The sheet music is available for purchase at GIA where the text is in their preview.

Since these are mostly pretty new songs there are unlikely to be any clips of them on YouTube.

The Catholic Standard has a detailed article in the current issue, especially relating to his time in Tasmania.

Even so, a lot is left out of the article that is worth noting. McAuley was an outstanding poet well before he was a hymn writer. With Harold Stewart, he orchestrated the Ern Malley hoax, the irony being that not all the “fake” poetry was bad, although “Petit Testament” should have been a giveway.

Nicole Moore in the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature had this to say about McAuley:

James McAuley rose to prominence in Australian poetry as one of the two perpetrators of the Ern Malley hoax, drawing on his training in symbolism and surrealism to create a plausible oeuvre for Malley, in order to debunk modernism. His own first volume “Under Aldebran” (1946) demonstated his skills in both satire and symbolism, which were turned to more specific ends in his middle years with several faith-inspired volumes. His late poetry evidence a new phase, in four collections which were more humane and worldly, and displayed a detailed appreciation of the Tasmanian landscape.

After his conversion to Catholicism in 1952, McAuley became a dominating conservative figure in Australian cultural life. He was the founding editor of “Quadrant”, the magazine of the Australian Congress for Cultural Freedom, which controversially sourced its funding from the CIA for a period. “The End of Modernity: Essays on literature, art and culture” (1959) argued for a return to spiritualism and divine inspiration on poetry, while elsewhere McAuley proselytised more broadly. Appointed as reader in English at the University of Tasmania in 1961, he later assumed the chair and contributed significant scholarly work to the field of Australian literary studies.

For a glimpse at his greatness this is a prescient poem called, “In the Twentieth Century”, from 1969’s collection, Surprises of the Sun.

Christ, you walked on the sea,

But cannot walk in a poem,

Not in our century.

There’s something deeply wrong

Either with us or with you.

Our bright loud world is strong

And better in some ways

Than the old haunting kingdoms:

 I don’t reject our days.

But in you I taste bread,

Freshness, the honey of being,

And rising from the dead:

Like yolk in a warm shell—

Simplicities of power,

And water from a well.

We live like diagrams

Moving on a screen.

Somewhere a door slams

Shut, and emptiness spreads.

Our loves are processes

Upon foam-rubber beds.

Our speech is chemical waste;

The words have a plastic feel,

An antibiotic taste.

And yet we dream of song

Like parables of joy.

There’s something deeply wrong.

Like shades we must drink blood

To find the living voice

That flesh once understood.

His hymns with settings by Richard Connolly are collected in the Year of Grace, available at Willow.

As far as I know, GIA don’t have anything like the annual cull and replacement of songs like for OCP’s Breaking Bread selections, but they do have GIA Unbound where newish songs are highlighted. Since they include a preview of the sheet music I’m going do just that for a few selections from GIA Unbound.

This one is for Christmas and has a text by Jacque B. Jones and is set by Randall Sensmeier.

It has a thoughtful lyrics and an inventive tune but the octave leap from D to D is too much for me.

The sheet music can be purchased at GIA, where the words are in the preview. They also sell this hymn set to SLANE.

It’s a pop song from the sixties by Patrick Appleford. The similarity to “Living Doll” is really only the last few notes of each verse. The text is still here.

I made a new backing because the chords here are different from those in TIS that I used last time.

It is still singable with an organ backing:

This hymn of humility is a bit of a riddle. The words were written by Notre Dame Sister Mary Xavier (aka Sybil Partridge), but Canon Ernest Wilberforce is also mentioned, possibly for alterations to make it suitable for Anglicans to sing.

It appears she wrote a poem that wound up in Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence people”:

Just for Today
Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that, “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
Just for today I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do as William James suggests, just for exercise.
Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.
Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.

Whether the hymn or the poem came first I have no idea.

The setting here is PROVIDENCE by Richard Runciman Terry.

Mary at Godsongs notes the multiplicity of altered versions out there and that the original versions mentioned “purgatory’s cleansing fire”.

In Purgatory’s cleansing fire, brief be my stay:

Oh bid me, if today I die, go home today.

The text from this hymnal is below. I’m not sure I will be singing about mortifying my flesh.

I guessed some chords for a backing:

1 Lord, for tomorrow and its needs
I do not pray:
Keep me, my God, from stain of sin
Just for today.

2 Let me both diligently work
And duly pray;
Let me be kind in word and deed
Just for today.

3 Let me be slow to do my will,
Prompt to obey;
Help me to mortify my flesh,
Just for today.

4 Let me no wrong or idle word
Unthinking say:
Set thou a seal upon my lips
Just for today.

5 So, for tomorrow and its needs
I do not pray;
But keep and guide me, love me, Lord,
Just for today.

The text is here inconsistently modernised. There is a note to remind us that “meet” means “worthy”.

I found chords at Hymnary for a backing, though this text seems to be more usually set to anything else.

1 Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve you is my share,
And this thy grace must give.

2 If life be long I will be glad
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To welcome endless day?

3 Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than he went through before;
He that into God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.

4 Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet
Thy blessèd face to see:
For if thy work on earth be sweet,
What will thy glory be!

5 Then I shall end my sad complaints
And weary, sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
That sing my Saviour’s praise.

6 My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him.

The text is at Hope Publishing. If you have Worship 3rd edition it is number 658.

I guessed some chords for a backing.

The words were written by Rowland Hill who was a pioneer in vaccination of all things. The text was altered by Mary L. Duncan at least. In this hymnal there has been a little modernising going on.

It is here set to a C16 tune, ERSCHIENEN IST DER HERRLICH TAG by Nicholas Herman. I’ve seen suggestions that the tune is by J.S. Bach based on an old Latin chant, but usually that means Bach’s harmonisation is so well known that he gets all the credit.

It sounds like a hymn for All Saints.

I found some chords at Hymnary and made a backing:

1 Lo, round the throne, a glorious band,
The saints in countless number stand,
Of every tongue redeemed to God
Arrayed in garments washed in blood. Alleluia!

2 Through tribulation great they came;
They bore the cross, despised the shame;
From all their labours now they rest
in God’s eternal glory blest. Alleluia!

3 They see their Saviour face to face,
And sing the triumphs of his grace;
Him day and night they ceaseless praise,
To him the loud thanksgiving raise. Alleluia!

4 Worthy the Lamb, for sinners slain,
Through endless years to live and reign;
You have redeemed us by your blood,
And made us kings and priests to God. Alleluia!

5 O may we tread the sacred road
That saints and holy martyrs trod;
Wage to the end the glorious strife,
And win, like them, the crown of life. Alleluia!

John Wesley attributed the tune HELMSLEY to Thomas Olivers in Wesley’s 1765 Sacred Melodies with his brother’s text of “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.” However, Olivers is said to have heard the tune on the street somewhere. Since the first line resembles a tune by violinist and composer Thomas Augustine Arne composed for Thomas and Sally, or The Sailor’s Return in 1761, it is speculated the tune was composed by Arne. Most likely, the tune comes from a 1763 edition Martin Madan’s Collection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes Sung at the Chapel of Lock Hospital. Madan was the chaplain at Lock Hospital.

From Let the people sing: hymn tunes in perspective by Paul Westermeyer, 2005, GIA Publications, Inc.

In other words, as is very commonly the case, sacred music is derived from the popular music of the day. I must admit this hymn was unfamilar to me. Rhyming “body bears” with worshipers” is bold, I must say, but mayhap the accent was different in the 1700s.

There is a fair bit of “alt” going on but this is the text from this hymnal.

1. Lo! he comes with clouds descending,
   Once for favored sinners slain;
   Thousand thousand saints attending,
   Swell the triumph of his train!
   Alleluia,
   Alleluia,
   Alleluia!
   God appears on earth to reign.
2. Every eye shall now behold him
   Robed in awesome majesty;
   Those who set at naught and sold him,
   Pierced and nailed him to the tree,
   Deeply wailing,
   Deeply wailing,
   Deeply wailing
   Shall the true Messiah see.
3. Those dear tokens of his passion
   Still his dazzling body bears;
   Cause of endless exultation
   To his ransomed worshipers:
   With what rapture,
   With what rapture,
   With what rapture
   Gaze we on those glorious scars!
4. Yea, Amen! let all adore thee,
   High on thine eternal throne;
   Saviour, take the power and glory,
   Claim the kingdom for thine own.
   Alleluia,
   Alleluia,
   Alleluia,
   Alleluia! come, Lord, come!

I made backing for the antiphon at least:

My soul is thirsting for the Lord: when shall I see him face to face?

This is delightful: