RFI: Good non-choral version of the hymn "Jerusalem"? (Blake)

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Besides The Fall or Current 93 obviously.

When I was in Jerusalem, I visited a monastery with my wife, her grandmother and her grandmother's british husband. When we entered the small chapel, which was empty, the husband -- who has a great tenor voice and a very keen sense of irony -- sang the hymn setting of the Blake poem, and it still gives me chills to think about.

Obviously there's a certain irony in the lyric itself -- intentional or not.

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold:
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Bay-L.A. Bar Talk (Hurting 2), Monday, 9 November 2009 04:51 (fourteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0SM3Xc4i3I

stirmonster, Monday, 9 November 2009 04:55 (fourteen years ago) link

Didn't Billy Bragg do this?

Yeah, with the original tune.

Mark G, Monday, 9 November 2009 07:50 (fourteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwtSdJaPCSI

ecuador_with_a_c, Monday, 9 November 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link

Nice sloppy drunk version at the end of Mekons United.

dad a, Monday, 9 November 2009 15:48 (fourteen years ago) link

And Jordan does Jerusalem in Jarman's Jubilee.

dad a, Monday, 9 November 2009 16:05 (fourteen years ago) link

there's a version by Mark Stewart on the album Learning To Cope With Cowardice.

sleeve, Monday, 9 November 2009 16:28 (fourteen years ago) link

The version on "Miniatures" by Morgan Fisher was the only one I knew at one point.

Mark G, Monday, 9 November 2009 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link

ELP's version was my first exposure to this one.

nickn, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link

Current 93, The Fall, The Mekons, Bily Bragg, Mark Stewart, Jordan . . . also John Otway.

Is any other song more of a kind of postpunk standard among reasonably well-known acts?

deedeedeextrovert, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 02:50 (fourteen years ago) link


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