[Artist collab] My Stoning, Elenee Young

In our first artist collaboration, songwriter Elenee Young joins us in the studio to look at her 2020 single, My Stoning. This story song masterfully intertwines the accounts of multiple women in the Bible who found themselves desperately in need of mercy—and had a powerful encounter with a merciful savior. (The Hymnody podcast doesn’t claim any rights to the music in this episode. All rights are reserved to their respective owners.)

Transcript

Today we’re looking at a song with its creator
The song is called My Stoning, and the artist is Elenee Young
Welcome Elenee!

Before we get into the music together, let’s talk about you and your work
What drives your passion for songwriting?
Was there ever a time that you thought about doing something else?
What characterizes you as a musician, songwriter, worship leader? (Values, vision, skills)
What does it mean for you to serve the church with your music?
How has this year shaped up for you? (Two singles + one coming soon!)
Is there an album in the works?
Back to My Stoning: Does this song hold a special place in your heart? (Your fav?)

Narrative

Where is this song going to take us?

What will we learn about God and our place before him?

Who’s it for?

Basic song info

Key: E major

Time signature: 4/4

Tempo: 58–60 bpm (but loose, flowy, wandering)

Is this your preferred tempo for the song? (Live version is slower)

What difference do you feel it makes?

What about instrumentation?

Single vocalist

Accompanied by piano and cello

What creative process got you to this point?

Play intro & verse 1

Intro & verse 1

Opens with a beautiful piano theme, which will be repeated throughout the song

Simple chord changes from A major to B major—but syncopated

Meaning the A is played on beat 1, but the B falls on the “and” of 4 - demo

I love how the slightest shift offbeat gives a song momentum

Do you find yourself drawn toward a lot of syncopation as you write? Why/why not?

Going into the verse, the chord progression moves away from A to B, as we saw in the intro

First phrase of the verse: A major -> G#m (or is Emaj7?)

The second phrase of the verse (harmonically speaking) is different still: A major -> C#m -> B

Here we have what’s called a “half cadence,” where we’ve reached the end of the phrase but not resolved to the tonic/one chord (E in this case)

Instead we’ve landed on B, the dominant chord in this key, which so badly wants to resolve to E

It’s basically a signal that there’s still a lot more good stuff to come—but before we get to that, let’s look at the lyrics found in these four lines of verse 1

Elenee, can you read them for us?

You lifted me up

You brought me to level ground

Where you wrote in the dust

My identity was found

We’ve clearly been dropped right in the middle of someone’s story

Can you set the stage for us? Where are we right now? (What happens in John 8?)

So to recap: In singing these lyrics, we’re taking on the perspective of this woman, accused of sin and condemned by her community

And by distorting the Mosaic Law, the Pharisees—these supposed theological and legal experts—have sentenced her to death by stoning

In fact, they’re not just threatening to kill this woman; they’re also testing Jesus’ response

Will he show mercy? Will he adhere to the letter of the law as they see it?

But their judgment is stopped short when Jesus bends down to write in the dust

And he says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Everyone leaves, of course, unable to claim that they themselves are without sin

And Jesus speaks again (this time to the woman), saying, “Neither do I condemn you… Go now and leave your life of sin.”

So why have you brought us here to this particular passage of scripture? What’s the significance for you and for all of us?

It’s interesting how this story (as well as your lyric) hinges on Jesus writing in the dust—but John doesn’t even tell us what Jesus wrote. What’s your take on that?

What can we take away about God’s character here?

How does “identity” fit in as a central theme?

Now in terms of your writing, I’m struck by the interplay between the words “level ground” and “dust” in your lyrics

First there’s this picture of “level ground,” suggesting a safe, stable place

And then the writing “in the dust,” through which this person regains their identity

I love these images of dirt/earth: Tell me about how figurative language plays into your writing.

What a compelling, creative first verse

The lyrics that follow tie in really closely, so let’s go ahead and listen to the prechorus and chorus

Play prechorus 1 & chorus

Let’s start with the prechorus

Musically, this does exactly what a prechorus is supposed to do—in the best possible way

It’s concise, for one

The 2m chord (F#m in the key of E) is a great setup to say, “We’re in a new section with clear direction as to where we’re headed next”

Anything you’d add to that?

Now the first time we hear this prechorus, the chords are simply 2m to 4 (F#m to A)

I won’t give it away yet, but when we return to this section the harmony changes

More on that soon

Here are the lyrics, just two lines in the prechorus: Elenee, want to read them for us?

You measured me by faith

You’ve given me a name

I love how these lyrics connect back to verse 1

These truths stand in outright defiance to the Pharisees’ judgments that were alluded to before

What’s the significance of being “measured by faith” in this context?

Ephesians 2:8, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”

Luke 6:38, “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

One more connection to scripture that stood out to me:

In Mark 5, Jesus talks about the efficacy of faith to bring about healing or salvation

He said, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering”

Again, the Greek word used here can actually be translated either way, “healed” or “saved”

And what’s fascinating is that:

He’s ministering again to a woman, just like in John 8

The blessings with which he sends them out are so similar

First, “Go now and leave your life of sin”

And then, “Go in peace and be freed from your suffering”

Whether intentional or not, you’ve connected these two accounts of Jesus’ mercy so beautifully

How does being “given a name” tie into identity, as you wrote about earlier?

Should we look at the chorus now? Here are the lyrics:

Where are my accusers now

What called for death, now reconciled

There’s nobody like you, Jesus

Who can clean my slate

And bring me from my stoning to glory

That’s a powerful question, there in the first line: “Where are my accusers now?”

How does this connect back to where we’ve been so far in the song?

What you’ve really done here is summed up the gospel for us in a really distinct and compelling way

We were dead in ours—as Paul wrote in Ephesians

But then reconciled to God—as Paul wrote in Romans

All of this based on Jesus’ unique ability to “clean our slates” as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”

And not just that—he also brings us to glory

I’d love to hear about that last line of the chorus, “Bring me from my stoning to glory”

How did it come together? And how did it come to form the title of the song?

Before we leave the chorus behind, just a quick look at the harmony

It’s simple at first but also asymmetrical again, so the chords don’t all fall in the exact same spot within each measure

Here’s what that sounds like: E -> E/G# -> A

And then, later, more syncopation over the words “clean my slate”

C#m -> B -> A

I love what we’re learning about you here, Elenee—no vanilla chord changes

Well let’s turn now to verse 2

Play verse 2

The piano really stands out here

I think the way it traces the melody is just beautiful; love to see that done well

Here’s what we’re singing:

You saw through my hurt

My failures and my pride

Now out of this well

Instead of water I draw life

Can we start by talking about how you approach rhyming? I know all songwriters do this so differently.

So bring us deeper into verse 2: Which themes are new here? Which ones are being repeated or expanded upon?

So once again, these lyrics bring us to scripture—specifically John 4, which contains the well-known account of the woman at the well

It’s there that Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

What’s Jesus talking about, and how did this story find its way into your song?

(This woman was also known as an adulterer, like the woman in John 8)

It’s really remarkable to me how this song has tied together two women in need of mercy; two encounters with a merciful savior

Not that men are somehow less needful of mercy, of course—we are all in each of these stories

And all of us could lay claim to these precious words from your prechorus: “You’ve measured me by faith / You’ve given me a name”

So let’s go there once again and, with all of this in mind, listen to the next prechorus

Play prechorus 2

Lyrically, this is the same

But I wanted to zero in on that second line and the harmony over the word “name”

Just like before, the prechorus opens with an F#m chord then changes to A maj (that’s 2m to 4)

But then A maj changes again to… Elenee?

It’s beautiful—that shift from VI to vi

How did this find its way into the composition and how do you think it impacts this section (or the song overall)?

Well from there, after returning to the chorus, we’re introduced to the song’s bridge—let’s check it out

Play bridge & prechorus 3

So what we’ve just heard is actually the bridge plus a short turnaround and a variation on the prechorus

Is that how you look at it too or, structurally, is there a different way you’d break it down?

The melody here in the bridge is mesmerizing—I don’t know how else to describe it

I love how it climbs gradually upward with this rolling motion to it

Do you want to walk us through the lyrics—maybe just 1–2 lines at a time?

The jury of my past mistakes

Have sentenced me to die in shame

But from afar I heard my name

Calling from my savior’s veins

Graces that overwhelms my soul

Brought me up to make me whole

I once was empty, now I’m full

Now I’m singing

Holy, holy

Lord God Almighty

I love how this turnaround (?) breaks out at the end of the bridge

These are some of the same words sung by heavenly beings of various kinds in visions given to the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John

So fitting that we should sing these words as well

What would you say the bridge accomplishes or builds upon?

Let’s return to the chorus once more to look at the outro and bring the song to a close

Play final chorus 

I wanted to bring us back here because of those last two lines, which end the song

Want to read those for us?

A seat around your table of mercy

A place within your holy of holies

How did these two lines come into being? Why not just end with what you already had?

It would’ve been easy to wrap it up with a standard chorus—but these lines add such depth

What I love is how we’re given this picture of movement toward God by his invitation:

First we’re saved from a place of condemnation to glory

But then we’re given a seat at his table—he befriends us, adopts us as heirs

And finally, moving even closer, we enter the holy of holies—the veil is torn, and nothing is left to separate us from God

Closing

What insight or advice would you share with someone who wants to lead their congregation in worship with this song?

How can people connect with you and follow along with your work?