In keeping with our theme of travelling and transport, our post for this Sunday is centred on the Christian practice of Pilgrimage with goes back to the very beginnings of the faith and continues even to this day. Geoffrey Chaucer in the 13th Century fashioned his Canterbury Tales around the practice.
John Bunyan’s epic ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’, first published in 1684, describes the journey of Christian through the joys and travails of this life. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious, theological fiction in English Literature. It has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. The entire book is presented as a dream narrated by an omniscient narrator. The allegory’s protagonist, Christian, is an everyman character, and the plot centres on his journey from his hometown, the “City of Destruction” (“this world”), to the “Celestial City” (“that which is to come”: Heaven) atop Mount Zion.
To Be a Pilgrim” (also known as “He Who Would Valiant Be“) is the best known hymn using words of John Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress. The hymn recalls the words of Hebrews 11:13: “…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” The words were modified extensively by Percy Dearmer for the 1906 The English Hymnal. At the same time it was given a new tune by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who used a melody taken from the traditional song “Our Captain Cried All Hands” which he collected in the hamlet of Monk’s Gate – hence the name of “Monks Gate” by which the melody is referred to in hymn books.
The theme of pilgrim has become a rich vein for musicians since that time and so here is a choice selection of these songs.
“Pilgrim” is a pop rock song written by Eric Clapton and Simon Climie. The duo also produced the song, which came about after a jam session between the two in the late 1990s. The title was recorded for Clapton’s 1998 studio album Pilgrim and was released as the fourth and final single of the album. The song was always released as a B-side to another single and was accompanied by a Music Video. It is part of the Lethal Weapon 4 soundtrack.
Pilgrim is the last track on The Mountain the eighth studio album by Steve Earle, backed by the Del McCoury, and released in 1999. The album was a significant departure from Earle’s previous work, being the first wholly bluegrass album he had written. Earle made the album as a tribute to the founder of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe, who had died in 1996.
Pilgrim is a track taken from A Day Without Rain the fifth studio album by the Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released in November 2000. During the making of the album, Enya found she was questioning herself about her life and started to answer these questions in the new material she was writing. She compared the album to reading her own diary. “Like in ‘Pilgrim’,” she said, “I was asking myself: So many years have passed, am I happy with the way I’m working? And my answer is that I wouldn’t change anything. I really love what I do.”
Pilgrim is taken from The Gloaming 2 the second studio album by the contemporary Irish/American music group The Gloaming. It was released in February, 2016 on Real World Records in America. The album which is sung in Gaelic was released to positive reviews and debuted at No.1 in the Irish Album Charts.
