The first song from CWB I to look at is this Christmas song for children by Pam Conn. It was in a collection called Happy Are the Children of the Lord from 1975 by Joe Dailey and Friends.
I had no luck looking for the sheet music apart from CWB I. I made up the chords for my backing.
Chorus
A light will shine on us this day,
The Lord is born for us.
The Lord is born for us.
The Lord is born for us.
1 Now arise, show your gladness, praise the Son of God.
He is life, he is mercy.
Joyfully shout to all the world,
The Lord is come.
2 Have no fears, raise your voices, sing with all your might
Of his love, of his glory.
Joyfully shout to all the world,
The Lord is come.
3 Yes, arise, look around you, his light has filled the earth.
This is only Catholic Worship Book 1, because there has since been a CWB 2.
It was a Collins/EJ Dwyer publication in 1985 under the auspices of the Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and was approved for use in the dioceses of Australia. There was a Full Music Edition and a People’s Book.
The preface by Archbishop TF Little noted:
Full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations: the Church sets its sights on that target. The very nature of liturgy calls for it. The celebration of the paschal mystery demands it. By baptism it becomes a right and duty for all Christian people. It is the aim underlying all reform and promotion of the liturgy…
The Catholic Church does not have a long history of singing a wide range of Engish hymns… By offering hymns for all types of celebrations a repetoire will be developed and the diverse needs of the liturgy in English be better served.
There were settings for the Mass, now redundant, Psalms and Gospel Acclamations and music for the Sacraments and other Rites.
For now, I’m just going to look at the hymns section, looking for songs that haven’t been covered here from other sources. There are a surprising number of songs that I haven’t come across before.
I have been unsuccessfully looking to buy a Full Music Edition for some years, so I am working from a People’s Book, which is melody line only. Many have hymn tunes also found in Together In Song, which has chords so I could use them to make backings on BIAB. Others had hymn tunes I could find music for at Hymnary and derive the chords from the organ music. When that failed I just did my best to come up with my own chords for the melodies and got by.
This collection is, of course, out of print, however the People’s Book at least is available on second hand sites.
1 Don’t worry about your looks, nor what you’ll wear. Don’t worry bout your food, nor what you’ll drink. Life is more than food and the body’s more than clothes. You know you’re worth much more than them.
2 Look at the birds in the air. They neither sow, reap, nor store away in barns And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You know you’re worth much more than them.
Refrain
Don’t worry, God sees and hears. Indeed, He knows your need. Don’t worry, about tomorrow Tomorrow will worry about itself. Have faith.
3 See how the flowers of the field Grow, yet neither toil nor spin. God tends the grass but tomorrow its thrown; Surely, He’ll tend you as His own.
Refrain
4 Strive first for the kingdom of God; Seek His righteousness at hand, And all these things to you shall be given; Your other needs will be as well
This is the last song from Emmanuel Worship‘s 2024 EP, Rivers in the Desert.
It was written by Madeleine Luciano and Dom Dougherty inspired by the images in Ezekiel 37.
The brave and the gifted will attempt singing it up the octave on the repeat of “Come and breathe new life…”. The chord charts and lead sheets are free at Emmanuel.
BIAB improvised the guitar solo.
1 You alone know the workings of my heart. You alone know the ways I fall apart. You alone know the ways that I can get back up. You alone give me grace for fresh new starts.
CHORUS
No more fear in Jesus. No more death it has no sting. Only hope cause he’s freed us. Will you breathe new life in these bones? Come and breathe new life in these bones
VERSE 2
You alone Lord can raise these bones to life. You spoke to my heart and now I’ll prophesy . Open up the grave for all mankind to come to you. We ask and so you answer us with truth.
CHORUS
Will you breathe new life in these bones? Come and breathe new life in these bones.
CHORUS
INSTRUMENTAL
BRIDGE x4
Rise up, dry bones – hear the word of the Lord.
Rise up weary soul – breathe in me Sovereign Lord.
This is a heart felt song of personal reflection from Emmanuel Worship, written by Madeleine Luciano.
Think of it as a new take on “How Can I Keep from Singing.” I should mention that repeated close listening and entering all the chords and notes into Band in a Box and then fiddling the instruments in and out, means I spend quite a lot of time on these Emmanuel songs, and while many are not liturgical at all, they are very moving and a useful corrective for a crusty old cynic like me.
The lead sheets and chord charts are available at Emmanuel Worship. I think I’ve got the order right, because the chord chart doesn’t really reflect how they sing it, the lead sheet is more accurate.
VERSE
So many things have been said about You, so many stories I’ve heard about You But all I want to know is what is true. They sing so many different songs about You, so many words to describe You And all I want to know is what is true.
CHORUS
Come and show me so I can sing about You Come so I can sing about what is true
POST-CHORUS A
I wanna know who You are, in my own words I wanna tell the stories too. I wanna sing, I wanna sing, I’ll sing about You, just like they do. I wanna sing, I’ll sing about You, just like they do.
HALF VERSE
CHORUS
POST-CHORUS A
BRIDGE
So I’m following Your ways, I’m starting a new page. I’m writing my new ways, I wanna follow You – I’ll follow you all my days x4
I wanna sing about you all my days.
CHORUS
POST-CHORUS B
Now that I know who You are, in my own words I wanna tell the stories too. Now I will sing, now I will sing, I’ll sing about You just like they do.
I’m gonna sing, I’ll sing about You just like they do. I’m gonna sing, I’ll sing about You just like they do. I’m gonna sing, I’ll sing about You just like they do.
My next project for hymnal archeology is to find all the leftover songs from Australia’s Catholic Worship Book 1 that I haven’t yet blogged from other sources.
Before I do that, I want to finish up the Emmanuel Worship EPs from last year. I was very grateful to Samuel Mead, whose parish’s Youth Led Masses at The Gap in Brisbane use Emmanuel material, for letting me know that the lead sheets for these EPs had been posted rather than just the chord charts. It makes a lot of difference to see what they are doing and their melodies so intricate and syncopated that figuring the melody line without a lead sheet is particularly difficult and time consuming. He also helped me with some MIDI files, but he is not blame for the backing I made. The chords and lead sheets are here.
The Gap’s YLM have been using “We Are the Church” from the Emmanuel EP, Rivers in the Desert for communion, but it is also an entrance song, a Pentecost song and a Praise and Worship song. It was written by Madelaine Luciani and Dom Dougherty.
This EP seems more somewhat reflective than the Streams in the Wasteland EP also released in 2024.
Making backings for these songs, even with the melody line, on BIAB is more difficult than most hymns, due to the syncopation and irregular repetition. For more typical hymns you can just put a repeating chorus and be finished in 5 minutes. Not so with Emmanuel.
I’ve gone electronica here. Wherever they say free praise I let BIAB solo.
1 You – You were there, shaping earth and skies above,
Giving life and giving love. You were the word,
Though the world knew you not
You occupied our hearts
CHORUS
We are the church of Jesus Christ, we come to worship You . Holy is the Lord of hea ven and earth, come bow before our King.
2 Grace upon grace, the Truth is Jesus Christ, resurrection light
Fall like the dove, Holy Spirit come, we receive your power.
BRIDGE x2 Come and eat, come and drink, come and be filled. Come and see, come and rest, come and be still. For the One Who is here, the holy one, our Lord.
CHORUS x2
OUTRO x2
You are Holy, You are Holy, You Ho -ly Lord
You are worthy, You are worthy, You worthy Lord From beginning to the end,
Your covenant will stand Now we worship, till you come again
The ever prolific Erwin Cabucos has sent me a song he wrote about Jose Maria de Manila.
He told me about the man:
The new beato Blessed Jose Maria de Manila was beatified by Pope Francis on Oct 13, 2013 in Tarragona, Spain. A Filipino with Spanish blood; he grew up and wished to remain in the Philippines, hence the title. His feast day occurs every Nov 6, close to Christ the King. Significantly, his writings, devotions and last words were of: ‘Long live Christ the King!’ He was a friar of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and a martyr during the Spanish Civil War. He would soon be the 3rd saint to come from the Philippines following St Lorenzo Ruiz and St Pedro Calungsod.
I need the help of fellow Catholics to broaden my appreciation of the faith, as my experience is a narrow Australian one.
This song will be very good for Catholics from the Phillipines, some of whom have read this blog over the years and the the many Australian Catholics originally from the Phillipines. Diluting the Irish Catholic dominance of Australian Catholicism might assist participation in the mass. I don’t think that has been a strong suit of the Irish in Australia.
There is one more Peter Gagen song on Father Paul Gurr’s record, Come As You Are, and it is “Ruth’s Song”. There is a Yahweh alert that will need modification if it is to be used.
I also have a copy of his sheet music album, The Comforter that I will get to soon. It is basically a Brian Boniwell album sung by Father Paul Gurr.
Refrain
Wherever you go I will go too.
Wherever you live I live with you.
All your people will be mine too
And your God will be my God.
1 Oh praise Yahweh all the earth, serve Him with a glad heart.
Come into his presence with songs of joy, Oh praise Yahweh all the earth.
2 Know that Yahweh is God, he made us, we belong to him.
We are his people His very own, know that Yahweh is God.
3 Walk through his gates giving thanks, enter His house full of praise.
Give praise to the Lord and bless his name, walk through His gates giving thanks.
Gurr’s version is quite the production with tempo changes and echoing lines.
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.
