Church Music

This Victorian era translation (R F Littledale) of a 15th century text (Bianco do Sienna) with a tune by Ralph Vaughn Williams is a nice old hymn.

Listen to a stirring version here.

My backing is the usual BIAB church organ sound I’m afraid.

1.	Come down, O Love divine,
	seek thou this soul of mine,
	and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;
	O Comforter, draw near,
	within my heart appear,
	and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing. 

2.	O let it freely burn,
	till earthly passions turn
	to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
	and let thy glorious light
	shine ever on my sight,
	and clothe me round, the while my path illuming. 

3.	And so the yearning strong,
	with which the soul will long,
	shall far outpass the power of human telling;
	for none can guess its grace,
	till Love create a place
	wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

© Oxford University Press

Sr Sandra Sears of the Community of St Barnabas and St Cecilia wrote this Mary song that has lots of relevance for Advent, which is coming soon. There is no sample at the AOV site of this song but I think my backing will give you the idea. It sounds like a carol and though I’ve never heard of it, it may be another lost classic from AOV.

Refrain

Babe and boy, child and man.

Mary’s joy, Mary’s pain.

None so close to his heart

Than the heart of Lady Mary.

 

Verse 1

God of glory, God of grace, bending into time and space.

Shedding his majesty, clothed in humanity,

Seeking humility for his resting place.

Refrain

Verse 2

Mary, then, with wondrous delight, bears within this child of light.

Joys in his growing, pleasure bestowing,

Love overflowing, bringing love to life.

Refrain

Verse 3

Lady Mary bears with joy sorrows of the heav’nly boy.

Weeps with his crying, sighs for his sighing,

Grieves for his dying, loveliness destroyed.

Refrain

Verse 3

We, like Lady Mary mild, bring to birth the holy child.

Greet with elation Lord of salvation.

Our recreation in this babe abides

Final refrain

Babe and boy, God and man.

All our joy, all our gain.

None so close to our hearts

Than the son of Lady Mary.

© Sandra Sears CSBC

Michael Joncas is famous for his setting of Psalm 91 called “On Eagles Wings,” but he also wrote this setting, which is a more standard Psalm setting. You can hear it at this site.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

Each verse has a different tune but the first three have some congruance with a shared chord progression – the last verse is just completely different. He resorts to the word           ” ‘gainst” in verse 3 to get it to fit.

If you have the old AOV guitar version I use there is an error p201 second line, the last note of the second bar is an Eb not an E.

I’m not sure about this song.  I kept hearing “On Eagles Wings” instead. My backing is a little jazzy to try and freshen it up.

Refrain

Be with, Lord; be with me, Lord,

When I am in trouble and need.  (rpt 1^st time only)

 

Verse 1

You who dwell in the shelter of God most high,

Who abide in Almighty’s shade,

Say to the Lord: “My refuge, my stronghold,

My God, in whom I trust.”

Refrain

Verse 2

Evil shall never befall you,

Nor affliction come near to your tent.

Unto his angels he’s given command

To guard you in all your ways.

Refrain

Verse 3

On their hands the angels will bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot ‘gainst a stone.

Lion or viper might strike at your life

But you will not come to harm.

Refrain

Verse 4

Cling to the Lord and he’ll surely deliver you:

He raises up all who call on his name.

He will bring joy to your hearts

And bless you with peace all in your days.

Refrain

© Michael Joncas 1981,1982.

This is a song by Marist Priest Kevin Bates. It comes from Psalm 32 but our liturgy teams have used it at other times and also just as a response when it fitted. Listen to the snippet here to see how gently it has to be done. It is often sung these days with gender neutral terms for God, but that isn’t the text in AOV 1. This young lady does a fine job singing the altered lyrics.

It can be purchased for download at As One Voice.

My backing lacks a little subtlety.

Refrain

Lord let your mercy be on us
as we place our trust in you.

Verse 1

The word of the Lord is faithfulness and love.
His love can never be measured.

His beauty is like nothing we have ever seen,
so let us place our trust in him.

Refrain

Verse 2

The word of the Lord means a patient, gentle God.
His love can never grow weary.

His mercy is as though our sins have never been,
if we can place our trust in him.

Refrain

Verse 3

The word of the Lord is fire burning strong
His love can never grow weary.

He will seek and save the lost until we all return,
so let us place our trust in him.

Refrain

© Kevin Bates 1989.

This song by Bob Dufford has no right to be so popular. Marrying selections from the Beatitudes with passages from Isaiah is an interesting way to link Jesus with the God of the Old Testament I suppose, but the fiddly timings should have made it unsingable.  Perhaps we sometimes need to hear the voice of God coming from our gathering telling us to stop being so anxious. In any case, I suspect the assemblies just smoothed the harsh edges off it and sang with less extreme stacatto and went with it. Sometimes they smooth things off so every note is regular 4/4 on the beat and I hope Bob Dufford never had to listen to it played like that. I think the notes as written are best left for a solo but hopefully most groups still sing it with some approximation of his spacings.

I note it is suggested as a funeral song but it turns up everywhere.  Of course as it is sung in the voice of God it is now all wrong.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

The original is here. This choir smooths things out a bit. I think the written speed is too slow – my backing takes it up a bit and I think it works.

Verse 1
You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst.
You shall wander far in safety though you do not know the way.
You shall speak your words in foreign lands and all will understand.
You shall see the face of God and live.

Refrain
Be not afraid.
I go before you always.
Come follow me, and
I will give you rest.

Verse 2
If you pass through raging waters in the sea, you shall not drown.
If you walk amid the burning flames, you shall not be harmed.
If you stand before the pow’r of hell and death is at your side, know that
I am with you through it all.

Refrain

Verse 3

Blessed are your poor, for the kingdom shall be theirs.
Blest are you that weep and mourn, for one day you shall laugh. And if wicked men insult and hate you all because of me, blessed, blessed are you!

Refrain

© Robert Dufford SJ and New Dawn Music 1975.

I like a tune with the instruction, “vigorously” written on it. Carey Landry is better known for tunes that are not at all vigorous – “Only a Shadow”, “Abba Father”, “Hail Mary Gentle Woman,” – you get the picture, so it is nice that he let his hair down for once and threw a thumper out for us.  Based on Zeph 3 it would be great for recessional use although I must admit I’ve never heard it before. All three verses have different tunes and lengths which is either odd or interesting, but the call and response chorus is worth the effort. I suppose we should substitute “the Lord” for “Yahweh” in the verses. (a good guess)

It can purchased at OCP, and the official revised text is here.

You can listen to the original after a preamble here. A little less vigorous is this version. My backing lacks the responses but you’ll get the idea.

Refrain

And the Father will dance as on the day of joy

He will exult over you and renew you by His love

And the Father will dance as on the day of joy

He will exult over you and renew you by His love

 

Verse 1

Shout for joy, all you, His people

Sing aloud and exult with all your heart,

For Yahweh, your God is in your midst.

 

Refrain

Verse 2

You have no more evil to fear

You have no more evil to fear

Do not let your hands fall limp,

For Yahweh, your God is in your midst.

 

Refrain

Verse 3

And when the time comes I will rescue the lame,

And when the time comes I will gather the strays,

And when the time comes I will be your guide.

I will gather you in and give you renown

Among all peoples.                       

Refrain

He will renew you by His love!

© NALR 1977,1978.

This is Dan Schutte’s very popular song that is now wrong because it says the “Yahweh” word. He writes perceptively about the problem here and the revised text is here. It sings better with the original text.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

You can hear it with organ and choir here and I suspect this is the original.

I think we have stopped using it although it was in high rotation for a long time. There are subtle differences in the melody between the verses, which we have always completely ignored.

Refrain

Yahweh, I know you are near,
standing always at my side.
You guard me from the foe,
and you lead me in ways ever-lasting.

Verse 1
Lord, you have searched my heart,
and you know when I sit and when I stand.
Your hand is upon me protecting me from death,
keeping me from harm.
Refrain

Verse 2
Where can I run from your love?
If I climb to the heavens you are there;
if I fly to the sunrise or sail beyond the sea,
still I’d find you there.

Refrain

Verse 3
You know my heart and its ways,
you who formed me before I was born
in the secret of darkness before I saw the sun
in my mother’s womb.

Refrain

Verse 4
Marvelous to me are your works;
how profound are your thoughts, my Lord.
Even if I could count them, they number as the stars,
you would still be there.

Refrain

© Daniel Schutte and NALR 1971.

Owen Alstott is an OCP composer who wrote this song, which is obviously a song of gathering, but also with application for Eucharist.  He is Bernadette Farrell’s husband – isn’t it great for a man to be the less famous composer for a change.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

You can hear an organ + voice version here.  The original can be heard here. It is quiet and reflective so if that’s what you’re after in a gathering song this is the one.

My backing starts to miss notes in the later verses so just use it for learning purposes. BIAB was misbehaving for some reason.

Refrain

Lord, Jesus Christ, gather us together.
Make us one bread, one body in your love.

VERSE 1

Gather your people, who long to be one,
One with you, O Lord, in truth and love.

Refrain

VERSE 2

We do proclaim you the Savior of all,
Lord of all the earth and sea and sky.

Refrain

VERSE 3

Forgive our failings, create us anew.
Speak your words of peace into our hearts.

Refrain

VERSE 4

Into your hands, Lord, we place all our cares,
Trusting in your name, which never fails.

Refrain

VERSE 5

Within your temple your praises we sing.
Glorious is your name o’er all the earth.

Refrain

© OCP Publications 1980.

This is a very used song by Fr Frank Andersen.  It falls foul of the Yahweh rule and the singing in God’s voice rule, but it is beloved by many and you couldn’t kill it off with a stake through its heart. This organist is really going for it but the assembly is somewhere else. This piano version is more basic and may have been easier to sing along to. In fact this song is so well known it is an excellent one to sing without musical backing for at least one verse and chorus.

Verse 1

I will be Yahweh who walks with you!

You will be always within my hand!

Take your heart and give it all to me!

Refrain

Strong and constant is my love!

Strong and constant is my love!

Verse 2

Should you wander far away from me,

I will search for you in ev-’ry  land!

Should you call, then you will truly know:

Refrain

Verse 3

When you know sorrow within your life,

I will come I will embrace your heart!

Through your pain you will discover me!

Refrain

© Frank Andersen and Chevalier Music.

These are the late Br Colin Smith’s Psalm responses for the first week of advent and the second sunday of Lent.  AOV also gives the tones for the chant of the verses. He wrote psalm settings for the whole three year cycle but is probably most famous for his Mass Shalom that Paul Mason has recently revised.

Do read the obituary he wrote for himself here. His pet joke was apparently:

Q: What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist?

A: You can negotiate with a terrorist.

To you I lift my soul, O God.

 

The Lord is my light, my light and my salvation.

© Colin Smith