By Van Morrison, from Hymns to the Silence. The music and much of this lyric is traditional, but the indented part about radio is Van Morrison's own work, notwithstanding the fact that parts of it mimic T.S. Eliot (What the Thunder Said). The traditional part is noded in its entirety under its proper title, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee". The really nice thing about this is the fact that Morrison first has the nerve to mess with a great song like "Just a Closer Walk with Thee", and then he has the talent to get away with it. It works
; it's fantastic.
Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it
Jesus if you please
I'll be satisfied as long
as I walk, dear
Lord, close to
Thee.
I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
as I walk, dear
Lord, close to
Thee.
Declaimed:
See me through days of wine and roses
By and by when the morning comes
Jazz and blues and folk, poetry and jazz
Voice and music, music and no music
Silence and then voice
Music and writing, words
Memories, memories way back
Take me way back, Hyndford Street and Hank Williams
Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet on Sunday afternoons in winter
Sidney Bechet, Sunday afternoons in winter
And the tuning in of stations in Europe on the wireless
Before, yes before it was the way it was
More silence, more breathing together
Not rushing, being
Before rock'n'roll, before television
Previous, previous, previous
See me through, just a closer walk with Thee
Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it
Jesus if you please
I'll be satisfied as long
as I walk, dear
Lord, close to
Thee.
I am weak but
Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
as I walk, dear
Lord, close to
Thee.