Earth Song
Sing, Be, Live, See
This dark stormy hour,
the wind, it stirs.
The scorched Earth cries out in vain.
Oh war and power, you blind and blur. The torn heart cries out in pain.
But music and singing have been my refuge,
and music and singing shall be my light.
A light of song, shining strong.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah.
Through darkness and pain and strife,
I'll sing, I'll be, live, see.
Peace.
This dark stormy hour,
the wind, it stirs.
The scorched Earth cries out in vain.
Oh war and power, you blind and blur. The torn heart cries out in pain.
But music and singing have been my refuge,
and music and singing shall be my light.
A light of song, shining strong.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah.
Through darkness and pain and strife,
I'll sing, I'll be, live, see.
Peace.
In Frank Ticheli's and Eric Whitacre's piece of music, Earth Song
Ticheli uses beautiful personification to address how much pain the earth is in. He switches the text into the role of the earth and gives the earth's definition of war. War: a fight that blinds and blurs. When people think of war, once they get past all of the shooting and intrusion, they have a sense of freedom and pride. Even though we're not fighting in different countries for ourselves other people are overseas fighting for us to maintain our freedom and distribute our morals to other places. In the earth's perspective war blinds people to the harm that they are doing to others. War justifies the pain that we cause others. Ticheli then says that music and singing are a refuge and that music and singing will also act as a light to those who are stuck in the darkness of war. Because I am a musician I understand and accept this concept without question but for those who are not, I'll explain. Music has an incredible power. It can make you happy, sad, angry, and afraid all in one song. Every country has some form of music that they relate with, which brings me to my next point. Music has the ability to connect us, all of us. No matter race, religion, or country music can bring us out of darkness and into the light. Next Ticheli writes that a light of song will shine strong. Basically, once the music brings us out of the darkness it won't let us go back. Music's light will never die. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah," is the next phrase. The repetition of this word is kind of striking. Hallelujah is such a sacred word to a lot of people. It's usually taken in a religious context and Ticheli uses it to highlight the spirituality of music. In the next two lines darkness, pain, and strife are cancelled out by singing, being, and seeing. Darkness is contrasted by singing. I've been singing my entire life so, for me singing does bring joy. Singing creates an image of schoolchildren holding hands and singing songs. Interestingly, pain is contrasted by being. Usually when those words are put together it's supposed to imply living with the pain but in this context it's supposed to mean overcoming the pain and getting back to being who were. Strife is contrasted by seeing, seeing is often hard to do when in the midst of strife. This is also meant as a way in which to overcome. Once you overcome strife you have to remember what you saw through grief stricken eyes and combine it with the good that you now see. Finally, there is peace, the entire point of the text. You live and struggle through life. The earth endures pain in vain and through all of this, through music, you find peace.
