songfacts: And so your songs are primarily worship songs, right?

Timmons: Yeah. I love writing pop stuff and country stuff. But what I mostly love writing is my story in corporate worship songs and then art songs of my story. So as far as the worship writing, I definitely write songs because there's not another song that's saying the thing that I want to pray to God. I see the songs as a prayer, not as a hype song, but as a prayer.

Songfacts: One of the songs that you're best known for is "Child of God."

Timmons: Yeah.

Songfacts: I saw a song by that name and I thought, Wait a second. That's not the song I know.

Timmons: Yeah.

Songfacts: Tell me about writing that song.

Timmons: I was asked to lead for a bunch of kids at a vacation bible school at my old church I used to work at. I see 2,500 kids jumping around, and I started thinking, what would I want these kids to pray? What would I want them to know? I deal so much with identity in my own life of who am I, who am I not? Am I a songwriter? Is that my identity? Because when I'm great, then I'm great. When my song sucks, then I suck.

Songfacts: You rise and fall with the quality of your work.

Timmons: That is one of the biggest dangers I face as a worship leader. That's maybe something I do, but it's not who I am. I am a father, I am whatever I might be. These are all things that I do. It's not who I am. We are told that we are actually children of God. God doesn't love us because of how great we did or how poorly we did. He loves us because we're his kids.

Songfacts: What was the theme of the vacation bible school that you wrote the song about?

Timmons: I don't remember.

Songfacts: They always have these really cool themes.

Timmons: Yeah. I just know that I started thinking about writing for these kids, and then I thought, What am I doing? This is for me. So I ended up writing for both kids and adults, and so it's on a kids' record that I have on iTunes and then I'm just putting it out in October on my record.

Songfacts: So you have a full kids' record?

Timmons: Yeah.

Songfacts: I didn't realize that. And how is that different writing songs for kids than writing, say, worship or corporate worship at a church?

Timmons: In some ways it was so much easier, because I didn't stress as much about making something not lyrically as cheesy.

Songfacts: Is it fun and funny?

Timmons: No. No, no, no. It's really fun, but not funny. What I loved about writing for kids is how you frame the theology. How do kids see God? So for me, I took it very seriously. I think of the songs that I sing still to this day that I sang as a kid and how much those shaped, for good or bad, how I see God.

Songfacts: It's interesting, because my daughter, she's 13, so she's at an age where she should be understanding more. But every once in a while we'll talk about the message in church, and there'll be a word, and she'll say, "Well, I don't even know what that word means." And I think sometimes we raise kids in the church, we assume they know the language. And they don't know the language. And we don't know. Like, define sanctification.

Timmons: Right.

Songfacts: So I can see how that's really important as a songwriter to say, How can I frame this in a way they can understand it? Does that take a lot of work and rewriting?

Timmons: It was a blast. It was so much fun. It was just saying, how do you say the most foundational things about being a follower of Jesus? Not about being a Christian or about being a religious, good, Christian guy or girl or kid, because that gets you nowhere. And I guess, honestly, the other half of me writing this record - it's called Sons and Daughters - is the record was for parents. Because I think some of those foundational truths these parents don't really know. So they're the ones listening to the songs with your kids in your car, you're listening to stuff all day long. So I really was writing for both the parents and the kids.

Songfacts: And you think it's going to give them a break from Radio Disney?

Timmons: Yeah. Right. I think you'll dig this record. I also want to make a record that I would like to listen to as a parent. So that's kind of what I did.

Songfacts: So when you write songs, do you have to be in the right frame of mind to write a song, or are you the kind of person that you could do something like this music festival and all of a sudden you'd think, man, that's an idea. I've got to write this down, I've got to do something, I've got to remember it? Because I know when I talk to songwriters, some songwriters, they need a project. And other songwriters, they just have songs, and then when it comes time to put out a project, they'll pick the best. Which category do you fall into?

Timmons: I just practice all the time. I practice so that when there's actually something to write about, I'm ready. Because just going in and writing songs, you might get lucky on one, but you won't get lucky on a ton.

Songfacts: So to use a basketball analogy, you have to be working on your shots so when it's time to get in the game and the ball comes to you, you can shoot?

Timmons: Yeah. I think so. It's something to always be practicing. I practice all the time. Whether I see something and go, "Ooh, that's a great country idea," or "that's a great pop idea," or "Man, I just heard a message and there's no song that helps people pray out of this message."

Songfacts: The last thing I want to ask you about is when it comes time to perform, are there songs that are your favorite songs to sing live, and which ones are they?

Timmons: Yeah, they're off this new record that's coming out in October.

Songfacts: Which is called?

Timmons: It's called Let's Be Beautiful. One of them is probably called "You Remain," that I'm playing today. But one of my favorite is just playing with me on acoustic guitar.

Songfacts: Did you bring a band with you?

Timmons: Yeah. Got a whole band.

Songfacts: And that's one that you play just with acoustic guitar?

Timmons: I won't today. We'll do with a full band. But that's probably my favorite way of doing it.

Songfacts: Because it gives you more freedom?

Timmons: Yeah. I can emote more. These are my prayers. They're my actual prayers.

Songfacts: Well, I listen to a lot of country music, so the last question I want to ask you is what is your favorite country song that you've written?

Timmons: None that you've heard. They've all been on smaller projects. So I haven't got a cut yet.

Songfacts: So you haven't recorded country yet?

Timmons: Nope. Just had a couple of holds for them and all that stuff. So I'm just writing for it.

Songfacts: Who's your favorite country songwriter?

Timmons: Keith Urban. I think that guy's a genius. And I absolutely love Taylor Swift. I think the girl can write songs.

August 22, 2012

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