This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Praise the Lord (Psalm 100)
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord with gladness!
Praise the Lord and shout a joyful song!
Worship him! Turn away from sadness:
He's the God to whom we all belong!
Know the Lord is God: he has made us!
Know yourselves the people of his flock!
Know the Lord is good: he has saved us!
Know his steadfast love is like a rock.
Praise the Lord! Praise and shout thanksgiving!
Enter by his royal gates of praise!
Worship him! Bring your dance and singing,
for his love continues all our days.
Know the Lord is God ...
Praise the Lord! Praise the God who's faithful!
Praise the Lord who loves us for all time!
Worship him! Show the Lord you're grateful:
celebrate amazing love divine!
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2007.
Based on Psalm 100.
Story behind the song
The words of this song are a straightforward attempt to turn the words of Psalm 100 ("Jubilate Deo") into a song for congregational singing. Lots of other people have attempted it ... so now I have too.
But the inspiration for it really came from a series of conversations with friends about pieces of music in less-usual time signatures - those with 5 beats, 7 beats and other even less-usual numbers of beats in the bar - and how the bars subdivide into smaller units. The challenge of this song was to write music in 5/4 time which would sound convincing when sung. Perhaps the most obvious Christian hymn in this time signature is "Sing of the Lord's goodness" to a version of Paul Desmond's "Take Five" jazz piece (recorded by Dave Brubeck): but this uses a syncopation to fix the beat, and I wondered if the task could be done could be done without resorting to this device? Let the listener decide!
While on the subject, I will also confess that I wondered how many consecutive fifths it was possible to get into a four-part harmony piece while still sounding that the harmonies were intended and not a mistake. Maybe the listener should decide that as well!
John Hartley.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.