This is a lovely Bernadette Farrell song that I haven’t heard before. It has a lovely direct text to sing a social gospel. It has a fair range but remains singable.
The text is here. (scroll down) OCP has the sheet music to purchase for download and a sound sample.
The snippet at OCP is organ and choir but it sounds a gentler folk song to me:
56 in my survey of OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book is by Katharina von Schlegel and translated by Jane Borthwick. I like old hymns that don’t have triumphalist or militaristic ideas – this is a beaut.
The text is at Hymnary and it is set to FINLANDIA, for which I have blogged a backing here.
25/3/2026
This was very lazy of me:
1. Be still, my soul! the Lord is on your side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to your God to order and provide; In ev’ry change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul! your best, your heav’nly friend Thru’ thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
2. Be still, my soul! your God does undertake To guide the future as he has the past; Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while he lived below.
3. Be still, my soul! when dearest friends depart And all is darkened in the vale of tears, Then shall you better know his love, his heart, Who comes to soothe your sorrow and your fears. Be still, my soul! your Jesus can repay From his own fullness all he takes away.
4. Be still, my soul! the hour is hast’ning on When we shall be forever with the Lord, When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still my soul! when change and tears are past, All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Bob Fabing SJ wrote this song of praise based on Psalm 116.
OCP will sell you an MP3 of it if you like, but not the sheet music as far as I can see. Someone else had that trouble and posted to his Facebook page but there was no reply.
The text, which I also can’t find anywhere, has a minor glitch in that verse three of five is sung in the voice of God and the rest isn’t. The song has a fair range with a nasty held D.
So… if you have the Guitar Accompaniment Book and can hit that D then you can sing along with this jaunty backing.
The original – much slower and restrained:
Chris Brunelle’s version works much better:
I have been known to work out the chords of songs by watching You-tube clips and these are pretty simple, so watching Chris’s hands might allow you to play along with him and learn the song even if you cannot purchase the sheet music to download.
Because the parishes I play at have little tradition of singing older hymns, many of the songs I’m picking up in OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book are in that genre.
This is a Marian song suitable for Easter set to a very old tune REGINA CAELI. The text is here and while OCP has the sheet music it should be available in the public domain as well.
Who’d have thought Carey Landry would write a piece of music with directions saying “spirited”. (unfair)
This song has baptismal and sprinkling rite uses but could also be used for sending forth.
The sheet music is available at OCP where the text is in the sample and you can hear a longish snippet of the song, which does not sound the least bit spirited.
I can’t do much with this one, but Hymnary has the text in Latin and the sheet music. The text is two separate Latin chants brought together apparently.
Bad BIAB organ:
Listen to this instead:
Since I couldn’t make this work on BIAB I asked it to try a jazz arrangement with melodic embellishment and it came up with something totally inappropriate.
Number 48 in the Guitar Accompaniment Book is this 10th century chant set to the 19th century French tune ATTENDE DOMINE. OCP gives five verses of Latin and five of English in Melvin Farrell’s translation. The Latin text is here with a different translation.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.