Online Tunebook

This online tunebook contains tunes that have been sung with local singings in the San Francisco Bay area.

Old tunes worthy of your attention include Death’s Alarm and Friendship. New tunes and arrangement that Bay Area singers seemed to like best include Market Street, New Sixth, and New Thirteenth.

Old tunes set in 4-shape notes

William Billings. Chester. L.M. Original poem by William Billings: “Let Tyrants shake their iron rod…”
———. Madrid. P.M. Poem by James Relly: “How charmingly sounds the word of the Lord…”

Stephen Jenks. Peace with Tripoli. 7.7.8.8. Anon. poem: “O’er the wide Atlantic waves…”

William Walker. Star in the East. 11,10. Poem by Reginald Heber: “Hail, the blest morn….”

William Walker/ American Musical Miscellanry. Friendship. 8.6.8.6.8.8.8.6. Poem by ——— Bidwell: “Friendship to every willing mind….”

Elisha West. Death’s Alarm. C.M. Poem by Isaac Watts: “The rising morning can’t ensure….”

Folk tunes harmonized

Anonymous, attributed to William Billings. By the Waters of Babylon. Irregular. Words based on Psalm 137: “By the waters, the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept…” This was sung on the tenth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11.
Liza-Jane. C.M. with refrain. Poem by Isaac Watts: “Let every mortal ear attend…”
Verdant Groves. P.M. Shaker tune and poem: “O, here we walk in verdant groves…”
Weary Traveler. Irregular. Trad. tune transcribed by Harry T. Burleigh. Trad. poem: “Oh, I’ll take my gospel trumpet…”

New compositions

Adobe Creek. C.M. Bay Psalm Book, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 4: “God of my justice, when I call….”
Anthem for Palm Sunday. Anthem. Text from Mark 11.1-10: “And they brought the colt to Jesus….”
Alameda. Anthem. Text from Mark 10.21, 22: ” ‘Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast…’ ”
Blackberry Canyon. 8.8.8.8.8.8. Poem by Isaac Watts, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 19: “Great God, the heaven’s well-ordered frame…”
The Borrowed Axe. C.M. Poem by John Newton: “The prophet’s sons, in times of old…”
Brevity. C.M. Poem by anonymous, 1760: “Man, born of woman, like a flower….”
El Camino Real. C.M.D. Poem by Dan Harper, a metrical paraphrase of Luke: “Once to Jerusalem there came some magi from afar…”
The Church of Heaven on Probation. C.M. Poetry by Emily Preston: “If you come in with truth in you…”
Colma. L.M.D. Poem by Thomas Dudley: “Dim eyes, deaf ears, cold stomach show, my dissolution is in view…”
Concord Hymn. L.M. Poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “By the rude bridge that arched the flood…”
Diamond Heights. Anthem. Text from Exodus 12.13: “And the blood shall be to you a token…”
Elgin. 10.10.10.10. Poem by George Sandys, a metrical paraphrase of Ecclesiastes: “Lo, all things have their time by God decreed…” (The familiar “Turn, Turn, Turn” is from the same Ecclesiastes passage.)
Euclid. C.M. Poem by Dan Harper, based on 2 Macc. 10:1-7: “Good Maccabeus and his band…”
Fair Oaks Street. L.M. Poem by Isaac Watts, a metrical paraphrase of Ps. 46: “There is a stream whose gentle flow…”
The Frighted Hind. L.M. Poem by Isaac Watts, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 29: “God speaks, and tempest, hail, and wind….”
Golden Gate. L.M. Poem by Isaac Watts: “God of the seas, thy thundering voice…”
Grizzly Peaks. H.M. Poem by George Sandys, a metrical paraphrase of Ps. 100: “All from the sun’s uprise…” (Revised version)
Hamilton. C.M. Bay Psalm Book, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 19: “The heavens do declare the majesty of God….”
Haverhill. 8.8.8. Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier: “Forgive, O Lord, our severing ways…”
Hetch-Hetchy. C.M. Poem by Cotton Mather: “O, Father of the rain look down…”
Market Street. 8.7.8.7. Poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: “Light, more light…”
Mountain View. Anthem. Text from Joel 2.28: “And it will come to pass…”
New Thirteenth. L.M. Poem by Queen Elizabeth I, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 13: “From heaven the Lord on man doth look….”
New Sixth. L.M. Bay Psalm Book, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 6: “Lord, in thy wrath, rebuke me not….”
Oakland. Anthem. Text from Revelation 21.3-4: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven…”
The Pale Horse. Anthem. Text from Revelation 6.8: “And I looked and behold a pale horse…”
The Pilgrim’s Happy Lot. 8.8.6. Poem by John Wesley: “How happy is the pilgirm’s lot….”
Prospect Hill. 10.10.10.10. Poem by James Thomson: “As those we love decay, we die in part….”
The Rich Sinner Dying. C.M. Poem by Isaac Watts: “In vain the wealthy mortals toil…”
Ridge Street. P.M. Poem by Philip Pain: “Alas, what is the world, a sea of glass…”
San Carlos. C.M. Poem by Isaac Watts: “The Manna, favor’d Israel’s meat…”
San Mateo. C.M. Poem by Robert Burns, metrical paraphrase of Ps. 1: “The man, in life wherever placed….”
Seven Palms. Anthem. Sequel to “Anthem for Palm Sunday”. Text from Mark 11.11: “And Jesus entered in…”
Shattuck. C.M. Poem by Isaac Watts: “Let the seventh angel sound on high…”
Stow. 7s. Poem by George Sandys, metrical paraphrase of the Song of Songs: “I, my belov’d, am only thine…”
Telegraph Hill. Anthem. Text from Genesis 8.11, “And the dove came to him in the evening….”
Valencia Street. L.M. Paraphrase of selections from the Song of Solomon, metrical paraphrase by George Sandys: “O, come thou that in the gardens liv’st….”