This is an Advent song that I noticed from Chris’s parish. I had never heard it probably because it had gone out of fashion like many of the other early SLJ songs.
I spent $US1.75 to get the sheet music from OCP.
I love the flute and harpsichord in, what I assume is, the original.
The lyrics are there as well.
The only problem is the range. If you lower it to the key of C the second verse goes too low to sing. If you don’t, the high held “E”s will kill off the assembly.
My backing is in strict tempo, so does not speed up and slow down like the original.
This is another very folky rendition:
We take it down to C Major as it is easier to get to the low notes in verse 2 than the high notes in verses 1 & 3. We use this one once or twice each Advent and it is known pretty well in our parish.
I’m glad it works. It’s odd how a useful song can stick even with obvious problems. eg Toolan’s “I am the Bread of Life”.
Geoff