I Am the Bread of Life NLPHB 101

This beloved song is quite impossible to sing as I documented here. It is by Sister Suzanne Toolan – now 98 years old – and is popular despite everything, even for funerals.

In this hymnal, the key is brought down to Ab from Bb which helps – we used to take it down to G and the low notes scraped in the gravel and the high notes were still a challenge. You either need a phenomenal range or two teams! This version somehow has even less chords than the original.

The sheet music is available to purchase at Willow.

I made a new backing:

1 I am the Bread of life.
He who comes to me shall not hunger;
He who believes in me shall not thirst.
No one can come to me
Unless the Father draw him.

Refrain

And I will raise him up,
And I will raise him up,
And I will raise him up on the last day.

2 The bread that I will give
Is my flesh for the life of the world,
And he who eats of this bread,
He shall live for ever,
He shall live for ever.

Refrain

3 Unless you eat
Of the flesh of the Son of Man
And drink of his blood,
And drink of his blood,
You shall not have life within you.

Refrain

4 I am the Resurrection,
I am the life,
He who believes in me
Even if he die,
He shall live for ever.

Refrain

5 Yes, Lord, I believe
That you are the Christ,
The Son of God
Who have come
Into the world.

Refrain

A talented choir can get away with it.

I was looking for a case of this crashing and burning but this one is still good:

Chris Brunelle is superman:

I suppose no-one would be silly enough to put a failed attempt at this one on You-Tube, but believe me it is an accident waiting to happen without some very fine voices involved.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to I Am the Bread of Life NLPHB 101

  1. Ryan says:

    It’s one of those songs that is well-loved enough to overcome the fiddly verses and the range issues. It’s probably the communion hymn that gets the best congregation participation at my parish. Not sure where I heard it or read it (maybe on this site?), but someone said the verses are like a metered Gelineau psalm. You take the words of the scripture passage and fit them into a measure in a way that makes sense.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.