Church Music

Ray Makeever is a Lutheran songwriter from the US and his song “Come to the Water” is No 34 in As One Voice: The Next Generation.  I like this tune, but I hate the sort of choral singing that is on the CD.  I think it must be cultural.  There is a certain American church sound that seems generic, you hear it on Marty Haugen’s albums as well, that strikes these ears as unlistenably smug and ruins the song. The flute and fiddle lines are great but the vocals need to be confined to American ears I fear.

Obviously this is the baptism song you use if you’ve had enough of John Foley or Frank Anderson’s “Come to the Water.”

The music in the AOV lacks the lyrics to the fourth verse so I’ve transcribed these from the CD.

This song is also found in Ray Makeever’s collection “Sing” available at the Pilgrim Press.

My backing only allows for five verses with the key change after the third, so pick the best five of the six verses and sing along.

All who are thirsty for justice,

All who are thirsty for peace.

All who are thirsty for peace, for justice, come,

Come to the water of life.

 

All who are thirsty for mercy,

All who are thirsty for love.

All who are thirsty for love, for mercy, come,

Come to the water of life.

 

All who are thirsty for healing,

All who are thirsty for touch.

All who are thirsty for touch, for healing, come,

Come to the water of life.

 

All who are thirsty for beauty,

All who are thirsty for truth.

All who are thirsty for truth, for beauty come,

Come to the water of life.

 

All who are thirsty for freedom,

All who are thirsty for hope.

All who are thirsty for hope, for freedom, come,

Come to the water of life.

 

All who are thirsty for laughter,

All who are thirsty for joy.

All who are thirsty for joy, for laughter, come,

Come to the water of life.

© Ray Makeever 1999.

At 33 in AOV NG is another song called “Come to the Table.”  John Burland’s song is stately, elegant and delightful.  Suitable for Eucharistic purposes, of course, and this song is another great Australian composition.  Even the key change seems very natural and doable.

Refrain

We come to the table of the Lord

As one body formed in your love

We come to the table of the Lord

As one body formed in your love

 

Verse 1

Bread broken and shared to nourish us

Bread broken and shared to nourish us

At the table of the Lord

At the table of the Lord

 

Refrain

Verse 2

Cup poured out so we will never thirst

Cup poured out so we will never thirst

At the table of the Lord

At the table of the Lord

 

Refrain

 

Bridge

Come, come share with me

Come, come to my feast

Refrain x2 key change

© John Burland 2004.

I’m up to 32 in AOV NG and might be getting sensory overload because I think I actually like one of John Angotti’s songs, “Come to the Table.”  It may not be as good as John Burland’s song of the same name (see next post) but it isn’t nearly as bad as some American Catholic music.  If you get to hear the CD it is even sung normally (ie not dreadful weird choir noise).  It sounds a little Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially in the verse, which is only fair since Lloyd Webber is dreadful plagiarist.  It is also obviously a Eucharistic song so my wish for liturgical music is fulfilled.

You can buy it as a single sheet from sheetmusicplus and from WLP.

The text can be seen on this YouTube clip.

My backing is to help you learn the song only.

31 in AOV NG is another Wild Goose Collective Song by Mike Balhoff, Gary Daigle and Darryl Ducote.  The cantor sings their piece and is joined after a couple of repetitions by the assembly singing verses that overlap the cantor part.  As always for these chants, gently does it and minimal instrumentation.  I’m not sure my backing achieves that.

You can buy this song in the collection “We Walk His Way” at Wild Goose where you can also hear a snippet of the song.

Cantor part

Come, O Lord, and set us free;

Give your people peace.

Come, O Lord, and set us free;

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Verses (all)

O, come and set us free; and take our guilt away.

Come, give us your pardon Lord.

Come, O come, Lord Jesus.

O, come and set us free; free from our self obsession.

Come, free from each fond possession.

Come, O come, Lord Jesus.

O, come and set us free; free to affirm each other.

Come, as sister and as brother.

Come, O come, Lord Jesus.

Reshape the world you made; let what your hand created.

Come, always be celebrated.

© WGRG, Iona Community.

This choir with a very swinging cantor sing up a storm but I don’t think it is the same text.

No 30 in AOV NG is John Burland’s “Come O Holy Spirit.”  While John is best known as a children’s composer, like Michael Mangan, there is more to his songs than just school applications.  This song works well as a call and response and builds to a dramatic climax.  This is another worthy vene sancte song.

You can read more about this song at John Burland’s site.

I’m upset that I couldn’t get Band in a Box to do the dramatic triplet chords in the middle of the chorus.

Verse 1

Come O Holy Spirit.

Come O Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ promise is with us this day.

Jesus’ promise is with us this day.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

We gather here with strength anew.

We gather here with strength anew.

Chorus

By the Spirit we are called

To be Your witness for all the world.

Your word alive burning in our hearts.

Though we are many we are one;

One voice that sings for all the world,

Come receive the power of God’s love.

Verse 2

Come O Holy Spirit.

Come O Holy Spirit.

Through Your life Jesus, we’ve learnt to live.

Through Your life Jesus, we’ve learnt to live.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

Your word, the light that shows my path.

Your word, the light that shows my path.

Chorus

Come and know the power of God’s love.

© John Burland 2006.

Getting back to As One Voice: The Next Generation, No 29 is Canadian singer songwriter Brian Doerksen’s “Come, Now is the Time to Worship.”   This is associated with Vineyard UK and they certainly don’t do it at 58bpm (prayerfully) as indicated in AOV NG.  I suppose that is because it is such an obvious welcoming song it needs to be more uptempo to fill that role.

My backing is about 70 and still seems painfully slow but it is meant to a prayerful version.  I have to like this because all Canadian singer songwriters are wonderful.

This choral arrangement looks very interesting indeed – I’d love to hear it. There appears to be sheet music of this all over the web (eg here and here), although you can hear a snippet and download what I assume is the real version of the sheet music from OCP.

Apart from in AOV NG, I also have a copy in “the source: new songs” No. 7.

Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come

One day every tongue will confess You are God
One day every knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains for those
Who gladly choose You now

One day every tongue will confess You are God
One day every knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains for those
Who gladly choose You now

Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come

© Vineyard Songs 1998.

I’ve been doing far too much blogging on one thing, trying to get through AOV NG, so just for fun I thought I’d start a series on mistakes.  I used to use backings a lot in church because I am an average guitarist and they provide something to hide behind.  I care less now, but it used to bother me, so I’d try to have backings for most songs we played.  Sometimes I’d never heard the song and the music I was given didn’t indicate much about what was meant to be going on.  This led to some distinct lapses in taste shall we say.

Example one, Trisha Watts and Monica O’Brien’s beautiful song “Summoned by Love”.  (It’s in AOV Vol2 No 18)  Now I didn’t know it was a ballad, it just screamed funk to me.

Verse 1

Be still and know I am God.

Listen to me and see

You’re not alone in your journey.

Trust in yourself and trust in me.

Chorus

Summoned by You,

Summoned by love we come.

We are gathering to celebrate Your Word, O Lord.

Summoned by You,

Summoned by love we come.

Our lives we give in offering to You.

Verse 2

Be not afraid of the night.

Darkness shall not prevail.

My light will guide and make clear your way.

Tender and strong your heart will stay.

Chorus

Verse 3

Go now in faith and in peace.

Your life will be my sign.

Know deep within I am with you now,

Now and until the end of time.

Chorus

 

 

OK so it probably is a ballad.  They must have been very short of music to not chase me out the door, but I suspect someone must eventually have taken me aside and explained it didn’t go like that.

Alphabetically we are in a run of veni sancte songs and No28 in AOV NG is “Come, Holy Spirit” and this is another contribution from John Angotti.  John Angotti is a WLP artist and is famous enough to be hated by traditionalists in America, which is some recommendation.  There is nothing radical to get upset about here though, unless reminding Catholics of their obligation to a social gospel is offensive.  This is pleasant enough but confirms my cultural prejudices in that for the most part, the Australian songs in this collection are more interesting and better for being less polished and slick than the American ones.

The text is available here and you can listen to the song at John Angotti’s Myspace page. It can purchased as a single sheet at WLP.

This is my backing for educational purposes only.

Gina Ogilvie and Monica O’Brien have another “praise and worship” style song at No 27 in NG.  This is good as a loud song and suits the electropop on the CD.  My backing has a similar feel.  You could use it to rouse the assembly after a more reflective veni sancte in a first communion service.

Chorus

Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit

Light a fire in our hearts (Rpt 1st time)

Verse 1

Justice and mercy flow,

By grace your people know.

Power and wisdom comes from you.

Chorus

Verse 2

Leave hurt and fear behind,

Through love and faith we’ll find

Healing and hope comes from you.

Chorus

Verse 3

Your spirit makes us strong,

By faith we all belong.

Goodness and love comes from you.

© Monica O’Brien and Gina Ogilvie 2008.

“Come Be with Me” (AOV NG 26) is another celtic style chant from Keith Duke.  This would be a useful piece for quiet reflection.   The less accompaniment the better.

Come, be with me

All you who carry heavy burdens;

I will give you rest,

I will give you rest.

© Kevin Mayhew Ltd 2005.