Christ is the Bread of Life
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    How long will it take this group to come up with an acceptable replacement text for this....

    "And He will raise us up!"

    It's 11:29, August 11, 2012. Get poet-ing, now.

    And, by the way, non-metrical verses need not apply.

    I bet we could submit it to the publisher/copyright holder for possible publishing with the royalties going to Musica Sacra.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    You could also replace the music.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    "You are the Bread of Life
    we who come to you shall not hunger
    and you have promised we will not thirst
    so we shall come to you because the Father calls us

    And you will raise us up (3x)
    on the last day"

    ---
    Well, I still like my previous cha-cha version:
    "I am the Bread of life, says the Lord;
    He who comes to me shall not hunger, says the Lord"
    etc.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    RC, you are so....quirky......and so funny!

    What about a Douay version?

    "Thou are the Bread* of Life
    We who come to Thee shalt ne'er hunger
    For Thou hast promised we shant e'er thirst
    None wouldst approacheth Thee, unless the Father deigneth.

    And Thou shalt raiseth us (thrice chanted)
    On that Last Day!

    Cha cha cha"

    *could replace with "host."
    Thanked by 2Ruth Lapeyre veromary
  • Ruth Lapeyre
    Posts: 341
    I love it Charles! I think we should go back and re-translate some of these hymn texts to Douay- Rhiems.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    CHG....we look forward to a chant version from you....
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Umm, "wouldst" cannot be right, since it is 2nd person, but the subject "None" is 3rd person, and "approacheth" would have to be the infinitive after "would". The line would be better rendered more simply as "No one would dare approach Thee, unless the Father deigneth." There is a similar problem with "Thou shalt raiseth us": "shalt" has to be followed by "raise" ... just make it "And Thou shalt raise us up."
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    CHG....any of them beat out the common text we are replacing.

    There is a similar problem with "Thou shalt raiseth us": "shalt" has to be followed by "raise" ... just make it "And Thou shalt raise us up."

    VS

    And I will raise you up.
  • btodorovich
    Posts: 32
    Even better, someone needs to translate "Eagle's Wings" into Latin. Same melody, just proper language...
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    AFCOL, Chuck, I punched that out on the fly! ;-)
    But, hitherto I vouchsafe unto thee the office of the Holy Editor, and yea bestoweth a princely sum commensurate with such charge unto all generations to come forthwith from thy seed.
    Thy cheque is borne post upon Mercury's swift wings.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    EW melody has to go to the Broadway Stage where it was hatched and belongs.

    The next time you have to sit through Eye Hath Not Seen from an OCP book, when the choir gets to its last verse just think, hats in hands, cast walking downstage to the audience.

    This music taps the emotions, chant is well-rounded and taps the spiritual
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Let me offer another spin on Charles' draft:

    Thou art the Bread of Life
    We who come to Thee shall not hunger
    And Thou hast promised we shall not thirst
    None can draw nigh to Thee, unless the Father draw him.

    And Thou shalt raise us up (iij)
    On the last Day.
    Thanked by 3noel jones, aago E_A_Fulhorst veromary
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Y'know, guys and gals, I think we're actually onto something.
    Call me crazy and then call me a cab, but tell me that were there a movement to elevate such texts would not awaken just a few minds and, at the least, give some perspective to why we should give a ____ about sacral language. Yeah, I know, as if dear Sister Toolan or her proxies would provide legal assent, but just sing through Richard's text, know that not all congregations find the tessitura a problem, and IMAGINE the effect of rendering the piece as such.
    Yes, like I need another person to declare me certifiably insane, but forget that I'm advancing the strategy (we have to admit that catachesis is a cozy term for persuasion) and remember, or consider it as just another multi-cultural translation.
    "Be not afraid." count to ten seconds.



    Fuerchte dich nicht. (Tabs don't umlaut.) Tell me to a normal American RC that the latter wouldn't be regarded with the negative association (rightly or wrongly)?

    It might serve, if only as a "A Mighty Wind" sort of send up, but a point might just be reinforced in the zeitgeist. Call me a cab(ernet).
    Thanked by 1noel jones, aago
  • francis
    Posts: 10,821
    lets just save all those songs for the last day
    Thanked by 1chonak
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    I just read parts of this thread to my long suffering husband (he who patiently listens to my rants about music). His comment..."you guys have way too much fun." His first degree was in technical writing.

    I wish he could come to colloquium with me, I think he'd love it.
    Thanked by 2E_A_Fulhorst Charles in CenCA
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    No, let's make today their last day!
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    I will strafe your house with F-16s
    Blow you into kingdom come....
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    I don't know why this particular text is coming under scrutiny. It's straight out of the Gospel.
    Thanked by 4marajoy Gavin Spriggo CHGiffen
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Because people should not be singing that they are the bread of life. Some will believe it. Especially children.
    Thanked by 1E_A_Fulhorst
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that this thread has come up right at the exact same time as we are hearing John 6 at Mass, from which it is of course taken, but I think at the very least, when a congregation has just heard the identical words straight from the Gospel, it would take a very confused person to not understand what the song is about.
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    I don't think this holds as an important qualm. I think there are antiphons in the Graduale that speak with the voice of God, and make similarly important claims.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    You would be absolutely astonished at what people can and do regularly get confused about. Not just young children either. Some of the questions RCIA teachers regularly field would be amusing if it wasn't so tragic.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    This "voice of God" discussion has been very well explored here, do a search on I Am The Bread.

    We all have to remember that we know a lot more than the average people in the pew do, and even so, our knowledge is also limited!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    Today's alternative Communion antiphon is Panis, quem ego dedero, caro mea est pro sæculi vita. First person singular. Surely we don't know better.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    And "I am the bread of life" is indeed an approved proper antiphon....
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Proper antiphons are for the choir to sing, including the vox-Dei texts.

    But the tune is what bugs me. The first phrase of the song, as published in Worship III, puts the word "bread" on a low A. It's fringe territory for baritones (e.g., average men).

    Sr. Toolan should have followed her instincts and left that draft song in the wastebasket.
    Thanked by 1E_A_Fulhorst
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    I'm sorry, RC, but what folks want and will sing doesn't always meet our pedagogical criteria and prejudices. IATBOL is a proof, three times this morning actually.
    Oh, and I've seen the drinking tune with the octave plus five tessitura set to Key's "O say can you see..." being taken up a lot by atheletes and audience alike at some sports event on the TV a lot lately. Could have sworn I saw Kobe Bryant mouthing the text. FCAP!
    We should know and at least bow out of grousing over archetypes that "we" illuminati don't concur over their value. How do you value such "exceptions" theoretically anyway?
    Thanked by 1Spriggo
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    I think it's much more humbling experience for congregation to listen to the 'voice of God" during the Holy Mass.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    I've revised it:

    "I am a dead horse
    Ye who rant on this shall only please yourselves
    And if you beat on this horse
    Gavin shall ignore you
    Gavin shall ignore you..."
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    For what it is worth, my sopranos hate Bread of Life. They say it is too low for them.

  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Well, I had to sing it last week and this in the same church. Perhaps we are getting it done now to fulfill our quota.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Chonak

    Except that, in the OF, propers texts can be sung by the congregation....
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    (Oddly enough, Liam, it can even be done in the EF under certain circumstances, per 1958 De musica sacra.)
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    Well, I had to sing it last week and this in the same church. Perhaps we are getting it done now to fulfill our quota.


    If not now, then in purgatory. (Or Hell, but ...)
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    Proper antiphons are for the choir to sing, including the vox-Dei texts.


    Yep.
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