That’s just one of many compositions by Orrin Hatch, the Republican senator from Utah, who for years has moonlighted as a songwriter and has been successful enough to contribute to the soundtrack of a Hollywood movie. Last year, he reported royalty earnings of $39,092.
His sideline career recently returned to the spotlight after he acknowledged that he made phone calls on behalf of Dallas Austin, the R&B producer who was pardoned on a cocaine possession conviction in Dubai on July 4.
The intervention of Mr. Hatch, a conservative Republican, might have surprised anyone who has not followed his musical career. According to hatchmusic.com, the senator’s Web site, he has composed more than 300 songs during the past decade, with various musical partners. (Mr. Hatch plays piano, but he is primarily a lyricist.) Many of his songs have been released on albums produced with his frequent collaborator, Janice Kapp Perry. Others have been recorded by Christian pop singers.
Since most of his tunes won’t be be found on iTunes, we offer this critique of his songbook.
•The senator’s songs generally follow in the Mormon tradition of patriotic hymns. They celebrate religious faith and love of country, and are intended to be sung with maximum vocal firepower. “Heal Our Land” is one of his most-performed compositions.
Heal our land
Please grant us peace today
And strengthen all who lack the faith to call on Thee each day
Heal our land
Please keep us safe and free
Watch over all who understand the need for liberty
•“Unspoken” is an uptempo rocker co-written by Mr. Hatch and recorded in 2003 by the winsome Christian-pop singer Jaci Velasquez. The song begins in the world of current events:
I hear daily news
People crying out for freedom
But rather than ballots or bullets, it urges the unliberated toward the Bible:
He is there, use your voice
Reach for him, make a choice
While it shows a passable command of rhyme schemes (“freedom/ lead them”), the lyrics do not strive for originality:
Out of the dark
Into the light
He is there for us
With all of his might
•Mr. Hatch has a romantic side. “Souls Along the Way” was written in tribute to the marriage of Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 1999.
We are souls along the way,
In my heart you stay
You know my secrets,
I have cried your pain
•He had success with the lullaby “Little Angel of Mine,” from the movie “Stuart Little 2”:
My arms will be around you
Kiss your tears away
I’ll comfort and protect you
Never be afraid
Close your eyes, go to sleep
Little angel of mine
•Like many songwriters, Mr. Hatch responded to the attacks of Sept. 11, releasing a single called “America United.”
How does it compare with, say, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” by Toby Keith? It’s a little pallid, said Frank Kogan, a music writer and author of the recent collection “Real Punks Don’t Wear Black.”
Mr. Keith’s song promised retaliation in no uncertain terms:
It’ll feel like the whole wide world
Is raining down on you.
Senator Hatch was more vague:
As we bury fallen heroes
Many broken hearts must heal
But in the ruin and the rubble
Our spirit is revealed
America united
Working side by side
America united
Hope’s still burning bright
• The senator’s holiday album, “Orrin Hatch’s Christmas Eve,” includes “Skatin’ With My Baby,” an ode to Manhattan. Geeta Dayal, a critic for The Wire magazine, noted that Mr. Hatch’s song has none of the excitement of, say, “New York, New York.”
I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find I’m A-number-one, top of the list.
Those lyrics, Ms. Dayal said, are “totally in line with Republican values, but it’s a million times more evocative.”
Still, Senator Hatch offers a more affectionate tribute to New York than any New York legislator has written to Salt Lake City, as far as we know.
Strollin’ down Fifth Avenue
On a cold December night
Christmas tree comin’ into view
Lights bouncin’ off that famous ice
I’ll be skatin’ with my baby
Glidin’ by, maybe
Stealin’ just a kiss or two at Christmas time
Manhattan winter,
Rockefeller Center
Skatin’ with my baby on a New York night
