You Raise Me Up?

A few years ago my mother gave me the sheetmusic for a song that I "had to learn." I played through it and sang it for her, and she was thrilled. I wasn't impressed. I'd never heard of it before, (it appears that I live in a sound-proof bubble) and I just didn't think it was that amazing. Some of the problem may have been a certain tendency on my part to not like it simply because of the provenence. So, I put it up. 

Then I had a student who wanted to sing the song. I pulled it out, and looked at it anew. And still didn't like it. I've called this piece a hook in search of a song. But, I had a difficult time expressing just what it was that I didn't like.

And now I'm taking a music writing course. After only one class, I'm better able to articulate what I dislike about You Raise Me Up. Yes, I know that Josh Groban brought you to tears on the last chorus. I know that it's a standard now in many, many churches. That doesn't change what I dislike about it. 

Mr Groban has a lovely instrument, possessed of both power and subtlety. But, that's not what makes this song so popular. Borrowing heavily from Londonderry Aire (otherwise known as O Danny Boy), the beginning of the chorus is already in our heads. We may not consciously recognize it, but there is a feeling of familiarity, of comfort, right off the bat.

The music was written by Rolf Løvland, and was originally an instrumental piece for his band, Secret Garden. Then he asked Brendan Graham to write lyrics for the song. The result is a verse and a chorus. That's it. One verse and one chorus. I have the sheet music in front of me: it is six pages long. One verse and one chorus taking up six whole pages. How is this possible? Well, let's see. 

The first page is instrumental, and is our introduction to the melody line. I started to say the melody line for the chorus, but that's also the melody line for the verse. There's only one tune going on here. Over and over.

Then we get the verse. It's pretty short, taking up only three lines. This is performed very softly and simply. Instrumentation is minimal, just a piano playing very simple chords.

Comes the first rendition of the chorus. "You raise me up," on the word "up" the strings come in, bringing the energy of the song up a step. You have now heard the entire song. There is absolutely nothing new from here on out. I promise. Nothing. We are in the middle of page three. Did I mention that there are six pages?

Then we get a brief instrumental interlude. I'd like to call it a bridge, but a bridge is supposed to take you somewhere: in this case, from one section of a song to another. Or allow us to come to the chorus from a different perspective. This is just a repeat of the short melody with slightly different instrumentation. Oh, yes, and in a new key, literally raising us up a whole step. Then we go into the chorus, in the new key. 

Now, one of the things I've learned in this song writing class is that the first verse should be relatively low as far as energy goes, so that the song has space to grow. The first time through the chorus should be bigger, fuller, more energy. The second verse pulls back, but should still have more than the first verse so that the next chorus can be much fuller, more instruments, more backup singers, more energy.  Now, let's see if the next chorus blossoms forth with more instruments, more voices, more everything.

Yup, there it is. And another new key, this time, we've been raised up a half-step. Ooo, there's now a full chorus behind him. We've also gained percussion. Ane the literal high-note of the song, in this key, a B, just below the legendary high-C.

The chorus repeats - AGAIN - in the same key, with a few variations, and then pulls back to hint at the intimate nature of the song, to end softly and simply.

Wow. There is nothing to this song. And it was a huge hit. Why? Well, it is a catchy tune, what there is of it. And it does have, as I said a feeling of familarity. And I will add that the Celtic Woman version has a second verse. Theirs being live and outdoors, not only adds choirs, but fireworks at the climax of the song. I feel manipulated. This is a perfect example of how a song is performed being more important than the song itself. Yes, I think those performances are powerful. I get goosebumps when it raises me up with it. But, it's all a sham. 

When the song is good, I don't care that I'm being manipulated by the performance. The production values then just become a part of the whole, not something that is masking the lack of content.

Alicia Keyes' Girl on Fire is another case in point. I'm not going to go over it point by point, but see if you can hear the similarities to You Raise Me Up. Although, just to mention it, Girl on Fire at least has a bridge. But the song actually goes nowhere. I'm not on fire over it.

In this next song, though, they do it right. The buildup is the same, but I don't feel manipulated. There is no bridge, but they do bring us to the chorus from a different perspective simply by bringing in the song's composer and first singer. Oh yes, and by singing in English, up until now, the song has been sung in Italian, not the original language for Nights in White Satin.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about this song writing course. Who knows what I'll learn in the coming weeks?