Church Music

I can skip “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” because I have already blogged it here, although I notice the arrangement in Spirit & Song Vol 2 is at a more sensible 106 rather the  58 in AOV NG.

“Forever” is a rock song of the P&W genre with  a verse/ verse /prechorus/chorus etc format designed for jumping up and down to.

The text is here. The sheet music can be purchased for download at various sites including musicnotes.

This is Chris Tomlin:

He sings it better in the live version with U2 style guitar:

An astonishing cover by Thomas Gray, a one man band:

This is just a man and guitar but still good:

There are several tutorials showing how to play the song on Youtube.

I’m struggling with this song because P&W songs are prone to the risk of being emotionally manipulative, and my instinctive resistance to this song is that without amazing restraint it could easily fall into the shallow love song to God genre – over sentimental etc etc. In many of the versions I listened to the voices were not broken enough to match the obvious sincerity of the lyrics. The medium subverts the message.

There are also echoes of Whitney’s Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” in the refrain, which doesn’t help.

In my imagination it would work if sung by Tom Waits.

The text is here. It can be purchased at various sites on the net including sheetmusicplus – who have a handbell version, which I would love to hear.

This is obviously the single most popular song ever recorded judging by the number of versions on YouTube. I’ll just put up a few versions to see if I can find one that doesn’t go over the top:

This is the version – guitar, harmonica, the songwriter with a more broken voice – perfect:

Oh.. and I found the handbell versions!

This is an Advent hymn from an Australian composer George Stuart. It is set to the tune “Darwell”.

You can read about the song at livingthequestions.

MIDI file from Hymnary: darwell

This P&W song by Matt Redman is a somewhat dodgy rewrite of Psalm 84 (how does a soul faint?).  The instructions say “slowly, with awe”, which translates as quiet verses, noisy refrains and a quizzical bridge.

The text is here. The sheet music can be purchased for download at various places including musicnotes.

These sort of songs can be fun to do on BIAB.

Matt Redman:

Redman Live!

A cover by Church of Petra:

An unplugged cover:

Kutless:

A fine jazzfunk version:

Amazing harmonised soul version in parts supervised by Trey McLaughlin:

Youtube also has many earnest young men with guitars singing this song solo in their garages.

This is an odd song by Jennifer Martin with a text based on repetition of words that end in “tion”. The text is here and shows a very weak first verse but  better work on the second and third. I don’t know to what use the song can be put as it is intensely personal – perhaps to sing to yourself while queuing for reconciliation. It is the focus of a reflection here.

I can’t find anywhere selling the sheet music online, but you can listen to the rather breathless original here.

Here’s a use – in a prayer service:

This is another song by Sarah Hart. I’ve moved into the section of Spirit & Song Vol 2 for Praise and Worship songs. Since an awful lot of the songs for communion in this collection were really P&W songs that might not mean much change, but at least I won’t be griping about the songs being solo vehicles as much.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download. You can listen to the original here. My son says this song is just “This Little Light of Mine”with minor variations.

It’s meant to be Gospel rock but I just went for funk:

This is a fun cover by a band called LPSEVEN, whose guitarist got a wah wah effect pedal for Christmas:

This song by Sara Hart and Dwight Liles might find a place in a second rite of reconciliation.  The refrain is singable and the verse is a nice tune but gets difficult in the second half due to slow motion syncopation. There are some lazy lyrics – eg putting in “then” in the first line of the second verse so she can find a rhyme for friend.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download.

Sarah Hart:

Cover versions:

An fine ensemble that gets ragged in the second half of the verses:

Jesse Manibusan wrote this song in the Communion songs section of Spirit & Song Vol 2. A song in praise of God can certainly be used for Eucharist, but I’m not sure I’d specifically call this a song for that purpose.  Great care would be needed with this one as the text tends to be a bit on the saccharin and sentimental side. I thought it might be a children’s song but the verses suggest not.

The text should be at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download but where it says lyrics there are none.

I am providing the lyrics so you can judge if they go do over board.

Refrain

We praise you, God of life, sacred and good.

We thank you, God of hope, faithful and true.

We praise you, God of love, in all we are.

We thank you, God, with all our hearts.

1. In our fear we lose our senses, forgetting all we are.

But you love is unrelenting, healing ev’ry broken heart.

2.When our ignorance confines us, we are consumed by fear.

Your amazing grace unbinds us, giving us the strength to care.

3. When the light of hope is fading, when judgement tears us down.

Help us see in ev’ry person holiness where you are found.

You can listen to the original here, which starts with a child’s voice that raises the sweetness quotient even further.

My backing keeps it simple.

This fine version with just piano and two harmonising male voices just about rescues the song, especially in the a capella last refrain.

This is an Advent song that I noticed from Chris’s parish. I had never heard it probably because it had gone out of fashion like many of the other early SLJ songs.

I spent $US1.75 to get the sheet music from OCP.

I love the flute and harpsichord in, what I assume is, the original.

The lyrics are there as well.

The only problem is the range. If you lower it to the key of C the second verse goes too low to sing. If you don’t, the high held “E”s will kill off the assembly.

My backing is in strict tempo, so does not speed up and slow down like the original.

This is another very folky rendition:

This is a lovely song about the real presence by Tom Kendzia that even appears to be singable by an assembly. It has an instrumental interlude after two verses leading to a key change and a third verse and final chorus.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download.

My backing is not quite relaxed enough.

The original has the “easy, walking feel” prescribed and some pedal steel guitar.

These choirs sound better than the original recording:

This is a nice solo cover with guitar accompaniment: