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Music

Sunday Singing: ‘He Leadeth Me’

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‘He Leadeth Me’ preformed by the Norton Hall Band of Southern Seminary

Today’s hymn, “He Leadeth Me,” is by Baptist Minister Joseph H. Gilmore (1834-1918) of Rochester, New York, who was also on the faculty of the University of Rochester to teach English. The tune was arranged by William B. Bradbury (1816-1868) of York, Maine, after seeing the hymn text in a publication. He was a born musician and inspired the regular study of music in New York City public schools.

1 He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.

2 Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden’s flowers bloom,
by waters calm, o’er troubled sea,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me. Refrain

3 Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since ’tis my God that leadeth me. Refrain

4 And when my task on earth is done,
when, by thy grace, the victory’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me. Refrain

Music

Sunday Singing: ‘Holy Spirit Faithful Guide’

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‘Holy Spirit Faithful Guide’ performed by Fountainview Academy

Today’s hymn, “Holy Spirit Faithful Guide,” was written and arranged by Marcus Morris Wells of Cooperstown, NY (1815-1895). He was a farmer and said he was working in the cornfield on Saturday afternoon when the concept for this hymn came to him. He worked it out the next day and sent it to the editor of the New York Musical Pioneer, who published in the November 1858 issue.

1 Holy Spirit, faithful Guide,
Ever near the Christian’s side;
Gently lead us by the hand,
Pilgrims in a desert land;
Weary souls fore’er rejoice,
While they hear that sweetest voice
Whisp’ring softly, “Wand’rer, come!
Follow Me, I’ll guide thee home.”

2 Ever present, truest Friend,
Ever near Thine aid to lend,
Leave us not to doubt and fear,
Groping on in darkness drear;
When the storms are raging sore,
Hearts grow faint, and hopes give o’er.
Whisp’ring softly, “Wand’rer, come!
Follow Me, I’ll guide thee home.”

3 When our days of toil shall cease,
Waiting still for sweet release,
Nothing left but heav’n and prayer,
Wond’ring if our names were there;
Wading deep the dismal flood,
Pleading naught but Jesus’ blood,
Whisp’ring softly, “Wand’rer, come!
Follow Me, I’ll guide thee home.”

Music

Sunday Singing: The King of Love My Shepherd Is

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“The King of Love My Shepherd Is” performed by the choir of St. Francis de Sales Church in Ajax, Ontario, Canada

This is another of my favorite hymns. This adaptation of Psalm 23 is by Englishman H. W. Baker, Vicar of Monkland, Herefordshire (1821-1877). He reportedly recited this hymn’s third verse as his dying words. The beautiful tune is naturally traditional Irish, labeled “St. Columbia” in the books.

1 The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine forever.

2 Where streams of living water flow,
my ransomed soul he leadeth;
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.

3 Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed,
but yet in love he sought me;
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

4 In death’s dark vale I fear no ill,
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.

5 Thou spreadst a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and oh, what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!

6 And so through all the length of days,
thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house forever.

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Give Duke Ellington His Due and a Good Reason to Read Poetry

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The great American composer Duke Ellington would have been the first African-American composer to win a Pultizer Prize for Music back in 1965 had the award board agreed with its own jury. This week, scholar Ted Gioia has been raising awareness of this oversight in judgement and support for pressing the Pulitzer Prize board to reverse this decision.

He describes the decision in his post, “Let’s Give Duke the Pulitzer Prize He Was Denied in 1965.”

That missing award from 1965 has long been a source of disappointment and frustration to jazz fans, and a genuine disgrace in the history of the Pulitzer. The jury that judged the entrants that year decided to do something different—they recommended giving the honor to Duke Ellington for the “vitality and originality of his total productivity” over the course of more than forty years.

This was an unusual move in many ways. First, the Pulitzer usually honors a single work, much like the Oscar for Best Picture or other prizes of this sort. In this instance, the jury recommended that Ellington get the honor for his entire career. But even more significant, it would be the first time a jazz musician or an African American received this prestigious award.

But it never happened.

The Pulitzer Board refused to accept the decision of the jury, and decided it would be better to give out no award, rather than honor Duke Ellington. Two members of the three-person judging panel, Winthrop Sargeant and Robert Eyer, resigned in the aftermath.

If I have my facts right, the only African American with a Pulitzer before 1965 would have been poet Gwendolyn Brooks in 1950.

Reading Classics: Two books argue for reading Socrates and other classics and for “literature [as] a proven path to character formation.”

Resist or Compromise? “In 1981 I was sitting on a washing machine in Willow Grove, Pa., reading a Bible, when an elderly man approached and struck up a conversation. We spent the whole washing and drying cycle on chairs outside the laundromat, him telling me in detail of the persecution of Christians under the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945) and of his imprisonment along with others who refused to bow to the Shinto shrine.”

Prufrock: Micah Mattix’s arts & literature roundup is now on Substack. He explains the reason here.

Poetry: Reading “rhythmic poetry” can help you handle stress, according to some biofeedback responses. Surely hymns would fit this pattern too. (via Miller’s Book Review)

Poetry: Irish poet Eamon Grennan says in a recent interview, “Of course, at the bottom of all is your engagement with the language itself. Loving that, loving and being able to admire how words make sense, how they fit into rhythms that give them a different kind of heft: the potential music of language, I suppose, needs to be part of your breathing.”

This kind of thinking gives him lines like this:
“Moonwhite the garden lightens
And the moon, a pealed clove of garlic, pales.”

Aliens in UFOs: Ron Capshaw says Jordan Peele’s “NOPE” captures the horror and wonder of an old-school UFO movie but doesn’t quite payoff in the end because we’ve seen many aliens who want to kill us over the years.

Photo: Cream Castle sign in Sikeston, Missouri, 1979. John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Music

Sunday Singing: “And Can It Be”

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“And Can It Be” sung by an English congregation

Today’s hymn is one of the most familiar ones we sing, Charles Westley’s “And Can It Be.” The prolific hymnist Charles Westley (1707-1788) was the “bard of Methodism.” He may have written 6500 hymns.

John Julian writes in the Dictionary of Hymnology, “The saying that a really good hymn is as rare an appearance as that of a comet is falsified by the work of Charles Wesley; for hymns, which are really good in every respect, flowed from his pen in quick succession, and death alone stopped the course of the perennial stream.”

Our video example skips verse two and handles the refrain differently than the verses copied here (perhaps they are singing an Anglican variation).

1 And can it be that I should gain
an int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2 ‘Tis myst’ry all! Th’Immortal dies:
who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
let angel minds inquire no more. [Refrain]

3 He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
humbled himself (so great his love!)
and bled for all his chosen race!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for, O my God, it found out me! [Refrain]

4 Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed thee. [Refrain]

5 No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine!
Alive in him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach th’eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ, my own. [Refrain]

Music

Sunday Singing: Through All the World Below

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“Through All the World Below” arranged by Alice Parker, performed by The Atlanta Singers

This traditional, anonymously written hymn is unfamiliar to me. Hymnary.org notes it is published in only a handful of hymnals, many of those being 200 years old. If those hymnals introduce this piece at all, they do so with a statement of its theme, that God is seen through his creation. The earth, the natural habits of the world, and all the tangibles of life are not merely matter and energy, devoid of spirit. Our world and ourselves are the handiwork of the Almighty.

1. Through all the world below,
God is seen all around;
Search hills and valleys through,
There he’s found.
The growing of the corn,
The lily and the thorn,
The pleasant and forlorn,
All declare God is there,
In the meadows drest in green,
There he’s seen.

2. See springs of water rise,
Fountains flow, rivers run;
The mist below the skies
Hides the sun;
Then down the rain doth pour
The ocean it doth roar,
And dash against the shore,
All to praise, in their lays,
That God that ne’er declines
His designs.

3.
The sun, to my surprise,
Speaks of God as he flies:
The comets in their blaze
Give him praise;
The shining of the stars
The moon as it appears,
His sacred name declares;
See them shine, all divine!
The shades in silence prove
God’s above.

4.
Then let my station be
Here on earth, as I see
The sacred One in Three
All agree;
Through all the world is made,
The forest and the glade;
Nor let me be afraid,
Though I dwell on the hill
Since nature’s works declare
God is there.

Music

Sunday Singing: Eternal Father! Strong to Save

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“Eternal Father! Strong to Save” sung by a congregation in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

With this being a Fourth of July weekend, I remembered the strong hymn the Navy claims for its own. Hymnist William Whiting (1825-1878) was born in the London area and served for many years as the Master of the Winchester College Choristers’ School. This is the one hymn of Whiting’s that has won everyone over. The tune was composed by Englishman John Bacchus Dykes in 1861.

1. Eternal Father, strong to save,
whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.

2. O Savior, whose almighty word
the winds and waves submissive heard,
who walkedst on the foaming deep
and calm amid its rage didst sleep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.

3. O sacred Spirit, who didst brood
upon the chaos dark and rude,
who badd’st its angry tumult cease,
and gavest light and life and peace:
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.

4. O Trinity of love and pow’r,
our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
from rock and tempest, fire and foe,
protect them wheresoe’er they go;
and ever let there rise to thee
glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Music

Sunday Singing: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

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“Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” was written by the Isaac Watts of Wales, William Williams (1717-1791). He studied medicine, took up theology instead, became an Anglican Deacon and eventually a Calvinistic Methodist. He wrote in Welsh, so the Welsh translator Peter Williams (no relation) brought it into English. (Today, Williams is the third most common surname in Wales.)

The recording above is a modern arrangement, written by Jeremy Casella (guitar/vocals) and performed with Sandra McCracken (vocals), Paul Nelson (cello), Tim Nicholson (piano). This arrangement has held me over the years, driving home my need to release my fears to the Almighty.

1. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy pow’rful hand;
Bread of heaven,
Bread of heaven,
feed me ’til I want no more,
feed me ’til I want no more.

2. Open now the crystal fountain,
whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through;
strong Deliv’rer,
strong Deliv’rer,
be thou still my strength and shield,
be thou still my strength and shield.

3. When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell’s Destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side;
songs of praises,
songs of praises
I will ever give to thee,
I will ever give to thee.

Oh, to finally say goodbye
Bid my anxious fears, bid my anxious fears
Land me safe on Canaan’s side
Bid my anxious fears, bid my anxious fears, goodbye

Music

Sunday Singing: This Is My Father’s World

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“This Is My Father’s World” performed by Keith and Kristyn Getty

This marvelous testimony to God’s sovereignty and creation of all things comes to us from Presbyterian Maltbie D. Babcock of New York (1858-1901). It was published after his death in 1901 to a traditional English folk tune arranged by Franklin L. Sheppard.

1 This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas–
His hand the wonders wrought.

2 This is my Father’s world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

3 This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!

Music

Sunday Singing: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

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This marvelous hymn from the Scottish minister Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) has a beautiful grandeur in this recording, but I’ve sung the song at a ripping pace, time and a half this pace, almost like a sea shanty. It’s stirring. I don’t know if the Free Church of Scotland would have approved of it, but I think it still keeps the spirit of worship.

1 I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto me and rest;
lay down, O weary one, lay down
your head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
weary and worn and sad;
I found in him a resting place,
and he has made me glad.

2 I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water; thirsty one,
stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in him.

3 I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
look unto me, your morn shall rise,
and all your days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus and I found
in him my Star, my Sun;
and in that light of life I’ll walk,
’til trav’ling days are done.

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