Author Archives: maddg

Merry Christmas from humid stinking hot Queensland. I will actually spend Christmas in Tasmania, where the temperature is more sensible, and by March I should be back playing for masses in the little town there, that I have been gradually … Continue reading →

I’m selecting songs from the collection Never Too Young, looking for OCP hymns that got missed in the 2000s. This is a Timothy R. Smith song from 2005 that would work as a rousing Easter recessional. The verses are probably … Continue reading →

I am engaged in an exercise to plug the gaps, looking for songs published after As One Voice. For OCP songs, I am using selections from Never Too Young, a collection designed for the youth. This is song from 2005 … Continue reading →

This is a song with a text by Paule Freburg that is set by Christopher Walker. It is from 2006 so it is filling in a gap. Despite being in Never Too Young, there is nothing here that necessarily says … Continue reading →

One of the consequences of the deserved success of the As One Voice Collections in Australia is missing out on good songs that were written after they were collected. With songs available electronically now at As One Voice that will … Continue reading →

This is the last song from the section, “God Coming Among Us,” in Heaven Shall Not Wait, available from Wild Goose. They fit Advent and Christmas so it has been a good time to look at them. This is a … Continue reading →

The Christmas and Advent songs from this Iona Community collection are sometimes spoiling for a fight. This is a new text for “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” that does that, but will need further editing as some of the topical … Continue reading →

This is a typically convicting text for a Christmas carol by Graham Maule and John Bell, with a tune by John Bell. This song asks the question, “How much do you want to unsettle your Christmas crowd?” It is in … Continue reading →

This is a rewrite of “Once in Royal David City”. I don’t think I would risk it but you may be made of sterner stuff. I worry that Christmas carol parodies are an accepted bad taste trope that might warp … Continue reading →

I am looking at the songs of “God, Coming Among Us” from Heaven Shall Not Wait. These are Advent and Christmas songs that have John Bell and Graham Maule’s unsettling approach to songwriting in abundance. That is a good thing … Continue reading →