h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A746084

Updated 8/5/2002, thanks all

Guy, I don't know if you are interested, but I've been researching various settings of Ps 23 out of curiosity.

I'm told there's a version by Pink Floyd
Also the opening theme music for the TV sitcom 'The Vicar of Dibley'

There are also settings by Telemann, Schuetz, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Lennox Berkeley, Vaughan Williams and lots of others. There's also a fine a capella setting by Stanford.

English metrical versions of the text include:

The King of Love my Shepherd is (contains an additional stanza not in
the psalm, "Perverse and foolish oft I strayed")

The God of love my shepherd is

The old Church of England Prayer Book version (based on one of the early pre-King-James translations, perhaps Coverdale's) went The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing...

The Lord is My Shepherd, Franz Schubert, arr John Stainer, uses:

The Lord my shepherd is,
I shall be well supply'd;
Since he is mine,
and I am his,
What can I want beside?
[From The Presbyterian Book of Praise, Oxford 1906 ]


FWIW

Bels

Guy, since my last post I've noticed you added me to the Researcher list. That's quite unexpected and very kind of you.

I do think there's a factual inaccuracy here:
>The Psalms were originally a set of prayers.

The Psalms were songs (or hymns if you like) rather than prayers. The word comes from the Greek meaning the plucking of a harp (or some similar instrument), and psalms are songs to be sung to the harp. In fact you could accurately state that the Book of Psalms is the oldest song collection still used.

>In the early Jewish tradition priests would pray the psalms daily

I suppose that comes from an authoritative source but find it surprising because the priestly ritual in the Temple was known to be very formulaic, and anything after the first five books of the Bible (the Books of Moses, which defined the Law) would not have been part of the canon. Perhaps it refers to a later Jewish tradition? But then there was no longer a priesthood.

>Psalms are prayers from the Old Testament of the Bible

Probably more accurate to say that Psalms were OT hymns that later came to be used sometimes as prayers. In the present form of the RC Mass there is usually a Psalm as part of the Liturgy of the Word (the Readings or Lessons), which in a sung Mass is also sung even though the other Readings are spoken. Lines from the Psalms are also used as (sung) antiphons and acclamations. So the musical connection is still very strong and does mark out the Psalms as different from the rest of the Bible.

>the Hebrew tradition did not have the Christian concepts of death and
resurrection.
The last verse of Ps 23 is certainly resurrectionist. Obviously the Hebrews cannot have been Christian, but the Christian concepts derive from the same ideas. The Hebrew tradition has the Day of Judgment, and the Resurrection of the dead, and Eternal Life and stuff like that.


FWIW

Bels

Actually the factoid that Judaism doesn't include resurrection may have been from me. Mea culpa.

Ben

The Pink Floyd version is from Animals.

Ben, say ten Hail Marys, go in peace and sin no more.

U2 have done Ps 40, I'm told.

Has this entry been picked? Are the points I made in Posting 24 worth considering, or do you disagree with them?

Just curious, you understand.

Yes your points are going in (if I am quick enough) and sorry I didn't ask you before bunging you on the list. I meant to but I've been incredibly rushed launching a new interactive online recruitment system for B&Q (which, for a small firm, is a very big task!)

Close to the final form, I hope

Block & Quayle, eh? I met Jim Hodgkinson years ago at their very first store in Southampton, which was also H.O. - they've come a long, long way since then!

Indeedy. If only they would emerge from the dark ages (i.e. Internet Explorer 5.0) we would be even happier!

Be grateful for small mercies. I am working for a large IT company, which I am too cowardly to name, and have Win98 and Netscape 4.7 on my laptop!

B

Nasty! Mind you, at least if you don't use IE you won't have web page errors killing your entire operating system, which happens with Win98.

Oh, we have IE5 as well...

I wonder if that particular mix is what is blueing out my own laptop?

Ben

Win98 needs no particular assistance in that respect.

Yeah though I go throgh the valley of Win 98, I will not fear the blue screen of death....



B