Church Music

This is in fact Kumbayah, the ultimate three chord folk song, except John de Luca has usefully changed the words and used somewhat more than just 3 chords.

It was originally an African-American spiritual that was taken up by the folk revival of the 1950s.

A typical chord chart in D with the original lyrics would be:

D            G            D
Kum-ba-ya my Lord, kum-ba-ya
D           G             A
Kum-ba-ya my Lord, kum-ba-ya
D            G            D
Kum-ba-ya my Lord, kum-ba-ya
G  D     A      D
Oh Lord, kum-ba-ya

But de Luca uses instead:

D      Bm7   D     G      D    Em    D
Kum-ba-ya my Lord, kum-ba-ya (Kum-ba-ya)
D  Bm F#m    Gmaj7 Em     G           A
Kum-ba-ya my Lord, kum-ba-ya  (Kum-ba-ya)
D      Bm7   D     G     Dmaj7
Kum-ba-ya my Lord, kum-ba-ya
G  D     A7     D       G   D
Oh Lord, kum-ba-ya (Kum-ba-ya)

Much more fun.

I did a backing:

1 Come again my Lord, come again! (come again)

Come again my Lord, come again! (come again)

Come again my Lord, come again!

O Lord, come again! (come again)

2 To reward the just, come again! (come again)

To bring sinners home, come again! (come again)

To make all things new, come again!

O Lord, come again! (come again)

3 Source of unity, come again! (come again)

Light of all the world, come again! (come again)

Brother of all men, come again!

O Lord, come again! (come again)

4 When my eyelids close, come again! (come again)

When my life is done, come again! (come again)

One with you at last, come again!

O Lord, come again! (come again)

I’m not going to find this version on You-Tube but listening to Judith Durham will compensate.

I am finding some hymns in the New Living Parish Hymnal that I have still not yet covered in all these years of blogging.

This one is an obvious choice for Christ the King. The text is by I.J.E Daniel and it is set to DRESDEN adapted by Richard Redhead.

I got the chords from LiturgyShare where Chris also has the sheet music.

1 Christ is King of earth and heaven!
Let His subjects all proclaim
In the splendour of his temple
Honour to His holy name.

2 Christ is King! No soul created
Can refuse to bend the knee
To the God made man who reigneth,
As ’twas promised, from the tree.

3 Christ is King! Let humble sorrow
For our past neglect atone,
For the lack of faithful service
to the Master whom we own.

4 Christ is King! Let joy and gladness
Greet him; let His courts resound
With the praise of faithful subjects
To His love in honour bound.

5 Christ is King! In health and sickness,
Till we breathe our dying breath,
Till we greet in highest heaven
Christ the victor over death.

While this is a text that is new to me, but was in fact the original words to the tune, BUNESSAN. It is Mary Macdonald’s Gaelic Christmas song, ‘Leanabh an Aigh’ translated by Lachlan Macbean. Bunessan was actually Mary Macdonald’s birthplace on the Isle of Mull (thanks Hymnary).

Godsongs has more background as it is right in Mary’s wheelhouse.

In the New Living Parish Hymn Book we are favoured with the editor, John de Luca’s, arrangement, which has a lot more chords than usual so is worth a look. I like the diminished chord particularly. I used them all in my new backing:

1 Child in the manger, infant of Mary;
Outcast and stranger, Lord of all!
Child who inherits all our transgressions,
All our demerits on him fall.

2 Once the most holy child of salvation
Gently and lowly lived below;
Now, as our glorious mighty Redeemer,
See him victorious o’er each foe.

3 Prophets foretold him, infant of wonder;
Angels behold him on his throne;
Worthy our Saviour of all their praises;
Happy forever are his own.

This song shares it’s refrain’s tune with yesterday’s hymn but has completely different verses.

That means it is by James Phillip McAuley and Richard Connolly. It is a Eucharist song, especially intended for Corpus Christi, which comes up soon. I have blogged it before in TIS. Since then it appeared in CWB II 462.

McAuley’s texts just don’t sound like other hymns. He was a great poet no doubt, but his hymn lyrics lose none of their poetry by being blunt and concise. Connelly’s setting are always inventive and memorable.

Willow have the sheet music.

Whereas I have avoided church organ in the past for my backings, for this collection I have frequently resorted to the wind up BIAB organ style, but have used more lines of the music to fill things out.

Refrain

By your priestly pow’r, O risen Lord.

All we lost and needed is restored.

God in our communion be adored.

1 At your hands, Lord, we are fed,

Hands that guide and do not falter,

Wounded hands that broke the bread on this altar.

2 At you hands we seek release

From the evils that assail us

For we know the Bread of Peace will not fail us.

3 In the world that we have known

Selfish, loud, vain passions riot;

Lord, with you, with you alone is deep quiet.

4 To that world we must return

Sharing in its hopes and labour,

Bringing it to Christ’s concern for our neighbour.

This is a delightful Easter hymn by the Australian team of the poet, James Phillip McAuley, and composer Richard Connelly.

I blogged this out of Together In Song, here, which meant they provided the chords. Since then it was published in CWB II 352.

While this hymnal is long out of print, Willow has kept McAuley and Connolly’s work available and the sheet music for this one is available from them.

I’ve redone my backing.

Refrain

By your kingly pow’r, O risen Lord,
All that Adam lost is now restored:
In your resurrection be adored.

1 Sing the joyful Easter cry,
Sound it to the souls in prison,
Shout our triumph to the sky:
Sing Christ risen, sing Christ risen.

2 Sing the joyful Easter cry,
Let all times and peoples listen:
Death has no more victory,
Sing Christ risen, sing Christ risen.

3 Death has lost and life has won;
Ev’ry newborn soul we christen
Now becomes the Father’s son:
Sing Christ risen, sing Christ risen.

I have looked at this as “At the Cross Her Vigil Keeping”, but not in this translation.

This is Stabat Mater in translation by Ronald Knox, which I couldn’t find anywhere so it required typing the whole fifteen verses.

More wind up BIAB organ:

1 By the cross her vigil keeping

Stands the Queen of sorrows weeping,

While her Son in torment hangs.

2 Now she feels O heart afllicted

By the sword of old predicted!

− more than all a mother’s pangs.

3 Sad and heavy stands beside him

She who once had magnified him

One begotten, only born.

4 While she sees that rich atoning,

Long the moaning, deep the groaning

Of her mother-heart forlorn.

5 Who, Christ’s mother contemplating

In such bitter anguish waiting,

Has no human tears to shed.

6 Who would leave Christ’s mother, sharing

All the pain her Son is bearing,

By those tears uncomforted.

7 Victim-priest of Jewry’s nation,

There he hangs in expiation;

Scourge and nail have had their will.

8 Earth and heaven his cause forsaking,

Now his noble heart is breaking,

Now the labouring breath is still.

9 Mother, fount whence love flows truest,

Let me know the pain thou knewest,

Let me weep as thou hast wept.

10 Love, divine within me burning,

That diviner love returning,

May thy Son this heart accept.

11 Mother, if my prayer be granted,

Those five wounds of his implanted

In my breast I fain would see.

12 Love exceeding hangs there bleeding,

My cause pleading, my love needing −

Bid him share his cross with me.

13 Till life fails, I would not fail him,

Still remember, still bewail him,

Born thy Son, and crucified.

14 By the cross my vigil keeping

I would spend those hours of weeping,

Queen of sorrows, at thy side.

15 When my body lies forsaken

Let my ransomed soul awaken

Safe, in Paradise, with thee.

Edward Caswell’s translation seems the more used:

I looked at this less than a year ago in Catholic Worship Book I, and I thought I might find a retention of archiac language here, and yes, John de Luca has kept the older wording.

I did refresh my backing of the old German tune LASST UNS ERFREUEN a little. The text is a C11 Latin Easter Sunday sequence translated by K.W. Blount (died 1717) and subsequently and variously brought up to date.

LiturgyShare has the all you need to know about this hymn.

1. Bring, all ye dear-bought nations,
   Bring your richest praises to your King,
   Alleluia, Alleluia,
   That spotless Lamb, who more than due,
   Paid for his sheep, and those sheep you,
   Alleluia x5.
2. The guiltless Son, who bought your peace,
   and made his Father’s anger cease,
   Alleluia, Alleluia,
   Then, Life and death together fought,
   each to a strange extreme was brought.
   Alleluia x5.
3. Life died, but soon revived again,
   And even death by it was slain.
   Alleluia, Alleluia,
   Say, happy Magdalen, oh say
   What did you see there by the way,
   Alleluia x5.
4. “I saw the tomb of my dear Lord,
   I saw himself and him adored;
   Alleluia, Alleluia,
   I saw the napkin and the sheet,
   That bound his head and wrapped his feet”.
   Alleluia x5.
5. “I heard the angels witness bear,
   ‘Jesus is ris’n; he is not here:
   Alleluia, Alleluia,
   Go, tell his followers they shall see,
   Thine and their hope in Galilee’ “.
   Alleluia x5.
6. We, Lord, with faithful hearts and voice
   On this your rising day rejoice;
   Alleluia, Alleluia,
   O thou, whose power o’ercame the grave,
   By grace and love, us sinners save,
   Alleluia x5.

I’ve got nothing…

This is a chant setting of the Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79) arranged by John de Luca.

I hope it is useful.

This is “The Beatitudes” by Peter Kearney, which I looked at years ago and is very well known and much loved in Australia. It is his paraphrase of Matt 5:3-11.

The text is here, but I note he now prefers “pure in heart” to “clean of heart”.

This is another example of John de Luca arranging a folk style song with much more interesting chords.

I got the original chords from Gather Australia and compared them with the chords in this hymnal. It is also in Catholic Worship Book II 456, but don’t expect them to provide chords.

I made a new backing with these chords:

This is Edward Caswall’s C19 translation of the ancient Latin text, ~C4, by Aurelius Prudentius. It is set to a C16 tune STUTTGART by Christian F. Witt.

CWB II has a variant of this one called, “Earth Has Many a Noble City” to the same tune.

The editor here conceded his text is “alt” and I’m not sure of its provenance, but there is so much difference between versions of this text at some point it becomes someone else’s translation. I’m concernd about the incarnate bear as well.

1 Bethlehem, of noblest cities
None can once with thee compare;
Thou alone the Lord of heaven
Didst for us incarnate bear.

2 Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth;
To the lands their God announcing,
seen in human form on earth.

3 By its wondrous beauty guided,
See, the eastern kings appear;
See them bend, their gifts to offer,
Gifts of incence, gold and myrrh.

4 Solemn things of mystic meaning!
Incense doth the God disclose;
Gold a royal Child proclaimeth;
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.

5 Holy Jesus, in your brightness,
To the gentle world display’d,
With the Father and the Spirit.
Endless praise to thee be paid.

For comarison puprposes, here is the text at Hymnary:

1 Earth has many a noble city;
Bethl’hem, thou dost all excel:
out of thee the Lord from heaven
came to rule his Israel.

2 Fairer than the sun at morning
was the star that told his birth,
to the world its God announcing
seen in fleshly form on earth.

3 Eastern sages at his cradle
make oblations rich and rare;
see them give in deep devotion,
gold and frankincense and myrrh.

4 Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
incense doth their God disclose,
gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
myrrh his sepulcher foreshows.

5 Jesu, whom the Gentiles worshipped
at thy glad Epiphany,
unto thee with God the Father
and the Spirit glory be.