What Was Brandi Carlile Reciting on ‘SNL’? How Thomas Jefferson’s Proclamation About Separating ‘Church & State’ Made It Into a Blazing Rock Song

Two rarities during the musical performances on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend: actual rock ‘n’ roll was performed. Even rarer than that, Thomas Jefferson was quoted — prominently and at length — in the spot where a guitar solo might have gone.

During Brandi Carlile’s performance of the hard-rocking, U2-styled “Church & State,” Carlile offered a spoken recitation between choruses about the title subject. Viewers might have thought the words sounded familiar, but hard to exactly place. From the Constitution, maybe?

Not quite, but close. The words Carlile chose to share with “SNL” viewers are from a riff on the Constitution,…