top of page
Writer's pictureHeshy R

Daily Lyric: HELP ME LORD

Updated: Apr 2

Help me climb the mountain, Lord

Help me climb it, it’s too high

Help me climb the mountain, Lord

Help me reach and touch the sky.

Help me cross the river, Lord

Help me cross, it’s too deep and wide

Help me cross the river, Lord

Help me reach the other side.

Help me defeat that devil, Lord

Help me beat that evil eye

Help me defeat that devil, Lord

Help me beat it before I die.

Help me finish what I start, Lord

Help me finish, I’m paralyzed

Help me finish what I start, Lord

Help me see, open my eyes.

Let my story be told, oh Lord

Let the world listen and hear my cries

Let my story be told, oh Lord

Let it be seen in each sunrise.

Help me part the sea, oh Lord

Help my dreams be realized

Help me part the sea, oh Lord

Help me get through uncompromised.

Help me climb the mountain, Lord

Help me climb it, it’s too high

Help me climb the mountain, Lord

Help me reach and touch the sky.

©2023 The Hesh Inc.

Help me climb the mountain, Lord
Help me climb it, it’s too high.

Another one from the period of uncertainty in the early 2000s, in the aftermath of 9/11. I was seeking some guidance from the Great Creator in my desire to get out of the creative doldrums.

Several years later, in 2005, when I was living in Los Angeles, I reached the top of the mountain. Undoubtedly I got the help I had been seeking. Only thing was, I turned 40 that year and I was awash in the popular culture's mistaken idea of what reaching 40 means. I bought an album by Jersey Shore singer-songwriter John Eddie that featured the song "F**king 40" (also done by Kid Rock), a humorous-if-wistful song that I had seen him perform when I was still living in the Shore area. I showed it to my housemate, thinking I could get a laugh out of her. But she was studying for a rabbinical degree at the University of Judaism at the time, and she didn't like what she saw. She launched into a tirade that could only be described as a mussar shmooz, about how reaching the age of 40 is a milestone described in the Talmud as the age of wisdom. While I didn't appreciate being berated at the time, her exhortation got me to adjust my attitude and the result was a palpable, corporeal feeling as if I had reached the top of the mountain and could see endlessly in every direction.

Lyrically, this is about as close as a yeshiva-educated, Happy Minyan–attending, rocking-and-rolling Jewish kid from the suburbs will ever get to gospel music. Musically, it was never performed or recorded, but I can imagine some kind of Ray Charles–like groove or something from the famous church scene in The Blues Brothers.

2 views0 comments

Comments


  • Spotify
  • Bandcamp
  • Amazon
  • iTunes
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
bottom of page