Elohim

When I begin work on a new album I always have an idea of where I want to go with it, but have found I ultimately end up someplace else, which makes it all the more exciting.  Since the process of creating is a very organic one (as if the thing being created takes on a life of its own), I feel like every song then becomes a new discovery.  And so it has been with “Elohim.”

As my producer, Paul Buono, and I listened to the melody we’d written Paul began hearing the word Elohim; which I knew to be one of the names of God, but wasn’t sure of the actual meaning.   What I later discovered is that “Elohim” is Hebrew and means God, the Strong One.  So . . . what was God trying to say through this new song?  I left the studio that day with no idea, but during that week I recalled the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”  which had made a profound impression on me. It had introduced me to the terrible and beautiful plight of the Dalit people of India.

The lyrics came to me as I began thinking about the images I’d seen in the movie, and thoughts of how so many people are needlessly suffering simply because of religious tradition, poverty and power hungry men.  Generations of innocent people, just trying to live their lives, have been abused and outcast for no reason other than this is the “truth” that has been forced upon them.  So as I began writing with all these things in my mind, “Elohim” became a prayer – for the suffering, the downcast, the hopeless wherever they are – and I ask Elohim, who is no respecter of persons, to do for these what He has done for me.

Elohim
Words & Music by Mary-Kathryn and Paul Buono 6/8/09

Do you see the hunger burning in their eyes?
Or their fear of thunder falling from the skies?
Under toiling sun
They wander through the days
Searching for a home

Can you hear the darkness raining in the streets?
Or the cries of children afraid to fall asleep?
As the greed of man
Sets claim upon the dreams
Of the innocent

Hear my cry
Hear my prayer, Elohim
See their pain
See their need, Elohim
It’s for these that I pray, for these I seek
Set them free, heal their dreams, Elohim
Do what you’ve done for me

In this sea of wonder, bitter is the cup
Of needless suffering, arising from the dust
Can the ancient chains
Of the wrongfully acused
Ever be broken?

Hear my cry
Hear my prayer, Elohim
See their pain
See their need, Elohim
It’s for these that I pray, for these I seek
Set them free, heal their dreams, Elohim
Do what you’ve done for me