My song Neighbor is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The song has 5 verses and each verse has its own melody. It works like a round. Each verse gives voice to a different person related to the parable.
The first verse is taken from Luke 10:27. It is the lawyer’s response to Jesus when he asks him what the law says is the way to get eternal life. Jesus asks him what the law says, and this is his response.
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Luke 10:27
The first verse of the song is repeated twice for emphasis. This is what the law says. The rest of the parable and the song will be spent trying to find out who is our neighbor.
The second verse introduces us to our first character in the parable, the person left for dead on the road. We never hear from this person in the Bible Story, but it is necessary here to let us know that this person is even there. The verse is repeated with the voices from the first verse blending in with their contribution to the song.
The third and fourth verses are the priest and the Levite going to serve their religious duties. They are careful to keep themselves ceremonially clean and staying away from a man in need. Each of their verses is repeated adding in the voices from the previous verses.
The fifth verse is the story of the Samaritan who stops to help. The modern equivalent of a Samaritan would be someone like a Muslim, someone from a part of the country that everyone assumes can do no good. They turn out to be the only one to do good. Again, this verse is repeated with the voices from the other verses joining in. For my recording I have 4 voices singing each of the parts. Since this is the last verse to be added, there are 5 verses being sung at once with 4 voices each for a total of 20 voices singing at once. This is the most vocal overdubs I have done on one recording and can be a bit cluttered. This is also intentional. I want the good deed to get lost in all the other activity.
Finally, I have the first verse repeated once more by itself. This is to emphasize the need for us to follow the law, to treat our neighbor as ourselves.