Moses And The Sea
U
Lyrics
[0:00–0:22 — FIRST PASS / TRAPPED, BREATH SHORT, STILL] Exodus fourteen, thirteen through sixteen. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. [Start with dry phone-mic tenor, faint room hiss, low bass pulse, one muted acoustic strum and distant electric-guitar shimmer. No full drums. Deliver “Fear ye not / stand still” with short clipped spacing. Let “The LORD shall fight for you” sound calm and certain. Then make “that they go forward” feel like the whole song suddenly changes direction.] [0:23–1:03 — SECOND PASS / FAST-FLOW FOLK STARTS RUNNING] Exodus chapter fourteen, verses thirteen through sixteen. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. [Bring in dusty boom-bap drums, warm bass guitar, fast muted acoustic strum, foot stomp, hand percussion and wide electric-guitar haze.] [LEAD] Fear ye not. [ONE ROUGH OFF-MIC VOICE] Fear not. [LEAD] Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD. [Move immediately onward.] The LORD shall fight for you— [MICRO-SILENCE] And ye shall hold your peace. [ONE LOW VOICE] Hold your peace. [Keep it tiny.] And the LORD said unto Moses— [BEAT CUT] Wherefore criest thou unto me? [Let that question hit dry and slightly sharp.] Speak unto the children of Israel— [SHORT SILENCE] That they go forward. [ROUGH CREW — ONE BRIGHT PUNCH] GO FORWARD! [ALT-ROCK MICROBURST: one fast wide overdriven guitar bloom opens for two seconds, then collapses back into the groove.] [1:04–1:36 — INTERLUDE / MOVE BEFORE THE SEA MOVES] Yeah. Ooh. Go forward. [Keep lyric repetition sparse. Let the acoustic pulse run fast while the boom-bap drums stay heavy.] Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea. [PSYCHEDELIC MICROBURST: reverse one electric-guitar tail so it seems to pull the water backward for half a second, then snap forward.] And divide it. [ACOUSTIC MICROBURST: one tiny ascending fingerpicked flourish after “divide it,” then immediately back to the strum.] And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground— [LET THE BASS CLIMB] Through the midst of the sea. [Let “through the midst of the sea” get one quick breathless melodic run.] [1:37–2:22 — THIRD PASS / NOW THE WHOLE TRACK MOVES] The second book of Moses, called Exodus, chapter fourteen, verses thirteen through sixteen. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. [Start with close lead and fast acoustic strum only. Add foot stomp, bass, boom-bap kick/snare, then wide guitars. Let this pass feel like forward motion has finally taken over the whole arrangement.] [LEAD] The LORD shall fight for you. [ONE ROUGH VOICE] Fight for you. And ye shall hold your peace. [SHORT SILENCE] Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. [ROUGH CREW — ONE FINAL UNEVEN DOUBLE] GO FORWARD! [One voice early, one raspy, one too loud. Keep it.] But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it. [Let the guitars widen briefly.] And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. [SECOND ACOUSTIC MICROBURST: one fast bright acoustic lick shoots upward after “sea,” then gone.] [OUTRO / FEET MOVING] Ooh. Yeah. [No more scripture repetition. Let the fast acoustic loop, dusty drums, warm bass, foot stomps and wide electric guitar carry the song forward. One friend claps late. Another hums rough harmony. Hard cut mid-strum.]