Huh. Those are all really good songs, guys.
I bet I have one no one here has heard of. It's a "classical" song (well, not technically, but you get the point) written by Benjamin Britten, but the words from a poem written by Edith Sitwell. The lyrics have double meanings...I take them as lyrics with a spiritual meaning, but it was actually written with the horrors of World War II in mind. It's a very dark song, but the words are very touching in places. I don't know...it's just touching and beautiful, once you hear it. It really makes me think, and make me feel the weight of Jesus' sacrafice, especially the last line.... "Still do I love...Still shed my innocent light, my blood.....for thee."
Still Falls The Rain
sung by Ian Bostridge, written by Bejamin Britten, based on poetry by Edith Sitwell, 1940's.
Still falls the Rain
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross.
Still falls the Rain
With a sound like the pulse of the heart that is changed to the hammer-beat
In the Potter's Field, and the sound of the impious feet
On the Tomb:
Still falls the Rain
In the Field of Blood where the small hopes breed and the human brain
Nurtures its greed, that worm with the brow of Cain.
Still falls the Rain
At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross.
Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us
On Dives and on Lazarus:
Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one.
Still falls the Rain
Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man's wounded Side:
He bears in His Heart all wounds,those of the light that died,
The last faint spark
In the self-murdered heart, the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark,
The wounds of the baited bear
The blind and weeping bear whom the keepers beat
On his helpless flesh... the tears of the hunted hare.
Still falls the Rain
Then O Ile leape up to my God: who pulles me doune
See, see where Christ's blood streames in the firmament:
It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the tree
Deep to the dying, to the thirsting heart
That holds the fires of the world, dark-smirched with pain
As Caesar's laurel crown.
Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of man
Was once a child who among beasts has lain
"Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood, for thee."
I cry like a baby every time I hear this song.