Author Archives: maddg

This song by Bernadette Farrell has seventeen verses so I doubt anyone would expect to sing them all in one go. It is not a favourite of mine as gets sing-songy after a while, but then we don’t do it like the gospel … Continue reading →

Another David Haas song, this time with a text from Isaiah, with uses for encouragement, farewell and funerals. It has to compete with other shepherd and flying like an eagle songs. This is a solo country version, but this is … Continue reading →

Our parish has so far used the new Mass of Creation for 2 months; Paul Mason’s Mass of Glory and Praise for two months and now we have just started using Mason’s revision of the Mass Shalom. The consensus at … Continue reading →

I can hardly claim to be teaching anyone this song on this blog, but it is there in As One Voice, so for what it is worth I’ll include it.  A traditional gaelic melody with words by Eleanor Farjeon and … Continue reading →

This is a huge song by Christopher Walker that will need all your resources to pull off. Listen to the massed choir, brass and pipe organ perform the piece at this site … and a lovely job they do too, the … Continue reading →

I’m afraid I’ve always found this song by Carey Landry on the dreary side, but someone must like it because it turns up a lot in liturgies. It can purchased for download at OCP. The original can be heard here and … Continue reading →

A traditional Dutch hymn of anabaptist origin apparently. Not surprisingly, there some Catholic buzz on the net saying it is heretical. Considering Catholics used to drown anabaptists (hows that for baptism) its hardly surprising, but set decorators aren’t going to … Continue reading →

I am astonished that we use this song by Ernest Sands so much. Not that it isn’t good, but 5/4 time is not for the faint hearted. Fans of Take 5 by Dave Brubeck will be right at home. This … Continue reading →

This song by the late Peter Scholtes is one of very few songs that I sang as a young person in the Presbyterian church that turns up these days being sung in the Catholic church. You can hear Jars of Clay do it here.  … Continue reading →

This is probably the most well known of John Foley’s songs. It is a good Eucharist song and so will always be in demand.  I had to learn to sing it slowly as I tended to race it, although I … Continue reading →