"Say Once More" is a 1988 single by

Christian music Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely aro ...

singer

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...

. It was released as the fifth single from Grant's '' Lead Me On'' album. Unlike some of Grant's previous singles, this song made an impact on Christian radio but not on

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

or "mainstream" radio. "Say Once More" is a downtempo love ballad. Unlike the other five singles from '' Lead Me On'', "Say Once More" does not feature any explicitly

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

lyrics, though it performed well on Christian radio and can arguably be read either as a secular love song or as a love letter to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

. The song should not be confused with another Amy Grant song of the same name. Grant recorded a very different-sounding song with different lyrics, also titled "Say Once More", for her 1980 album, Never Alone, but like ''Lead Me On'', that song is also the ending track on ''Never Alone''.

Background

The first two singles from '' Lead Me On'' cracked the mainstream pop charts in addition to topping the U.S. Christian charts. The album's four remaining singles, however, charted only on Christian radio. The release of "Say Once More" came at a time when Grant was at what seemed to be the height of her career, having recently become the first

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and ...

artist to achieve success on pop radio (though she would later achieve far greater success in the 1990s). The '' Lead Me On'' album is widely considered one of the greatest and most successful Christian albums ever recorded and was named the greatest of all time by

CCM Magazine ''CCM Magazine'' is a twice-monthly online magazine focusing on contemporary Christian music, published by Salem Publishing, a division of Salem Communications. History ''CCM'' was first published in July 1978, as a printed magazine. It has be ...

Personnel

* Amy Grant – lead vocals *

Alan Pasqua Alan Pasqua (born June 28, 1952) is an American rock and jazz pianist. He studied at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music. His album ''Standards'' with drummer Peter Erskine was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008. As a ...

– keyboards * Keith Thomas – keyboards,

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early ...

* Brett Perry – Synclavier *

Benmont Tench Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Early years Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin M ...

–

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

– guitar *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass guitar. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the ...

– bass *

Lenny Castro Lenny or Lennie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lennie (surname), a list of people * Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter Arts and entertainment Music * '' ...

– percussion *

Wayne Kirkpatrick Wayne Kirkpatrick (born c. 1961) is an American songwriter and musician born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979. His younger brother is American screenwriter ...

– backing vocals

Official versions

* Album Version - 4:57 "Say Once More" was included on Grant's 2014 remix compilation album titled ''In Motion: The Remixes''. On September 9, 2014, a remix EP was released on iTunes in support of the album: #Hex Hector Radio Edit - 3:32 #Hex Hector Remix - 6:10 #Hex Hector Dub - 6:10 #Hex Hector Remix Instrumental - 6:10

Chart Success

Despite the small role of faith in the lyrics, "Say Once More" was a success on Christian radio, peaking at #2 on the Christian music charts in the United States. However, it did not place on any of the major mainstream pop or

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

charts.

20th Anniversary Edition

In 2007, Grant had left

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In ...

and

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, the two labels which had overseen the original release of ''Lead Me On''. That year, her new record label,

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

, reissued a new digitally remastered edition of ''Lead Me On''. In 2008,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...

again reissued the album, this time as a double-disc 20th Anniversary Edition. The second disc of that re-release featured a new recording of "Say Once More" by Amy Grant with Will Owsley on guitar. Grant described the new recording as "a songwriter's version", with the music stripped down to further emphasize the lyrics. In promoting the re-release, Grant performed the new acoustic version during various media appearances.

Charts

{{Amy Grant Amy Grant songs 1988 singles Songs written by Amy Grant Songs written by Gardner Cole 1988 songs A&M Records singles Word Records singles EMI Records singles