Story Behind the Song: Cain's 'Rise Up (Lazarus)'
On their debut 2020 single, Christian sibling trio Cain called on listeners to "Rise up/ out from the grave like Lazarus," and the message soon resonated with millions.
"Rise Up (Lazarus)" topped Billboard's Christian Airplay chart in 2020. It was also among the compositions that earned Hulse the award for Songwriter of the Year from the Nashville Songwriters Association International — making him the first songwriter based in the Christian music industry to win the award.
In a conversation with NSAI's Bart Herbison, songwriters Ethan Hulse, Nick Schwarz and the trio's Taylor Cain (who co-wrote the song with Hulse, Schwartz and her bandmates) recalled the rough start to the songwriting session, and the sudden breakthrough that changed everything.
Bart Herbison: Ethan Hulse and Nick Schwarz, (you are) part of one of my new favorite songs. Let's go back to that day. Y'all are all writing and it doesn't start out so well. But it's not about this song. Take us back.
Ethan Hulse: Nick and his wife had just had their baby and so we couldn't actually be at his studio space, the normal space. So we wrote at my house and kind of took over the living room and set up some studio stuff. And for the first while, we were stuck on a different idea completely, spending hours on it and not really going anywhere. For me, when I think about that day, “Rise Up” was the power of the pivot as I would say. It’s trusting people enough to go, “Is this working? Should we go somewhere else? Should we just try a different idea completely?” And we did. Someone in the band had the same (song) title as me, and I think I may have been the one to (first) say “Lazarus.” It just connected immediately.
Nick Schwarz: I had picked up Taylor's new guitar and just started playing it. It was in an open tuning, and I didn't quite know what it was. So, I was just playing what I thought sounded cool and trying to figure out chord voicings instead of playing what I normally would play….Ethan had the idea. He was just like, “I've been wanting to write something about Lazarus.” And Taylor was like, “I had the same idea, and (the phrase) ‘Rise Up.” Ethan just started singing the chorus.
We just wrote it line for line, and it was pretty amazing. Taylor has a voice memo of her idea. I think she was driving maybe in the car to another (writing session), and it sounds very similar. It has same lyrics and same concepts.
BH: Whatever your personal religious belief is, everyone will tell you that the best songs are channeled from somewhere else, from some higher power. Dude, I've never heard an example like this.
Taylor Cain: Ethan is a legend, and before we even walked into the room, the weight and the pressure that we've got – (we’re) these three kids, we've done nothing thus far, and so we get there and it's embarrassing to say, but my brother actually started eating food out of (Ethan’s) fridge because we were just so stuck. Everybody was like, ‘Well, we might as well eat.’
BH: That's so songwriter. I love that, Taylor.
TC: So, I just started – You know when you're praying, just because you really need something? I was like, “God, could you please help us out? We cannot end this day (without a song). We're going to be really sad.” So, (I) opened up my phone and there was a voice memo, and on the top, it just said “Kroger.”
I (thought), “OK, this may be nothing,” but I hit play and was listening to it very quietly, because that's embarrassing. You don't want people to hear your unpolished voice singing. So just in my ear, (I heard) “Rise up.” I hope Ethan validates this, but from across the room, he's almost saying “Guys, what if we wrote a song about Lazarus and something like…” and I'm not kidding you, he starts singing “Rise Up.”
BH: Not only that, I think he sings it melodically almost like your voice now. That's a God thing, Taylor. That is unbelievable, right?
TC: Yes. That's when you know, and I have chills. I just think it's so cool about songwriting. It's like you're given a gift, and it was just so amazing that we were all supposed to be in that room that day.
BH: I have to read part of this lyric. I'm obsessed with this song…
“In the dark and all alone, growing comfortable/ Are you too scared to move and walk out of this tomb, buried underneath the lies that you believe?”
That’s when I knew that it was about the Lazarus within us, and I told you earlier, guys, I've been going through some stuff this year. I needed this song. The good Lord got my attention twice, ‘cause he knows how hard-headed I am, and so this really has resonated with me.
…So, you're writing with Cain that day. Was that your first co-write or?
NS: I had written with them maybe four other times. But it was the first time that Ethan and I had written with them.
EH: It was my first time meeting them…I was excited about it, ‘cause I had heard a lot of the songs they've done with Nick and with some other people and I mean, everybody's just going, “These guys are so talented.”
BH: There are a lot of layers to this (production). I love the fact that you don't bring in the female background vocal until way into the record. It just goes there (in that spot) and it reinforces the passion and the message of this….Ethan, I gave you a phone call, and there were some people standing outside your house a few weeks ago. What was that all about? And I loved that call, by the way. It was a Zoom call.
EH: It was as true of a surprise as it could be. I did not know what was happening, and you guys all had to explain it to me a few times. It said “NSAI Songwriter of the Year,” and I'm just thinking, “Okay, (I’m) Christian Songwriter of the Year.” And you say, “No, in the 54-year history (of the awards), you're the Songwriter of the Year.”
BH: The first Christian genre writer (to win Songwriter of the Year).
About the series
In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, the "Story Behind the Song" video interview series features Nashville-connected songwriters discussing one of their compositions. For full video interviews with all of our subjects, visit www.tennessean.com/music.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Story Behind the Song: Cain's 'Rise Up (Lazarus)'
