Pitchfork TV shows a series of videos by The Mountain Goats, mostly from their album The Life of the World to Come (all but Love Love Love).
What is interesting is how they wrote the songs on the album. Each refers to a bible verse, but is not a direct interpretation. They use the same idea, but have modern references and settings. John Darnielle, the writer and lead singer, is a poet first and uses his music to showcase his verse. I think he is one of the best lyricists working today.
For example, Psalm 40:2 from the King James version of the Bible:
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
And the lyrics to the corresponding Mountain Goats song, Psalm 40:2:
Pulled off the highway in Missouri and low our hearts were heavy laid
Made for the chapel with some spray paint for all the things we'd held in secret
Lord lift up these lifeless bones
Light cascading through the windows
all the rainbow's heavy tones
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised me from the pit and set me high
Left that place in ruin, drunk on the Spirit and high on fumes
Checked into a Red Roof in stayed up for several hours and then slept like infants
In the burning fuselage of my days
Let me mouth be ever fresh with praise
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised me from the pit and set me high
Each morning new
Each day shot through
With all the sharps small shards of shrapnel
that seem to burst of me and you
Head down towards Kansas
We will get there when we get there don't you worry
Feel bad about the things we do along the way
But not really that bad
We inhaled the frozen air
Lord send me a mechanic if I'm not beyond repair
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised from the pit and he will set me high
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