This is the Day

6 Responses to This is the Day

1. Yola says:

   March 10, 2014 at 11:44 pm

   The version I have is in D and is attributed:
   Words: Anonymous
   Music: Fiji Island melody arranged by Michael Irwin.

   v2: This is the day when he rose again …
   v3: This is the day when the Spirit came

   We added:
   This is the day when he lives with us …

   Reply
2. Mary says:

   March 11, 2014 at 6:37 pm

   Lots of the earlier publications attributed it like that, but the later ones all credit Les Garrett (b 1944). I’m not sure if he really composed it, though, or was just the first to write it down and stick hymn words to it.

   At home we used it a bit at Easter – because the words are so simple, it’s easy to get translations in various different languages from cultural groups in the congregation.

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   • admin says:

     March 11, 2014 at 8:13 pm

     Thanks Yola and Mary – I’m getting lazy as it is all on hymnary:
     http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/PsH/241

     They mention the song being in Scripture in Song Book One and I even have a copy of that – No40 This is the Day by Les Garrett.

     Hymnary suggests he adapted a Fijian melody and paraphrased Ps 118 for verse one and the other verses are traditional.

     Geoff

     Reply
3. Mary says:

   March 12, 2014 at 11:19 am

   I think there’s more than meets the eye to the Les Garrett copyright claim.

   The information on hymnary.org and on a Methodist site (http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/history-of-hymns/resource/history-of-hymns-this-is-the-day) are similar- probably with the same source. They say that Les published it in “his collection Scripture in Song (1967)”. (The Methodist site has turned the inland town of Matamata into an island, which got me wondering about the veracity of their information!)

   But the volume 1 Scripture in Song which I have, with This is The Day at number 40, was published in 1979 – and it says “composer unknown” and “copyright unknown”. I’m guessing that you’ve got the same one, since the numbers match.

   Yes, it is possible that Les did publish a book with the same name 12 years earlier. When he was just 24. And I’d love to see a copy, or find another reference to it. (Either it wasn’t published in New Zealand, or he didn’t do the legal-deposit thing.)

   But notice that David and Dale Garrett (who compiled the 1979 book) released a 45 with the same title in 1968. ( http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22071341?search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=%22scripture+in+song%22 )

   It seems really unlikely that they would release under the same title so soon, unless there was a connection.

   But if there is – when why would they publish it as “composer unknown” and “copyright unknown” in 1979?

   Something just doesn’t add up here. So I’d take the copyright claims with a pinch of salt, at very least.

   (Phew – I didn’t set out to write an essay! Amazing how one thing leads to another when researching this stuff.)

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   • admin says:

     March 12, 2014 at 2:56 pm

     This is getting weird, Mary, but my copy of Spirit in Song Vol 1 published in 1979 has written by Les Garrett and copyright Scripture in Song. My version is the one published in New Zealand – could it be other countries did not recognise his claim. This YouTube clip shows him singing the song he “wrote”:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjBvhi5s1ZA

     I give up!

     Thanks again Mary.

     Reply
4. treasurewood says:

   May 12, 2015 at 4:04 pm

   My 1983 version of the Scripture in Song book by David and Dale Garratt has “This is the Day” number 40 as written by Les Garrett and copyright 1967 🙂

   Reply

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