Sunday, February 21, 2010

(3) You Raise Me Up – Video performances of song

Video 1

Josh Groban sings "You Raise Me Up" on the Ellen deGeneres show.
Watch it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_l_A6-7td0

Video 2

Josh Groban sings “You Raise Me Up” at a concert.
Watch it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quZTdeUgiV8

(2) You Raise Me Up – Lyrics of song

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

(1) You Raise Me Up – Background of song

"You Raise Me Up" is a popular song in the inspirational mould. The music was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. The song has now been covered more than 125 times.

The song was originally written as an instrumental piece and titled "Silent Story." The melody is based on a traditional Irish tune (especially the opening phrase of its chorus), the Londonderry Air, which is best known as the usual tune to the 1910 song Danny Boy. Løvland approached Irish novelist and songwriter Brendan Graham to write the lyrics to his melody after reading Graham's novels. It was originally released on the 2002 Secret Garden album "Once in a Red Moon," with the vocals sung by Irish singer Brian Kennedy, and sold well in both Ireland and Norway. Originally, Brian Kennedy was supposed to follow Secret Garden on their Asian tour in 2002, but fell ill, and could not attend. He was replaced by Norwegian singer Jan Werner Danielsen, who also later recorded the song together with Secret Garden, but it was never released.

In 2003, David Foster decided to produce the song after being introduced to it by Frank Petrone of peermusic, the song's publisher. He chose the up-and-coming Josh Groban to record the song, which was accompanied by the great tenor Craig Von Vennik of the Establishment, which proved very popular in the US. His version made it to the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart and remained there for six weeks. Groban also performed it at Super Bowl XXXVIII, in a special NASA commemoration for the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. A special surprise performance by Groban, for Oprah Winfrey's 50th birthday, also gave "You Raise Me Up" massive international prominence. The Groban recording also was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award. Groban also performed it at the first Idol Gives Back Concert, along with the African Children's Choir.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Raise_Me_Up

AAI 104 Pop Song Blog Analysis

You Raise Me Up

In this analysis, we will be focusing on the version sung by Josh Groban.