Norm Strauss is a Canadian singer-songwriter who spends about half of each year in Germany. His work of writing, recording and touring is primarily in Germany, but he will still play numerous western Canada concerts when he is home in Canada. He has moved around a lot, and says that one of the best ways for a musician to get to know people in a new place is to show up with your guitar at an ‘open mic night’. Every place has one on some weeknight in a local bar or coffee house. When you hear The Church of the Sensitive Hearts, you know the writer has lived this experience. The song moves me because it rings with truth, empathy and insight. It artfully borrows the language of church referencing “the congregation, salvation, Sunday choir, redemption, revival, the faithful, etc. It speaks of the value of telling our stories, and having someone really listen – even if it’s just a few souls in a humble bar or cafe. “She’s got a song about a heartache, with a chorus that will bring you to tears. She wrote the words down last Sunday, the chords came on Monday – just in time for this world debut”

Songwriter circles are a great place to develop spiritual community because you’re going to hear from each other about stuff that really matters – the good and the bad. It’s a safe place for creative people, for ‘sensitive hearts’. This song reminds us that God will never be relegated or confined to our shrines, temples and sacred spaces. For those with ears to hear and eyes to see, he will just as likely be moving and speaking ‘in the strangest locations ... like an old corner bar’.

The musical arrangement has been kept simple, (acoustic piano, hammond organ, guitars and drums) as though a gospel group scaled down to play a gig in a small tavern.

Check out Norm Strauss’ music at normstrauss.com

"The Church of the Sensitive Hearts"
by Norm Strauss
written by Norm Strauss (c) 2016 Norm Strauss

Everyone’s welcome at the church of the sensitive hearts
Where even a sad song can be a sing-along for a whole congregation
Just a room full of strangers
Well you know that’s a good place to start
So bring your best melody, your heart-felt soliloquy
And we’ll all join in

Sometimes a song will swing as wide as a drunkard’s punch
Sometimes it rings out true like a church-choir on a Sunday morn
Oh God graces the kind of places where redemption can start
Like the church of the sensitive hearts

She’s been joining the faithful every Tuesday night now for over a year
She comes with that old guitar so she can let down her guard just for a moment
She’s got a song about a heartache, with a chorus that will bring you to tears
She wrote the words down last Sunday, the chords came on Monday
just in time for this world debut

Oh sometimes the song slips in like a ghost in the old church tower
Sometimes it burns down deep like revival coming to your soul
Oh you can find salvation in the strangest location like an old corner bar
Like the church of the sensitive hearts
Welcome to the church of the sensitive hearts