Give Up The Glory

by Mike Wilson

Imagine an old southern bayou spiritual. Now imagine it remade in a current rock style yet maintaining that old flavor. That's what the author aims for with this setting of an original tune, "Give Up The Glory." We use traditional rhythm section instrumentation with the addition of a resonator guitar, often called a dobro, to capture that bayou essence. The unique sound of the dobro comes from the resonator cone built into the body of the guitar. It is played with a slide and, in this case, sits flat on your lap while playing.

This song has an easy 2-part vocal arrangement in that the 2-part chorus is repetitive. Each chorus requires three soloists for short yet necessarily energetic solos. If you prefer to sing the solo parts with a unison group, it would be best to treat it as a "choir 2" as the parts overlap. The road map is pretty straightforward. Start with a chorus, clap through the vamp, verse one followed by another chorus. Verse two, then two choruses to finish it out. Clap on the last chorus to bring it home. Then a big 2-part ritard to the end. The piano and slide guitar will lead you through it.

We have isolated the optional second vocal part and put it on our web site for you. Note that it is just the latter part of the song as it repeats the first part.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.