Also known as “Since the World Was Young”, this song from the Iona Community’s Heaven Shall Not Wait is a song of open commensality that would be appropriate at Eucharist, especially for children. Apart from this collection its #544 in Together In Song.
When John Bell doesn’t use a traditional tune he just writes a new traditional melody.
The text is on page eight of this handout and I also found some slides for the words.
This is a song from the Iona Community in Heaven Shall Not Wait to be used in reference to the feeding of the 5000 pericope. It is set to KINGSFOLD a traditional tune used for many other hymns. I made anew backing but for some reason it won’t load so I’ll use an old backing I made years ago instead.
1 To him who walks among the crowds let’s show our gratitude:
We came to him a hungry mob, and his response was food.
This is the teacher well renowned for talk of sin forgiven.
Some prize his smile, some pull his robe, some say he comes from heaven.
2 Who are you, lean faced traveller whose words surpass all law,
Whose past was spent in industry with hammer, nails and saw?
Who are you, time served carpenter, now that you’ve changed your trade
To hosting casual lakeside feasts with food you never made?
3 But why the silent modesty, and why the shaking head?
You’re worth a thousand bakers for you multiply the bread!
We’ll make you king and gladly sing songs to re-tell your story.
So why not stay? Why move away? Do you refuse our glory?
4 There goes the man whose eyes can scan a crowd and tell their need.
There goes the one whose words we shun when keen to frown or feed.
He walks from here while people peer at his all-knowing face
Which speaks of how each one who stares has, in his heart, a place.
Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: ‘KINGSFOLD’ English traditional. Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk
If you haven’t got a copy of Heaven Shall Not Wait I hope you can still buy it at Wild Goose, who say they have copies to sell, as I note GIA say they are out of stock. It is an amazing collection and a necessary antidote to bland hymns. There are also copies available second hand on AbeBooks, and I know my copy was bought there years ago. Their shipping fees seem to have gone up a lot though. It’s also on Amazon and ebay for extortionate amounts.
This song answers the question, “Can you set a densely wordy social gospel attack to a traditional Geordie dance?” Apparently – yes. The authors worry that the song is too fast for all the words but suggests groups singing alternate verses or in relays.
Read the inflammatory words on page four of this bulletin. I suspect there are even more relevant now than in 1987. The last line is for those who will happily sing “The Summons”.
It is set to THE KEEL ROW.
I am in the “Jesus – One of Us” section of the Iona Community’s Heaven Shall Not Wait, enjoying a break from American songs and enjoying their use of traditional tunes or John Bell’s traditionally influenced melodies. This book is available from Wild Goose and GIA. Selected songs by John Bell are also available through Willow Publications in Australia (the As One Voice people).
I can skip “Sing Hey for the Carpenter” because that was in Gather Australia and I blogged it here. I will note however that there were chords and a proper piano arrangement in GA, whereas here Bell gives only a melody line and advises against any backing except a Bodrhan.
“Hey My Love” is the Beatitudes in folk format set to LADY MAISRY, which turns out to be a delightful old tune. There eight verses to pick from and it is suggested as a gentle meditation. There are obvious liturgical uses if the song style suits.
My backing involved guessing chords again.
I found the text with extremely minor variations on page fourteen of this handout. The only problem is that they say it is an OCP copyright written by Father Cesáreo Gabaráin and translated by Robert Trupia. Trying to check all this I found this note explaining why none of his work, including “Pescadoes Des Hombres” is found there anymore, so I couldn’t check for the date of composition.
The Iona text starts:
1 Blessed are the ones I call the poor,
Hey my love and ho my joy;
Blessed are the ones I call the poor who dearly love me;
Blessed are the one I call the poor,
God shall their kingdom’s place ensure:
Refrain
His kingdom is of heaven, of earth, of fire, of love.
Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987, 2002 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: ‘Laidy Maisry” Scottish traditional. Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk
Apart from no “hey my love…” this is so close to the Gabaráin text for that to be an obvious copy of the Iona text.
Verses 2,4,6,7 and eight are word for word the same, which at best suggests a lazy translator.
Verse 3 is different:
Blessed are the ones who know their need…
In them God’s promises take seed…
The second line of verse 5 also differs:
With equal grace they’ll hear God’s call.
I can’t imagine that the Iona people authorised this as the Gabaráin text is noted to be a translation. The text has the Iona style so I can only imagine it was stolen from them. All very murky. The tune appears to be the same, so another possibility is a mistake in attribution, but then you would expect the “Hey my love” section to be included.
I suggest you ignore all that and enjoy this glorious performance:
* I’ve decided that maybe no-one has stolen anything. What if the handout has a mistaken attribution AND there is a version for people who can’t bring themselves to sing “hey my love and ho my joy” and sing “all who sing my words today” instead. Since I note that on Wild Goose there is an updated copyright note saying 1987 and 2002, maybe that is for the updated lyric. Without any OCP listings for Gabaráin I’m not sure how to check this. Then again I think I’ve spent too much time checking this already!
This song has version with the Christmas Story and a version covering pretty much the rest of Jesus’ career. It from Heaven Shall Not Wait a songbook from the Iona Community. The refrain would obviously suit a liturgy involving the Trinity. Hand gestures are recommended when used with children.
This is a good text to look at their method. John Bell and Graham Maule use prosaic words to a poetic end. This gives a freshness to their texts that is most welcome.
It is set to Buy Broom Besoms, which is a traditional Geordie tune for a change.
Refrain
Bless the Son of Mary! Bless the God above!
Bless the Holy Spirit, Trinity of love!
Christmas version
1 When the Son of Mary found his place on earth,
People of importance missed out on his birth.
2 When the Son of Mary wearied for his bed,
Straw and wool were gathered round the cattle shed.
3 When the Son of Mary sucked his mother’s breast,
Joseph kept a lookout fearing Herod’s quest.
4 When the Son of Mary cried a baby’s cry,
Stable guest kept silent: God could yell and sigh!
5 When the Son of Mary comes this Christmas morn,
Make your heart the manger where his love is born.
General version
1 When the Son of Mary walked beside the sea,
Nets were needing mending, folk were needing free.
2 When the Son of Mary walked along the street,
Health he brought to lepers, cripples to their feet.
3 When the Son of Mary walked across the square,
Children turned to dancing, adults turned to stare.
4 When the Son of Mary walked up to the cross,
God saw him as winner, others saw his loss.
5 When the Son of Mary walks our world today,
It’s our feet he uses when his words we say.
Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: ‘Buy Broom Besoms’, Geordie traditional. Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk
This song from Heaven Shall Not Wait takes as its subject, Jesus’ temptations in the desert.
They suggest the song be sung by two voices as a dialogue between Jesus and Satan, so I can’t see any use by an assembly. Their paraphrase of the story makes the Satan character more attractive, like the serpent in the Garden, which makes the temptations rather more persuasive.
The music offers only a melody line so I suspect he means unaccompanied. I had to make up matching chords for a backing that fit the melody but struggled until I came up with this.
1 For forty days and forty nights, the desert place was Jesus’ home.
Baptised and blessed, God let him stay where thoughts of fame and fortune roam.
If doubt is deep and faith is small, the desert place is where he’ll stall:
If faith is deep and doubt is thin, the desert place is where he’ll win.
2 In unknown parts, where strangers meet, to build a bridge, they sit and eat.
But where there’s neither drink nor food, what can be done to make things good?
“Why not decline to be ill fed? Command these stones to turn to bread.”
“Why crave for bread, when God alone fulfills more need than transformed stone?”
3 Above the world’s most holy place, the sight below cries out for grace:
To jump down from the temple’s tower would show God’s mercy and heaven’s power.
“If faith and love are more than charms, let angels catch you in their arms.”
“Though angels come at my behest, I will not set the Lord a test.”
4 A mountain top reveals the earth in all its tragedy and mirth;
Nations and people need a king to wisely govern everything.
“All that you want, and all you see, is yours if you will worship me.”
“All that I see is God’s to give, to him I pray, for him I live.”
5 For forty days and forty nights the desert place was Jesus’ home.
Baptised and blessed, God let him stay where thoughts of fame and fortune roam.
And, we who follow Christ today, are prone to hear the tempter’s voice.
And whether we say Yes or No is our, not God’s, peculiar choice.
Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: FORTY DAYS (JLB). Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk
This is another narrative folk sing about the life of Christ from John Bell and the Iona Community in Heaven Shall Not Wait. I have been noting that you can buy the book of the sheet music from Wild Goose, but it might be easier and cheaper from GIA.
I saw a note on the internet joking (I hope) that the song was about someone called “Howard King”.
This is set to THE BONNIE LASS O’ FYVIE. This is apparently so well known that they only provide the melody line so I made up some chords. Bell hates too much accompaniment and here suggests a just a fife and drum. No luck there.
1 We proudly sing of how a king forfeited fame and security:
Born and brought up unknown, a manger for his throne,
And they called him a victim of obscurity.
2 In faith he grew, in wisdom too, learning and loving with every breath;
He served his time and trade, as furniture he made,
And they called him the carpenter of Nazareth.
3 Twelve friends he called were soon involved sharing his mission to shire and slum;
He healed the sick and sad, he helped the poor and mad,
And they called him the man who made the kingdom come.
4 For doing good, for where he stood, rumours were spread of the worst intent;
His critics, unimpressed, disparaged those he blessed,
And they called him a threat to the establishment.
5 Cruel and detached, a plot they hatched, leading to death on the gallows tree;
Those who his grace had seen refused to intervene,
And they called him the dross of all humanity.
6 And yet we sing – this is the king who neither death nor deceit can kill.
By rising to forgive, he sets us free to live
And he calls us to be his friends and followers still.
Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: ‘The Bonnie Lass O’ Fyvie’, Scots traditional. Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk
This song from Heaven Shall Not Wait takes three episodes concerning Jesus at the temple to suggest an openness to different expressions of the message of Christ.
Bell’s texts sound nothing like “normal” hymns yet use more natural expressions. It oddly reminds me of the way medieval mystery plays tell bible stories.
It is set to a traditional Scottish fiddle tune THE HEMP DRESSER.
1 When to the temple, eight days young, Christ came for ritual blessing,
He opened wide an old man’s eyes and set his lips confessing,
“This baby, cradled in my arms, shall suffer earth’s offenses.
His life shall light the way to heaven and shatter smug pretenses.”
2 When in the temple, twelve years old, he sat among the sages,
The questions flew, the insights dawned on folk of different ages.
And to his parents, stunned to see their son his faith defending,
He said, “My father’s work and will are what I am attending.”
3 When in the temple, later still, he saw unchecked extortion,
With whip in hand and foot on stalls he scattered doves and fortune.
“This House for Nations has become a sanctuary for thieving.
Its founding purposes restore for prayer and for believing.”
4 What shall we ask of Christ today in line with his intentions –
To fill the Church with rage or prayer, blessed babes or children’s questions?
Oh, let us pray for all of these and cease to be selective,
For many are the means by which Christ makes his Church effective.
Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: ‘The Hemp Dresser’, Scots traditional. Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk
This is a sung prayer from Heaven Shall Not Wait for when we feel lost and need to know “Lord, you never leave us”.
The text is at the end of this Lenten Study. The music is THE LICHTBOB’S LASSIE, a traditional Scottish tune which the book assures me is well known – perhaps it is in Scotland.
I had to fake some chords from the keyboard arrangement, so they are approximate in my backing.
The Lichtbob’s Lassie:
