This little story of Gabriel and Mary, twelve verses in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, is an immense presence in Christian culture. So when I showed up at the songmaker’s workshop back in June to work on writing a few Christmas songs for a new album project, it seemed like as good a place as any to start. In other words, just as I so often do, I decided to blithely wander into something huge and see if I could end up way in over my head.
Writing songs that are based on scripture calls for special care to try and be as true to the source as possible. I can’t just include whatever images and ideas and details my imagination comes up with. I have to tell the story I find there in that passage and I have to tell it in a few verses and maybe a bridge and hopefully with a refrain that folks can sing along on. I learned early on that for me an important part of this process is to tune out all of the doctrine and dogma and all of the commonly accepted interpretations, and just receive the story that’s being offered, the story that I will find when I am able to just shut up and listen.
God sent an angel to Nazareth to tell a certain young woman that she was chosen to be the earthly mother of the savior of the world. She thought about it for a moment and then agreed. Nothing to it. Except that you can hear the cogs and gears of the universe whirring in the background. Galaxies shifting and do-si-do-ing into new configurations. My humble ambition was to try to lay this story out simply, to allow the music to provide emotional context, and to not try to reach for grandeur. To trust that the listener would feel the immensity. Turns out all the power and magnitude is right there in the story.
Gabriel and Mary
words and music © Garrison Doles
from his CD Songmaker’s Christmas
Gabriel and Mary on a sunny afternoon
Had a bit of quiet conversation
Gabriel said Mary O it’s all up to you
You are highly favored by the Lord
Mary had a moment’s hesitation
Measuring the weight of this world
Wondering how she came to this extraordinary fate
Feeling more and more like just an ordinary girl
refrain
Ave, ave Maria
You will be with child
You will be the Holy Mother
Ave, ave Maria
Mother of the holiest son
bridge
How will this be
Innocent as I have been
Mary asked the angel
How will this be
2.
Gabriel and Mary on a sunny afternoon
Now there is a miracle at hand
Mary said to Gabriel O let it be me
I will be a servant of the Lord
Then she took a moment for reflection
Considering the woes of this world
How had she come to this extraordinary fate
Feeling less and less like just an ordinary girl
refrain
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