Hearts on Fire Revisited

This song is one of the most looked at on this site, which is a testament to the quality of Michael Mangan’s song. However my post has problems that are not entirely of my making, but that I should try to fix. By the way, if you don’t want to get As One Voice: the Next Generation to get this music, you can get it in a collection at Litmus Publications.

The music we used for years had no notes for the second and third verse, so we just guessed how it went and when I made the backing I used the bones of an old one and didn’t redo the notes for the second and third verse so they are all wrong and that makes learning the song from my backing, which is the whole point of the thing, very difficult.

The other problem is that the song has been completely redone by Michael with a completely different arrangement, including the chords and notes and lyrics being altered.

In addition the backing I made wasn’t very good so I’ve had two more goes.  The first is a better version of the way we play it, with the notes for the second and third verses somewhat sorted out:

Verse 1

We come from ancient dreamtime,
From the bush, or by the sea.
We come from a thousand city streets,
We are the rich and lowly,
We are the poor and strong,
We come to share this moment,
Gathering here, singing one song

Chorus

With our hearts on fire with the love of Jesus
Hearts on fire, let’s spread the Word
Hearts on fire, feel the Spirit blazing
Hearts on fire
Called to live the Good News in this land
Setting hearts on fire, with our hearts on fire
Setting hearts on fire

Verse 2

We long to live in freedom, we yearn for unity
We dream of justice, joy and peace
Spirit fill us with your power
Jesus help us live your call
O Creator give us wisdom
So we will be Good News for all

Chorus

Verse 3

We are the voice of Jesus
We are His hearts and hands
We are His body in our land
Stand up! Live the story
To all the world proclaim
Go out to all creation
Lighting the fire, fanning the flames

Chorus

The second is the arrangement in As One Voice: the Next Generation, which in retrospect, is what I should have done in the first place.  This has the different first verse:

Verse 1

We gather as one people, called to share this mystery.

We bring our joys, our hopes, our dreams.

We are the rich and lonely, we are the poor and strong.

We come to share this moment,

Gathering here, singing one song.   etc.

I hope this helps. I still think the original arrangement is far superior, but I will admit it nearly killed me to play until I got used to it.