LIFT UP OUR EYES - Stephen Arthur Allen (Full Mix)

LIFT UP OUR EYES is a 'Song of Ascents' in the tradition of the Ascent Psalms (e.g., Psalm 121 - a direct inspiration in the present case). It also incorporates the passage in 1 Kings 19:12-13:

The Lord said [to Elijah:) “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

LIFT UP OUR EYES is designed as a congregational anthem in which the congregation is divided up into three choirs from left to right. (It can also, obviously be sung by solo voices or vocal group.) It is also available on YouTube in a lyrics and instrumental version (karaoke sing-along type)    • LIFT UP OUR EYES - Stephen Arthur All...   and in a purely instrumental version    • LIFT UP OUR EYES - Stephen Arthur All...   These tracks were all first released on my CD album ACROSS THE RIVER at the turn of the New Millennium. In that album context, HEROES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3jaz... serves as the 'overture' so-to-speak. It is followed by GREAT DAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXxf9... after which LIFT UP OUR EYES serves as a compromise between the two previous songs in terms of both mood and energy.

Additionally, for those interested in technical matters, I wanted to explore the 3-in-1 (Trinitarian) concept in conjunction with heterophony--the ear rationalizing what would otherwise be dissonant by understanding the vertical harmonic clashes as a consequence of the horizontal melodic echoes. The individual sung lines are easy to learn--not least by imitating the first entry via canon--but the resultant 'harmonies' are more complex. (This, along with the heart-beat rhythm particular to the verses, obviously does not apply to the homophonic choruses in the same way, only to the verses.) In this fashion I wanted to ideally take the untrained congregational singer into a 'multidimensional' experience of sound in a manner that might intimate 'alternate realities' in which one 'world' enters another, sometimes even invisibly (semi-audibly). Of course all of this has to be pitched right at the edge of what the regular, untrained ear might not otherwise find acceptable! Anyway, I leave it to you to determine whether you feel I succeeded or not. If I did, to God be the glory!

Thanks so much to my dear friends Simon Smart for the production and Zachary Detrick for the visuals. Thanks also to REVIVAL and my friends pictured within. LIFT UP OUR EYES is dedicated to my two nephews, Greg & Will.

[Note: this video was incidentally uploaded during a total eclipse of the sun on Monday April 8th 2024 at 3.30pm]

Photo: the Rio Grande between Santa Fe and Taos, March 2024

© 1995 Stephen Arthur Allen. Laurel Songs (Admin. by Song Solutions www.songsolutions.org) All rights Reserved. Used by permission. Not to be further used in other product without permission.

This recording first appeared in 1999 on the album ACROSS THE RIVER. The other tracks, in order are (the various mixes available in the respective full mix video details).

1. HEROES    • HEROES by Stephen Arthur Allen (Full ...  
2. GREAT DAY    • GREAT DAY Stephen Arthur Allen  
3. LIFT UP OUR EYES    • LIFT UP OUR EYES - Stephen Arthur All...  
4. ONE AND ONLY    • ONE AND ONLY (Full Mix) Trad. Arr. St...  
5. REJOICE!
6. HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER (PSALM 136)
7. THE GOD WHO DARES