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#485: I Am the Bread of Life
Feb. 3rd, 2021 10:46 pmI'm not sure if I've mentioned "irregular" versus "peculiar meter." "Peculiar" means all the verses follow basically the same pattern, but that pattern is so complex (too many lines/syllables per line) that nobody would want to look it up by number so it's just relegated to the index.
Irregular means that the verses don't quite fit to the same pattern, so you can't say "the first line has six syllables." Sometimes you have to stre-etch a word so it takes up two notes, and sometimes you have to quickly repeat a note so it can fit two syllables.
This song is extremely irregular. There are lots of ...s stretching out syllables, and indentations/tabs to be like "no, this line actually starts here." The text is mostly just quotes from the Gospel of John, so there wasn't an effort made to versify them. It's optionally a case of "follow the leader, too"--the verses can just be chanted to some guitar-friendly chords, and then everyone joins in (with harmony) for the chorus.
The vocal range is pretty large, the verse melody goes down to low A and the chorus up to high E, fittingly for "raise you up." The tenor part there also gets very high. In fact, the last "and I will" has the sopranos, altos, and tenors singing in unison on E above middle C, the reverse of the "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" convergence.
Irregular means that the verses don't quite fit to the same pattern, so you can't say "the first line has six syllables." Sometimes you have to stre-etch a word so it takes up two notes, and sometimes you have to quickly repeat a note so it can fit two syllables.
This song is extremely irregular. There are lots of ...s stretching out syllables, and indentations/tabs to be like "no, this line actually starts here." The text is mostly just quotes from the Gospel of John, so there wasn't an effort made to versify them. It's optionally a case of "follow the leader, too"--the verses can just be chanted to some guitar-friendly chords, and then everyone joins in (with harmony) for the chorus.
The vocal range is pretty large, the verse melody goes down to low A and the chorus up to high E, fittingly for "raise you up." The tenor part there also gets very high. In fact, the last "and I will" has the sopranos, altos, and tenors singing in unison on E above middle C, the reverse of the "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" convergence.
