This week someone contacted me about the copyright-free hymns I’ve posted online. This prompted me to look in my files, where I discovered I had another ten hymns ready to upload. Those ten new hymns are now online here. I’ll include info about these hymns below the jump.
Four of the newly-uploaded hymns are patriotic hymns. Unitarian Universalist hymnals used to include patriotic songs, but that ended with the 1993 gray hymnal. This was a short-sighted policy. Today, U.S. religious conservatives wrap themselves in the mantle of patriotism and maintain that theirs is the only patriotism. Well, Unitarians and Universalists were key players in the founding of the United States, and we need to reclaim that part of our heritage so that we can inject our own religious vies into contemporary political discourse — our views being that the U.S. is a democracy (not an autocracy) and is not a Christian country; that our country is founded on the separation of religion and the state; and that the revolution continues through our ongoing efforts to make sure all persons are treated as equals. With the approach of the 250th anniversary of the singing of the Declaration of Independence, it’s time for us to show our patriotism again. I’ve uploaded America, My Country ‘Tis of Thee, and The New Patriot, all taken from pre-1993 UU hymnals. I also uploaded Chester, a patriotic song actually written during the Revolution — it’s of limited use, but can be useful for Massachusetts congregations that recognize Patriots Day.
The other six hymns include African American spirituals, a hymn allegedly by Rabindranath Tagore, a South African song, etc. After you read the descriptions below, look for the songs on my music website.
America
The text is by Katherine Lee Bates, originally titled “America: A Poem for July 4.” Bates published three different versions of her poem: in 1893, in 1904, and in 1911. The present text follows versions of the text published in contemporary mainline Protestant hymnals which rearrange the 1911 poem to avoid repetition. Two substitutions are suggested: “God’s” instead of “his” (following contemporary mainline Christian practice), and “neighborhood” instead of the now-dated “brotherhood.” Note that some contemporary hymnals suggest “servanthood” as another substitute for “brotherhood.” The tune is Materna by Samuel Augustus Ward, composed in 1882 for a different text. Bates titled her poem “America,” the title used here; however, the pairing of this poem with Materna is often called “America, the Beautiful.”
Chester
Included in this collection in honor of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Words and music by William Billings (1778), and supposedly at one time considered for the U.S. national anthem. The original had the melody in the tenor line; in this version, tenor and soprano (treble) have been switched. In the original, the alto had an A at the beginning of m. 15; to keep the alto line from going above the melody, this note has been changed to an F, and the A moved to the bass line.
This is so much fun to sing in four-part harmony! It probably makes a better choir anthem than congregational hymn.
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
Caroline Severance wrote the words in 1877. An advocate for woman suffrage, she was also one of the founders of First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles. The tune “John Brown’s Body,” and the arrangement is adapted from various 19th C. arrangements.
N.B.: this is not the more familiar Julia Ward Howe hymn.
My Country ‘Tis of Thee
Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words in 1831. The music was probably adapted by Henry Carey in the late eighteenth century.
New Patriot, The
The text comes from a poem of the same name by Frederic Lawrence Knowles, published in his 1906 book Love Triumphant. The tune, Truro, was composed in 1789 by Charles Burney; the versions used here was taken from early nineteenth century hymn books. The tune is #3991a in Nicholas Temperley’s Hymn Tune Index.
Old Ship of Zion, The
Melody and words are from Slave Songs of the United States (1867). The third verse is adapted from a floating verse of another 19th century song.
This is a fun song to sing.
Out from the Heart of Nature
Samuel Longfellow adapted the text from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “The Problem,” and published it in Hymns of the Spirit (1864). The tune, called Clamanda, comes from an 18th century song tune and was published in Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony (1820), from whence it made its way into The Sacred Harp; W. M. Cooper added the alto part in 1902.
One Life, One Love
Text adapted from the poem “One Law, One Life, One Love” by Frederic Hosmer (1893). The tune is Ecstasy by T. W. Carter (1844); alto part by W. M. Cooper (1902).
Thula
I learned this from Kate Munger during one of her Threshold Choir workshops; it is supposedly Zulu in origin, and “thula” is a Zulu word for “hush.” After years of searching I haven’t been able to find a source, and I assume it’s in the public domain. I wrote the descant in the second part, and release it into the public domain.
Wayfaring Stranger
The origins of the text are obscure. The text is likely inspired by Psalm 39:12, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” According to tradition, the present text was written by Bishop Richard Allen on his deathbed; Allen was born into slavery, purchased his freedom, went on to found the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in 1831. An earlier German text, written by Paul Gerhardt about 1666, resembles the present text, with the beginning, “Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden,” ‘I am a pilgrim and a stranger.” This German text may have inspired the text “Going Over Jordan,” published in 1858 in The Christian Songster (United Brethren in Christ). An 1826 poem by James Montgomery, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief,” is a very different text, but the opening phrase seems to be the earliest publication linking “poor” and “wayfaring.”
The earliest publication of the words that most closely resemble the present text seem to be Taylor and Echols, Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies, Cincinnati, 1882. The present text is based on the 1882 version, which does include the word “classmate”; the lines with “parents” and “children” have been taken from other pre-1925 publications. The editor has assumed that this song, like so many others in the U.S. folk tradition, equates heaven and freedom.
The origins of the music are also obscure. Several variants of the tune were published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including a version in 4/4 time (which was possibly misbarred), and versions in both major and minor keys. The present tune was taken from the 1920 edition of Religious Songs of the Negro, Hampton Institute. Roud #3339.
Your Mercy, O Eternal One — 185, Singing the Living Tradition
The text is by Rabindranath Tagore. In an article dated April 27, 2018, in Frontline: India’s National Magazine, Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay reported that Debashish Raychaudhuri, an “acclaimed exponent of Rabindrasangeet” [songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore], and “a well-known scholar of Tagore songs,” had a theory about the song’s origin: “Debashish Raychaudhuri thinks the poet may have written these songs in 1912-13 during his first visit to the U.S.” In 1912, Tagore was in close contact with American Unitarians, said Raychauduri: “‘It is quite likely that Tagore was approached by the [Unitarian] church to write a few hymns for it, and it would not be unlike Tagore to be in touch with not just theologians, but also musicians from among the Unitarians,’ said Debashish Raychaudhuri.”
However: “Debashish Raychaudhuri said he was yet to find a reference to the song in any of Tagore’s other works. ‘I have been consulting many Tagore scholars, but so far nobody has yet come across a literary equivalent or any other reference in Tagore’s works to this song. My research is still on, but so far I have not found anything significant,’ he told Frontline.” So it is not entirely certain that this text is by Tagore.
Nevertheless, Debashish Raychaudhuri accepts it as genuine, and he has a reasonable explanation of how it came to be. This well-respected scholar and singer considers this to be an authentic Tagore poem, based on internal evidence, so I’m including it here with an attribution to Tagore. Since the text would have been written in 1912-1913, it is in the public domain.
The music is from the Scottish Psalter (1615), as harmonized in Thomas Ravenscroft’s Psalter (1621); the present version was drawn from The English Hymnal (1906).