Taking a book of proverbs and musings like Ecclesiastes and making it into lyrics is a hefty challenge. There are a few ways that I have chosen to do this:
- Literally – I have taken lines exactly as they appear in the English translation (mostly from the NKJV). This is my first choice, especially with what I would call important or defining phrases in the book.
- Paraphrasing – In order to make some verses work with music, I have had to alter the diction a little bit. My goal is to preserve the main idea of the text, but to rearrange or rebuild it to fit into the melody or meter.
- Thematic Translation – This is even loser than a paraphrase, where I chose to try and look at the broad concept that Solomon is trying to get across and then write original lyrics to capture the essence of the thought.
- Speculation – I only do this rarely in the lyrics, but it is basically when I try and finish a thought for Solomon – typically drawing them from other chapters of the book. Ecclesiastes is not written like a modern work – it spirals from topic to topic. Sometimes, sequential thoughts on a subject are divided by entire chapters. In order to tell the story to a modern audience, these thoughts are occasionally put back together.
Let me give a few examples.
The last line in Chapter 1 is:
18 For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
I have chosen to end the first song (“That Which Has Been Still Will Be”) with a literal word-for word accounting of the line: “for in much wisdom is much grief.” This works fine because the line stands on it’s own after the last chorus.
However, the two lines before this are the final ones in the third chorus, which is set to a meter and to rhyme. So I took the final line from the literal verse “And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” and paraphrased it:
And then I’m caught, as my sorrow
increases with the more I know
It means the exact same thing, but I’ve paraphrased in order to get a ryme and meter that works musically.
I have had to be looser with other parts of the book. Take a portion of chapter six (verses 1 and 2):
1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.
While some of this magically fit into the intro of the song “A Common Crime” – it wouldn’t entirely work. The gist of what Solomon is getting at is that it is wrong that a man have everything he could ever want, but then it is taken away so quickly by those who didn’t earn it. Solomon says “foreigner” but this is basically 3,000 year old language for “parasite.” I have rendered the verses this way:
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun
and it is common as a crime
it happens all the time
When God gives one luxury under the sun
but he is powerless to eat
it’s been taken by the leeches
We stil get the idea, but the literal words are removed in favour of a thematic translation which preserves what Solomon seems to be originally intending.
I had to speculate with chapter 8, for the song called “Authority.” Verses 14 reads:
14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
Solomon is speaking of injustice. I couldn’t even get the thematic work of this idea across appropriately in the music, so I chose to do this instead:
Punish the wretches
who stole all I had
Remind me that I
in spite can be glad
This looks almost nothing like the original verse. Let me explain. Solomon is decrying injustice. While he is speaking abstractly in the verse, in many other places he speaks from personal experience. I chose to add more weight to the concept by making Solomon a personal victim of injustice – namely a theft.
He then declares injustice is “vanity” – so it is not a thing worth getting so caught up in. But in verse 12, Solomon seems to argue that it injustice is a minor concern when a man fears God:
12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.
So I ported this thought into the line “Remind me that I / in spite can be glad.” Basically, injustice cannot deter a man who fears God.
Additional Notes
This album is now one song away from being completely written. The rest all has workable lyrics and music. I have several demos I am working out for chapter 7, so it will just be a matter of figuring out which one I believe works best with the album context. The timing for this is perfect. I will be returning to the US in April to gather my remaining instruments and recording equipment. I am looking forward to starting the recording and production process on the album.
After this, I will try and see if I can round up some guest musicians to play some instruments on the album. Then it goes to mixing, mastering and then the presses. I expect it to be released by the Autumn of 2009.
