[every section sung once only, adult voices throughout, lead voice forward and conversational, crisp storyteller diction, a quilled but not too instrumental harpsichord and a gut-strung harp carry the melody in every section, all group lines carried by a mixed choir of grown men and women] [Opening Verse] [a quilled harpsichord picks out the tune, lead voice dry and close above it, one soft filtered pulse underneath] Revelation twenty one verses nine to eighteen The destination of a believer [Verse] [same voice a shade brighter, deep analogue bass arrives under the harpsichord] One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, full of the seven last plagues came, and said to me, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. [Verse] [fuller now, handclaps on the backbeat, gut-strung harp arpeggios spilling across the bar] It shone with the glory, of God and its brilliance, was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. [Lead-in] [lead voice steps up, filter opening across the four lines, harpsichord doubling the vocal in octaves] It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates [Refrain] [a massed choir of grown men and women joins full-throated, deep adult tone, cathedral weight, harp arpeggios rippling underneath, French lowercase and legato] On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel there were three gates on the east three on the north, three on the south and three on the west [Verse] [choir drops away, lead voice alone, upright double bass walking forward, do NOT sing fast, sing proper speed] The wall of the city had, twelve foundations and on them were the names of, the twelve apostles of the Lamb The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold, to measure the city [Verse] [building, close chamber strings in the upper register, harp climbing with them] its gates and its walls The city was laid out like a square as long as it was wide [Refrain] [the massed choir of grown men and women returns full-throated, deep adult tone, hands high, harp and harpsichord together] He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12 thousand stadia in length and as wide and high as it is long [Bridge] [everything strips to one voice over a single sustained low note, harpsichord answering in bare single plucks, the room still] He measured its wall and it was a hundred forty four cubits thick by man’s measurement, which the angel was using [Breakdown] [the low note descends under the vocal, harp entering like water on the final two lines] The wall was made of jasper and the city of pure gold as pure as glass. The wall was made of jasper and the city of pure gold as pure as glass. [Instrumental] [French funk break for sixteen bars, wah guitar scratching sixteenths in background, popped upright bass, tight drums, harpsichord riffing over the top, purely instrumental] [Verse] [lead voice returns generous and open, full arrangement, harp and chamber strings together] One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, full of the seven last plagues came, and said to me, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. [Final Refrain] [the massed choir of grown men and women at full height, one pass only, then the arrangement falls away to harpsichord] It shone with the glory, of God and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel like a jasper [no riffing] [sad spoken admission]] [the groove has stopped, one voice alone, close and unhurried, one plucked harpsichord note beneath it] clear as crystal [stop promptly]
