Secular lyrics for Jerusalem

[elspeth]

A friend of mine is getting married in May, and we're starting to think about choosing the music. She's having a civil service and she's totally, absolutely banned from all religious references - so no readings from the bible, no songs with religious lyrics.

She really wants Jerusalem as one of the songs so we need a secular set of lyrics. Anybody any ideas? Bearing in mind it's for her wedding, so nothing that'll make her mother blush...

All suggestions welcome!

[ahinton]

A friend of mine is getting married in May, and we're starting to think about choosing the music. She's having a civil service and she's totally, absolutely banned from all religious references - so no readings from the bible, no songs with religious lyrics.

She really wants Jerusalem as one of the songs so we need a secular set of lyrics. Anybody any ideas? Bearing in mind it's for her wedding, so nothing that'll make her mother blush...

All suggestions welcome!

"A civil service"? This sounds almost like an entire governmental administrative infrastructural organisation! No, of course, I know what you mean. The words of the original "Jerusalem" were, of course, William Blake's and it seems to me that his use of the name of that city was intended to be symbolic rather than specifically "religious" in any case, but then your concern presumably remains that the specifically religious connotations that have long been associated with it will make it seem analogous to the very kind of religious hymn text that your friend is anxious to eschew.

Were I to offer a frivolous answer to this, I would be to recommend the truncated version that runs

"And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
No."

But to be more serious, let us look at the entire poem as Blake wrote it, adding annotations (between square brackets, italicised) as to the "problematic" passages from the religious v. secular standpoint:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green? [whose feet are meant by "those"?]
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen? [God is omnipresent in any case, according to believers; there will clearly have to be a substitute for "God" - and the lamb or any other animal being described as "holy"]

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills? [you'd have to ensure that the said "countenance" was esxpressly not that of "God"]
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills? [but most of those dark mills have gone anyway]

Bring me my bow of burning gold;
Bring me my arrows of desire;
Bring me my spear; O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire! [this can be taken as secular as it stands, although some might object to it on proto-militaristic grounds]

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land. [why do we want to build a Middle Eastern city in England? - it could end up like an English equivalent to the monstrosity now being erected in Dubai - and why use a sword that's not been beaten into the construction engineer's equivalent to a ploughshare?]

I think that you've got abit of a problem here! - one of sufficient gravity to warrant serious thought about substituting Jerusalem with something else altogether...

Good luck!

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

or, just play the music and don't use any vocals for jerusalem.  admittedly, alistair's version has creativity - but who is going to be able to remember all those lyrics?

[ahinton]

or, just play the music and don't use any vocals for jerusalem.  admittedly, alistair's version has creativity - but who is going to be able to remember all those lyrics?

But Susanistimo dear, I didn't provide a new version! Indeed, I even suggested, on the contrary, that trying concoct an effective one might prove so problematic as to warrant abandoning the entire idea of using Jerusalem; in so doing, I sought only to point out where and what the various potential pitfalls of attempted secularising of this poem will be.

Playing the music alone seems a rather pointless way of getting around the problem, since even that will have religious connotations for many listeners and a whole text would effectively have to be sacrificed from the service.

We'll have to see what "elspeth" thinks, however!

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

as long as the bride is happy, i guess!  sometimes you just 'stick' the rules and sneak in a few things like rice - which is probably a religious symbol of somekind, too.  what are they going to do?  pick up each grain and put it back?

[elspeth]

Hmmm... I'm not sure we're going to succeed in this particular project! It's a shame, as Jerusalem is the one tune my friend really wants her congregation to sing - long story, not one anyone who doesn't know the people involved would appreciate - and it's starting to look a dubious prospect. Thanks for the thoughts though!

[quantum]

The thing is, it is such a well known tune.  People who have heard it before are going to reflect back on it's meaning and where they have previously heard it sung. 

You may be able to apply completely different lyrics to the tune, so as to imply a different meaning to the music. 

The text is in Double Long Metre, so maybe you could find some other text source in similar metre.