This song by Leonard E. Smith Jnr is based on Isaiah 52:7.
The text is at spiritandsong and the sheet music can be purchased for download at musicnotes.
My backing is a bit bluegrass:
Lenny Smith’s laid back country version of this song is very likable:
This is a Rory Cooney song that is a modern chant that can be done a cappella or with bass and drums only.
Because of this the arrangement in Spirit and Song Vol 1 has no chords but if you play Fm 4bars Bb 2 bars Fm 2bars you’ve got the whole thing really.
The text (which is great) is at Cooney’s blog, where he describes the heartburn it gives some people. Their are several blog posts you can easily find on Google that demonstrate the apoplexy but I decided not to link them. The sheet music can be purchased at GIA. It can be heard here.
My backing is electronic pop. The refrain is repeated each time and in my backing I do that twice at the beginning (ie 4 times before the first verse).
This song was a collaboration between Rich Mullins, Tom Booth and Mitch McVicker. It is definitely a solo vehicle. It’s in the key of F# for a start (6 sharps – count them) and the tune goes down to a very low f#. Guitarists are advised to play it with the capo on 4 in D. I like the tune but I don’t think I could sing it.
The text is at spiritandsong and is quite good in a confessional sort of way. The sheet music can be purchased for download at musicnotes, where their arrangement is very sensibly in G.
My backing has fun with BIAB’s strings.
This is Mullins demo version:
This is a professional cover:
Entrance: Christ Be Our Light (Farrell) AOV 2/3
Psalm 33:
The Lord set me free from all my fears (Bishop / Fort)
(ie Rita and Elizabeth didn’t like any of the suggested tunes and wrote one themselves)
Gifts: You Are My Rock
Communion: Do You Really Love Me? (Landry)
Seed Scattered and Sown (Feiten) GA 195
Thanksgiving: The Summons (Maule / Bell) AOV NG 149
Recessional: Celebrate (Brown) AOV 1/44
I don’t know any details about “You are My Rock” and “Do You Love Me (Peter Feed My Sheep)”, but I gather they are important to the community of St Peter’s where I am attending mass and I’m looking forward to hearing them.
More P&W goodness from Spirit and Song Vol 1. It is based on Psalm 121 and is by Marc Cavallero, Dan Brennan and Ken Canedo.
This is quite singable and has an echo part in the refrain, and while songs full of “I”s are not the best for an assembly this one might be one that you could get away with.
The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased. You can hear the original here.
My backing is just rock and, for clarity, I didn’t bother with the echo parts:
This is another song unsuitable for liturgies but fine for other settings. Kathy Troccoli wrote the lyrics and wrote the music with Bill Montvilo. The sheet music can be purchased for download at sheetmusicplus.
The text is available here and doesn’t start well but the words become less hackneyed as they go along. The ballad format used requires great self-control to avoid being maudlin.
My backing tries to avoid that:
I’m not sure if the original does:
Working through the prayer and praise songs in Spirit and Song Vol 1, I have arrived at Tom Booth‘s “My Heart Belongs to You.”
It is a pretty prayer of a song that seems best for private devotional use. There is a lot going on – 2 verses, a bridge swelling to a key change and a third verse with an echo effect. The music suggests putting a capo on for the key change, which has always struck me as weird.
The text is at spiritandsong, where the sheet music can be purchased for download. You can hear the original here, a duet arrangement unsuitable for a participatory liturgy.
My backing leaves out the extra melody line from the third verse for clarities sake.
These videos are fine performances but emphasise that this is not the sort of song that encourages participation.
This is a fine P&W song from Rick Founds.
The text is at spiritandsong. You can purchase the sheet music for download at Musicnotes or get a choral arrangement at Hope Publishing.
The snippet at spiritandsong is a fast latin arrangement, which I find a bit odd.
My version is guitar rock.
This version is a little tame:
Petra’s is more like it:
Since it’s in Spirit and Song Vol 1, and for completeness, I made backing, but everyone knows this one anyway. It is by the wonderful Bill Withers and is a terrific song, but probably not a liturgical option.
Text here.
This song by Suzanne Toolan RSM is in the Taizé style, which is hardly surprising as she has written for Taizé and the refrain was suggested to her by phone by Brother Roger from Taizé.
The ostinato refrain is sung and the cantor sings the verses over the choir/assembly.
The sheet music can be purchased for download at OCP, where you can see the text in the preview. The original can be heard here.
My backing has both melody lines running.
