If you are looking at a Australian catholic music, Brother Michael Herry is pleasantly unavoidable.
His sheet music is all available to download for free at the Marist Brothers website, which unfortunately is not a pleasure. Don’t bother with their title page or their search engine. It is better to just google his name and what you want, or go to this page. You will find psalms for every week of every liturgical year, chants for every week and folios of songs.
I did God of Surprises last year and will look at the collection Dare to Dream now.
I have blogged this song before as part of As One Voice, and at the time hadn’t actually used it, although it is one of his most known songs. I suppose it must have been the St Peter’s, Rochedale team that got me using it, because it something I turn to frequently now for Eucharist. I don’t play it quite as slowly as he does, but it can’t be rushed. I’m putting it up again to point to where the sheet music is available. You can hear the Marists’ version and download the sheet music here.
This is my same backing from 2011.
Lord, to whom shall we go?
You are our bread, broken and shared,Lord, to whom shall we go?
Yours are the words of life1 Our fathers ate, yet their hunger remained.
Their hearts were not satisfied.2 O Lord, you feed us with the finest of wheat,
our pledge of eternal life.3 The bread you give is the living bread,
your flesh for the life of the world.4 Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my steps;
© 1993 Michael Herry
a light for my path of life.
Possibly worth nothing that Michael has multiple versions of this hymn. The first verse in later versions now has inclusive language: “The manna we ate yet our hunger remained; our hearts left unsatisfied”. The final two verses found in Gather Australia and As One Voice are omitted, and the perhaps the most notable change is that the slightly changing melody between verses has been removed. A later (and better laid out) version can also be found on his site: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52422a6fe4b06209130d02bd/t/5ecdd469b95b250db42396e0/1590547563224/Lord%2C+to+whom+shall+be+go.pdf
though the final melody change remains (for ter- and path).
The best version, and it even includes the chords (!), is to be found in Catholic Worship Book II, where there is consistency in the notes across all verses.
Thanks, Chris.
Indeed, CWB II 549 notes the tune is a 2011 revision by Herry and the text is marked “alt”, which usually means changed by the editor rather than the songwriter.
Geoff