I’ve received a number of e-mails asking for the new version of the hymn “Hallelujah, What a Savior,” that we taught at the New Attitude conference, music and chorus written by my son, Devon. I promised a while back that I’d post them, so here you go.

The original version was by Phillip Bliss, an American hymn writer who died at the age of 37 in a train accident. Devon’s version is called “What a Savior.” It keeps the reflective sense of the verses, but adds a celebrative chorus that expands on Christ’s work and expresses our desire to offer our lives to proclaim how great our Savior is. We’ve sung it on Sunday mornings at Covenant Life, and I think it’s a great setting of the lyrics. The MP3 was recorded live at the conference, so please take that into account…

Listen to the MP3 here. (right click to download)

Download the lead sheet here.

Download the guitar chart here.

18 Comments »

1. Thank you! What a wonderful way for me to begin my day. Hallelujah!

   Comment by Patricia — June 27, 2007 @ 7:57 am

2. Thank you so much for posting this! Devon did an excellent job updating the song. I actually appreciate the fact that it’s a live recording; it makes me feel like I’m back at New Attitude.

   Comment by Cap Stewart — June 27, 2007 @ 9:29 am

3. THANK YOU, friends, for this wonderful tool to use in our churches!! and thank you for taking the time to post it for us in the midst of your busy schedules. listening today helped me to worship our great Savior again and brought back thankful memories of the NA conference.

   Comment by pianomom — June 27, 2007 @ 9:51 am

4. That setting of “What a Savior” is terrific. Your son is clearly very gifted. Thanks so much for posting this resource for us. It’s now on my list of songs to incorporate in our church’s corporate gatherings.

   Grace with you.

   Comment by Kyle — June 27, 2007 @ 10:52 am

5. And here I was the whole time thinking & singing “what a Savior” as mi-re-re-do, not fa-mi-re-do… Thanks for the lead sheet! It helps!

   Is this song going to make it onto any future Sovereign Grace CD? I’d love to have a good recording of it.

   Comment by Katie R. — June 27, 2007 @ 11:54 am

6. I meant the “what a Savior” at the end of the chorus, not the verses.

   Comment by Katie R. — June 27, 2007 @ 12:02 pm

7. A yet another thanks out to the Lord for you, Bob! (And for Devon… and for P. Bliss… and for the internet… I could go on and on!!)

   Comment by Paul Martin — June 27, 2007 @ 4:35 pm

8. Bob,

   Thank you so much for this resource. I was wondering if there is any way we can get an actual copy of all of the audio from NA? Both my wife and I attended this year and would really love to get some of this music in mp3 format. Is there any plans for SG to put a CD out of it? If not is there any other way to purchase the live mp3s from the conference?

   Comment by Dustin — June 27, 2007 @ 11:24 pm

9. I’m so glad you posted this song! I visited Covenant Life last Sunday and heard it and was touched by the beauty of the familiar hymn put into a powerful new arrangement. I’m especially thankful for the guitar chords; I lead worship and this song will be definitely be a blessing. Is this going to be on any future Sovereign Grace CD?

   Comment by Brendan Beale — June 28, 2007 @ 1:11 am

10. Dustin,

    Thanks for asking about the MP3s of New Attitude. No, we’re not planning on releasing any of the songs. We didn’t record them on multi-track and don’t have any way of fixing anything we sang or played there. We talked about the possibility of recording to ProTools, but weren’t able to pull it off.

    Comment by Bob Kauflin — June 28, 2007 @ 8:06 am

11. Brendan,

    We don’t have any plans at this point to put What a Savior on a future project, but I’d love to see it on one as well. Thanks for asking.

    Comment by Bob Kauflin — June 28, 2007 @ 8:07 am

12. Thanks so much for this resource and for continuing to provide wonderful insight on your blog. Your wisdom goes farther than you even know.

    Comment by Ryan — June 30, 2007 @ 10:32 am

13. This is a truly inspirational chorus.
    God bless you, and thank you for posting this, God’s gift of grace for me today. =)
    –Stephen, a worshipper in Puebla City, Mexico

    Comment by Stephen C. — July 4, 2007 @ 1:11 pm

14. WOWWOWWOWWOWWOWWOWWOWWOWWOWWOW an instant classic. I *love* the mix of old verses and new choruses! And the chorus is JUST AS RICH as those wonderful old verses!! Are we not blessed at SGM?

    It sounded a bit “slow” so I sped it up 5% and now it sounds perfectly natural. Perhaps something happened to the master?

    Comment by Chris de Vidal — July 20, 2007 @ 4:41 am

15. What a Savior!!! One of the best songs I heard @ Na 2007… The most wonderful experience I’ve ever had!!!

    Comment by Sukyta — August 30, 2007 @ 3:42 pm

16. Bob,

    What happened to the New Attitude version on the Sovereign Grace Music website? The only one that I found was the slower version from the Upward CD Hymns project.

    Comment by Patrick — January 30, 2008 @ 1:02 am

17. Patrick,

    The only place you can download the NA version of What a Savior is on this post. I’m happy to say that the NA Band will have a studio version available at NA this year.

    Comment by Bob Kauflin — January 30, 2008 @ 10:16 am

18. Bob,

    The guitar sheet link is not working.. help!

    Comment by Patrick — February 1, 2008 @ 9:08 pm

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