This is a setting of the Nunc Dimmitis by Janet Sullivan Whitaker, who wrote the wonderful “In Every Age.” This is a very nice relaxing setting to pray on your own or with others.
The text is at spiritandsong where you can purchase the sheetmusic for download. They also provide some background to this song used in the Liturgy of the Hours as evening prayer.
Yola’s parish use this song by Ray Repp from the folk mass era. I’d never heard of it. The text is here. It is from the Twentieth Century Folk Hymnal. You sometimes hear all this Folk mass material was lousy but this one sounds fine.
This version is a bit too bouncy but has the lyrics as well.
I found a version but it has additional lyrics by someone else.
NB the link to the text above is dead. Godsongs has several sets of lyrics noted.
Entrance: Gather Us In (Haugen) AOV 1/12
Psalm 85 (O’Brien)
Lord, show us your mercy and love
and grant us your salvation.
Gifts: Be Not Afraid (Dufford) AOV 1/114
Communion: Come to the Table (Burland) AOV NG 33
Do This in Memory of Me (Burland)
Thanksgiving: You Are Mine (Haas) AOV 2/2
Recessional: Our Hearts Burn Within Us (Chinn)
Having been most unwell all week I wasn’t sure whether I’d get a song done. As usual, it is based on the readings for this week. It is played at ~65 bpm and is overly complicated but that’s just how it turned out.
1. The Psalmist says the hand of the Lord shall feed you.
So we all want to sit at his feet.
To learn the secret of where we’re going to
but Jesus says, you give them something to eat.
CH. Be sure your loaves and fishes will suffice.
We must listen to what Jesus has said.
When your lives give, something to eat,
you can be sure that all will be fed.
2. It’s written down that those who have no money
will buy what they need, the finest of wheat.
When they come for their share of the bounty
Jesus says, you give them something to eat.
© 2014 Geoffrey Madden
Sheet Music: Something to Eat
I’ve moved to Spirit and Song Vol. 2 and have skipped the redundant Mass settings. That takes me to the songs for night prayer and “Compline Hymn” with music by Timothy R. Smith, setting a text by Harry Hagan OSB.
I like this tune although I wonder about the “oh, oh” at the end of each verse. If you listen to the original version it sounds a solo vehicle and as a solo devotional the “ohs” might work.
The text is at spiritandsong where you can purchase the sheet music for download.
This is a song by John Burland that we will be doing for the next two Sundays because they will be for first communion and the children know the song. I didn’t so I had to learn it.
The text is at his site where you can order the sheet music in a collection called “Celebrating the Sacraments.”
There is a snippet of this song in this clip of Burland in America:
This is a first communion service so some of the songs are already chosen because they have been part on the children’s preparation.
Entrance: Come to the Water (Andersen) AOV 1/74
Psalm 145 (O’Brien)
The hand of the Lord feeds us;
God answers all our needs.
Gifts: Table of Plenty (Schutte) AOV 2/20
Communion: Come to the Table (Burland) AOV NG 33
Do This in Memory of Me (Burland)
Thanksgiving: We Are Many Parts (Haugen) AOV 1/86
Recessional: Our Hearts Burn Within Us (Chinn) … on CD I hope.
This song is based on the readings for the seventeenth week in Ordinary Time, Year A and has thoughts from the Psalm, the Book of Kings and the reading in Matthew’s Gospel. I tried to incorporate some lines from the medieval poem “Pearl” but I couldn’t get them to fit. The text aspires to be impressionistic in a simple way.
I was thinking of a David Kitt style quiet folk electronica, which doesn’t really lend itself to congregational singing. I did two backings:
1. Precious pearl of great price to decorate a throne
Is Wisdom in the Reign of God
Worth selling ev’rything we own
Chorus
Old Treasure, New Treasure
Old Treasure, New Treasure
Wisdom in the Reign of God
Joy in His command.
Wisdom in the Reign of God.
A heart to understand.
2. Found in a field unearned a treasure more than gold
Is Wisdom in the Reign of God
Worth ev’rything that we have sold.
Chorus
© 2014 Geoffrey Madden
Sheet Music: Old Treasure New Treasure
This is the last the songs from David Haas’s “Table Songs” that I haven’t blogged already. The text could not be more Eucharistic and the tune is interesting and singable but the version on his MySpace page rather soporific. Still, there are an awful lot of good communion songs in this collection, including ones that may have slipped through the net, so it is a recommended purchase from GIA.
These assemblies give the song a bit more life and I prefer them to the original.
This song from David Haas’s “Table Songs” has a specific application for weddings but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used elsewhere. It is based on 1 Cor 13 and its message is needed more generally than just at weddings. The verses sound like solo vehicles to me, which is what will happen at weddings I suspect. The refrain is more singable.
The text is here (page 20) and can be heard at Haas’s MySpace page.
