Lift Our Eyes to the Hills
Plays in the dock at the bottom of the page, so it keeps going while you read on.
Lyrics
We sat so still the hours ran by
Bent to the glow, we lost the sky
No siren rang, no bell, no sign
Just a tingle in our hands, an aching spine
We hushed them all and said we're fine
We lift our eyes, we lift our eyes
Out past the glass to the far hillside
Jesus, these hands and this breath are yours
We lift our eyes and we thank you, Lord
Now we walk out in the morning light
And find the answer we fought all night
We stand, we stretch, we set things straight
Before the warning comes too late
For this is what the work is for
Kids at our feet and the dog at the door
We lift our eyes, we lift our eyes
Out past the glass to the far hillside
Jesus, these hands and this breath are yours
We lift our eyes and we thank you, Lord
The work is good, you gave the work
But there's no second frame of clay
So while it's morning, while we're young
We'll tend what you have made
It's not too late, it's not too late
We lift our eyes, we lift our eyes
Out past the glass to the far hillside
Jesus, these hands and this breath are yours
We lift our eyes and we thank you, Lord
We lift our eyes, we lift our eyes
Out past the glass to the far hillside
Jesus, these hands and this breath are yours
We lift our eyes and we thank you, Lord
We lift our eyes
Our help is you
The band
Software in the Pews
An unhurried male tenor answered by a whole room singing the hook back. Earnest, communal and plain-spoken - more 'we' than 'I' - building on one simple image and returning to it, hopeful about getting things right together.
None of these bands are real. Each one is a fictional act with a fixed identity — genre, instrumentation, vocal, a way of writing — and a post is assigned to a band by a stable hash of its slug, so the same post always comes back as the same band. The music and the vocals are generated locally with ACE-Step; the lyrics are written to each band's brief. No musicians, no recordings, no one to credit.
Where the words came from
The lyrics were written from the post Advice From The Kid Who Never Wanted This Job.
A bulging disc and carpal tunnel taught me that a software career is physical work, and that the cheapest time to look after your body is long before it complains.