Compiled, edited, and typeset by Dan Harper. Version 2.2, 11 April 2024
Click the hymn/song title to see a PDF. Alphabetical by title. Hymn titles are not standardized, but see the listing of alternate hymn titles below.
Many of the songs here are suitable for traditional Sunday services. Others are chants and folk songs suitable for singing in small group meetings (small group ministries, youth and young adult groups, etc.), at home, at protest rallies, etc.
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This collection originated when I discovered how difficult it was to find hymns and spiritual songs with text, tune, arrangement, and typesetting that were not protected by copyright.
This collection contains hymns and songs that I am confident are actually in the public domain. I've carefully researched all tunes, arrangements, and texts to find versions that are in the public domain in the United States. Except where noted below, the tunes, arrangements, and texts have been taken from printed sources dated 1925 or before (i.e., they're in the public domain in the U.S.). Where I have supplied simple arrangements or other music, or combined or altered tune, text, or arrangement, I've released all such work into the public domain.
Please note that my arrangements are pretty uninspired. I assume that most musicians will improvise, or create their own arrangements. However, read my notes — in some cases, what you may have thought was a public domain chord progression or sound may be based on a copyright-protected arrangement.
Remember, these hymns and songs are in the public domain. You don't need my permission to use them. You don't need to credit anyone. You can revise them to your heart's content. You can record them for profit (good luck on that).
Since I don't want to be sued, I have to warn you that while I believe all tunes, texts, and arrangements are public domain in the U.S., I make no warranty to that effect; nor can I take any responsibility for how others use these hymns and tunes. If you want to ensure that a hymn or song is in the public domain, in the notes below I've provided information on my sources, so you can check my research. For hymn tunes composed 1820 or earlier, I try to provide the tune number from Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index. For a few later hymn tunes, I provide the tune number from D. DeWitt Wasson's Hymn-tune Index and Related Materials. For songs listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, I generally provide the Roud number.
All hymns are PDF files sized to print on standard 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheets. For your convenience the music is proportioned so it can be reduced on a photocopier to fit onto a half sheet suitable for insertion in a typical printed order of service. I'm releasing all musical typesetting into the public domain as well, so that you are free to print these hymns and songs on paper, project them on a screen in a worship service, or show them online in livestreamed services.
Finding the copyright status of songs can be challenging. My own denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), published a list of hymns and songs that purports to show the copyright status of all songs and hymns in the two current Unitarian Universalist hymnals. But this list contains clear errors, e.g., the list claims that "Jubilate Deo" is in the public domain yet it was composed for the Taize community by Jacques Berthier and is definitely protected by copyright. Or, in a more subtle example, the list claims the words to the hymn "No Number Tallies Nature Up" are in the public domain because they are a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson — but the hymn text actually represents such a substantial rewriting of Emerson's poem that it may be protected by copyright, so unless you can determine who rewrote Emerson's poem (which I was unable to do), you can't be sure whether the text is protected or not. Or to take another example, "Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Freedom" — while the tune and words are pretty clearly in the public domain, an arrangement copyrighted by Robert Zellner is so well known that though you may think you're simply improvising in folk style, it may be you're actually unconsciously repeating material that apparently is covered by copyright.
Therefore, just because some authority claims a song is in the public domain, do not assume that the song is in fact free of copyright in tune, text, and arrangement.
My basic criterion is pretty straightforward: If I can find a publication of the song that I know is in the public domain (e.g., published before 1928), then I know it’s in the public domain. If I can’t find such a publication, then I look for other evidence of public domain status, e.g., a legal ruling such as now exists for “We Shall Overcome,” or some other similar documentable evidence.
For convenience, I've referenced the hymns and songs in this collection to the following hymnals:
If the first line is different than the title of the hymn, it is included here. Otherwise, go directly to the hymn listing.
All are architects of fate: Builders, The
All before us lies the way: Future Is Better Than the Past, The
All whose boast it is: True Freedom
As I went down in the valley to pray: Down in the Valley
As we come marching: Bread and Roses
Come my way my truth my life: Call, The
Give us pleasure in the flowers today: Prayer in Spring
Gonna lay down my sword and shield: Down by the Riverside
Hail the glorious golden city: City of Our Dreams
I am a poor: Wayfaring Stranger
I stood on the river of Jordan: River of Jordan
I woke up this morning: Woke Up This Morning
In the gloom of mighty cities: Commonwealth of Toil, The
Let us sing songs for the people: Songs for the People
Let tyrants shake: Chester
May nothing evil cross this door: Prayer for This House
May we now bless the growing light: Growing Light, The
My life flows on in endless song: How Can I Keep from Singing
Nay do not grieve: Transience
No more auction block for me: Many Thousand Gone
Not always on the mount: On the Mount
O who will come and go with me: I'm on My Journey Home
Oh give us pleasure in the flowers today: Prayer in Spring
Oh stand the storm: We'll Stand the Storm
Out from the heart of Nature rolled: Everlasting Word, The
Paul and Silas were bound in jail: Hold On
Somebody need you Lord: Come By Here (Cumbayah)
Stand the storm: We'll Stand the Storm
There is a balm in Gilead: Balm in Gilead
Through birth and rebirth's endless round: Buddha's Hymn of Victory
Tis the gift to be simple: Simple Gifts
We are climbing Jacob's ladder: Jacob's Ladder
We need no other stones to build: Earth Is Enough
Well I woke up this morning: Woke up this morning
What wondrous love is this: Wondrous Love
When Israel was in Egypt's land: Go Down Moses
African American sacred songs — Songs from the African American tradition, including both folk songs and composed songs.
Balm in Gilead
Come and Go With Me
Come By Here
Down by the Riverside
Down in the Valley
Every Time I Feel th Spirit
Get on Board
Go Down, Moses
Guide My Feet
Hush, Somebody's Calling My Name
I'm on My Way
Jacob's Ladder
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Many Thousand Gone
Michael Row Your Boat Ashore
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
Oh, Freedom
Oh, When the Saints
Old Ship of Zion, The
Over My Head
River of Jordan
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Steal Away
Sun Don't Set in the Morning
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
There Is More Love Somewhere
This Little Light of Mine
Wade in the Water
We Shall Overcome
We'll Stand the Storm
We're Going To Do (When the Spirit Says Do)
Woke Up This Morning
American popular music, late 19th and early 20th C.
Bread and Roses
Commonwealth of Toil
How Can I Keep from Singing
John Brown's Body
Mine Eyes have Seen The Glory
Sweet By-and-By
Trouble in Mind
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Anglo-American folk music and folk tunes including Shaker tunes
No Longer Forward Nor Behind (English tune arr. Vaughan Williams)
Simple Gifts (Shaker)
Step by Step (composed folk-like tune)
Yielding and Simple (Shaker)
Chants — short songs sung repeatedly, often as a meditative practice
Ancient Mother
By the Waters of Babylon (round)
Dona Nobis Pacem (round)
Earth My Body
Earth the Air the Fire the Water, The
Evening breeze
Mother Moon
Rise Up O Flame
Round and Round
Familiar songs — songs that nearly everyone knows, and can sing well
Amazing Grace
America
Come by Here (a.k.a. Cumbayah, Kumbayah)
Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore
Oh, When the Saints
Simple Gifts (a.k.a. 'Tis a Gift To Be Simple)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
This Little Light of Mine
Wade in the Water
We Shall Overcome
Wondrous Love
Old fashioned hymns — What most people think of when they think of hymns. Excellent for singing in four-part harmony. Not so excellent for congregations that like contemporary musics.
Bring O Morn Thy Music
The Builders
City of Our Hopes
Come, Ye Thanksful People
Earth Is Enough
Fierce Unrest, A
For Flowers That Bloom
For the Beauty of the Earth
Forward through the Ages
Growing Light
It Sounds Along the Ages
Life Has Loveliness To Sell
Lo, the Earth Is Risen Again
Morning Hangs Its Signal
Now While the Day in Trailing Splendor
O Life That Maketh All Things New
On the Mount
Once to Every Soul and Nation
Prayer for this House
Prayer in Spring
Seek Not Afar for Beauty
Shall We Gather at the River
These Things Shall Be
This Old World
Transcience
True Freedom
Turn Back
Winds of Change
Years Are Coming
Shape note and early American music — These should be sung uptempo, full throated, loud, and with abandon. They should sound more like drinking songs than like old fashioned four-square hymns.
Buddha's Hymn of Victory (Daniel Read)
Chester (William Billings)
Earth Is Enough (Jeremiah Ingalls)
Everlasting Word, The (Kentucky Harmony)
Fierce Unrest, A (arr. Southern Harmony)
Friendship (arr. William Walker)
Future Is Better Than the Past
Harp at Nature's Advent (Thomas Commuck)
Hundred Years Hence (arr. Southern Harmony)
I Walk the Unfrequented Road (arr. Southern Harmony)
I'm on My Journey Home (Sarah Lancaster)
Lo, the Eastertide Is here (William Billings)
Now Shall My Inward Joys Arise (William Billings)
One Life, One Love
Out from the Heart
Part in Peace (United States Harmony)
Peace, the Perfect Word (United States Harmony)
Praise and Thanks to Nature Bring (Thomas Commuck)
There Are Numerous Strings in Your Lute (Sacred Harp)
What Matter Though We Seek with Pain (Sacred Harp)
Wondrous Love
World musics
Cherry Blooms (Japanese folk tune)
Siyahambha (South African / Zulu)
Thula (South African / Zulu)
We Shall Not Give Up the Fight (South African / Zulu)
African American composers
Balm in Gilead (arr. Harry T. Burleigh)
Lift Every Voice and Sing (Rosamond Johnson)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (arr. Harry T. Burleigh)
River of Jordan (arr. Harry T. Burleigh)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot (arr. Harry T. Burleigh)
Trouble in Mind (Richard Jones)
Wade in the Water (arr. Harry T. Burleigh)
European "classical" composers — see also: Old-fashioned hymns
By the Waters of Babylon (Philip Hayes)
Call, The (Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Joyful, Joyful (Ludwig von Beethoven)
Light of Ages (Franz Josef Haydn)
No Longer Forward Nor Behind (arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Turn Back (arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Your Mercy, O Eternal One (Thomas Ravenscroft)
Jewish composers
Healer of the Wounded Heart (Alois Kaiser)
Native American composers
Harp at Nature's Advent, The (Thomas Commuck)
Praise and Thanks to Nature Bring (Thomas Commuck)
Songs for the People (Thomas Commuck)
Women composers and authors
America (Katherine L. Bates, text)
Bread and Roses (Caroline Kohlsaat, music)
Healer of the Wonded Heart (Penina Moise, text)
How Can I Keep from Singing? (Pauline T. and Doris Plenn, text)
Hundred Years Hence, A (Frances Dana Barker Gage, text)
I'm on My Journey Home (Sarah Lancaster, Belle Spivey, music)
Life Has Loveliness To Sell (Sara Teasdale, text)
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (Caroline Severance)
Part in Peace (Sara Flower Adams, text)
Peace, the Perfect Word (Caroline Miles Hill)
Songs for the People (Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, text)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Minerva and Wallis Williams, text and tune)
Transcience (Sarojini Naiju, text)
Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Mrs. M. A. Brigham, text)
Winds of Change (Sarojini Naidu, text)
Yielding and Simple (Malissa Soule, text and music)
Patriotic songs
America
Chester
Lift Every Voice and Sing (African American national anthem)
My Country 'Tis of Thee
New Patriot, The
Rev. Ralph Abernathy introduced the old spiritual "Don't You Let Nobody Turn You Around" to a mass meeting of the African American community in Albany, Georgia, in the summer of 1962, during the second major Civil Rights struggle there. It caught on and became widespread throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Since then, it has become an anthem of hope and struggle for racial justice and for a free and fair world for all. The earliest publication of the melody appears to be "Don't You Let Nobody Turn You Around" in Forty Negro Spirituals (T. Presser, 1927), arr. Clarence Cameron White. There are many variations of the melody current; the present melody is one variant notated from oral tradition.
The first two verses of the text are by Charles Wesley, from his well-known hymn. The third verse is by Harriet Martineau, from her poem "Arise My Soul," in her 1826 book Addresses with Prayers and Original Hymns for the Use of Families and Schools. The tune is by Ananias Davisson, Kentucky Harmony, 1816; alto by William Walker, Christian Harmony, 1867. This song has been picked up by bluegrass players.
The text is by John Newton, from his book Olney Hymns (1779). Minor variations have crept into the text over the years, but the whole remains firmly in the public domain. The tune is "New Britain," and while it's unclear who actually wrote the tune, it was first published in The Columbian Harmony (1829), and first paired with Newton's text by William Walker in his 1835 Southern Harmony. The present arrangement is an early twentieth century arrangement of the tune. Some people prefer to add a fermata on the first note of the seventh measure, and on the final note. The song is #5430 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
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."
This anonymous chant, transcribed from oral tradition, is from the late twentieth century North American Pagan community. It is typically sung repeatedly for 3 minutes or so.
A traditional African American spiritual, in a lovely 1919 arrangement by the African American composer Harry T. Burleigh. The words are from Burleigh and other public domain sources, slightly adapted. Burleigh's original piano accompaniment varies from verse to verse; the present arrangement uses one of Burleigh's verses, and is released into the public domain.
The poem by James Oppenheim was published in December, 1911, in The American Magazine. The next month, on January 11, 1912, a coalition of textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, went on strike, and used the poem as a rallying cry. The tune and arrangement by Caroline Kohlsaat dates to c. 1920.
The 1893 text by Unitarian minister William Channing Gannett. The text has been altered slightly, but is somewhat closer to the original than the version in Singing the Living Tradition. The tune is "Nicaea" by John B. Dykes (1861), slightly adapted from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914.
Words Gautama Buddha supposedly said upon achieving enlightenment, drawn from two English metrical translations/paraphrases, by Charles Lanman and Paul Carus. The tune is "Windham" by Daniel Read, first published in 1785. Two versions of the music are given. The first version included here represents Read's 1804 revision of the arrangement, as published in Columbian Harmony, 1807; but while Read's version holds three cadences for 6 beats (a measure and a half), with the soprano and alto voice dropping out after one beat, these long held notes are reduced to two beats (half a measure). The second version included here keeps the long held cadences, and uses a nineteenth century arrangement taken from The Sacred Harp; this version really needs tenors and basses to sing the held notes at the cadences, or perhaps organ accompaniment, and probably works best as a choir anthem. Note that some sources state that this is a Dorian tune; in eighteenth and early nineteenth century American choral practice, tunes notated at minor (Aeolian) were sometimes sung as Dorian, with a raised sixth degree of the scale. In the present version the music has been notated as minor, leaving it up to performers to decide whether to raise the sixth degree of the scale or not. The tune is #4628 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn and Tune Index.
This version of Longfellow's hymn text is from The Liberal Hymn Book (New York: Burnz & Co., 1880). The tune, called "Pleyel's Hymn (First)," is adapted from the andante movement of Ignaz Pleyel's 1788 String Quartet in G Major (Benton 349). The present arrangement appeared in a number of late nineteenth century hymnals. The tune is #5356a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Tune and text are from A Muse's Delight by Philip Hayes (1786). The present version is somewhat simplified for congregational singing (most notably, a fourth part is left off, turning Hayes's four-part round into a three-part round). This altered version is released into the public domain. Thisround is often attributed to William Billings, but it does not appear in the Complete Works of William Billings. This incorrect attribution apparently derives from a 1971 commercial recording by Don McLean, who wrongly attributed it to Billings; because its first appearance is on a commercial recording, the altered tune may possibly be protected by copyright.
Text by George Herbert, The Temple: Sacred Poems (London, 1842), p. 188. In the second verse, "their" is substituted for "his." The music is adapted from "The Call," Five Mystical Songs, by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Two slightly different adaptations are given. The first is the well-known adaptation by E. Harold Greer (c. 1911). The second is a fairly direct transcription of the music for the first stanza in Vaughan Williams' original composition. Note that while the music is in the public domain in the U.S. and Canada, it may not in the public domain in the U.K., and possibly elsewhere.
The text is by Edwin Markham, as reprinted in Folk Songs of Many Peoples, with English Versions by American Poets, ed. Florence Hudson Botsford (1922). The tune and harmonization are from the same source. The harmonization has been adapted, and the adaptation is released into the public domain. The present version uses Markham's original words; How Can We Keep from Singing has alternate (copyright-protected) words to remember the bombing of Hiroshima.
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.
The text is by Felix Adler, founder of the Ethical Culture movement. It appears that this poem was first published as a hymn in the 1904 Pilgrim Hymnal, where the opening line is "Sing we of the golden city...." The present text is taken from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914, with one change in wording: "Only righteous men and women" has been changed to "Only righteous upright people"; this small change serves to include children as well as non-binary persons as residents of Adler's golden city. The tune is "Hyfrydol" by Rowland Pritchard, first published in 1844. The arrangement is by the gospel composer Charles H. Gabriel, as it appeared in Great Revival Hymns No. 2, ed. Homer A. Rodeheaver and B. D. Ackley, Charles H. Gabriel, music editor, 1912 (hymn 124).
Tune and text are traditional African American. The earliest published version I could find was a recording by Rev. Blind Willie Johnson, made in 1930. The tune presented here is based on the singing of Johnson and an unidentified female singer (possibly his wife). However, it is not a strict transcription, but rather my interpretation and simplification of the recorded melody; my interpretation is released into the public domain. The words are an editorial combination of various verses from various sources; my interpretation of the text is released into the public domain as well.
Alternate lyrics from Ocupella include: Jobs and justice in that land...
Also known as "Kumbayah," "Cumbayah." Note that this version includes an additional section that has been left out of the well-known folk version — please read the following for more information.
The origins of this song have been disputed, but archival evidence from the Library of Congress make it clear that this is a public domain song. According to Stephen Winick, "The World's First 'Kumbaya' Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song," Folklife Center News, American Folklife Center, the Library of Congress, vol. 32, nos. 3-4, summer/fall, 2010: "The evidence from the American Folklife Center Archive ... suggests that 'Kumbaya' is an African American spiritual which originated somewhere in the American south...." Although Marvin Frey, a white evangelist, claimed copyright on this song in 1936, a 1926 recording in the Library of Congress archives is substantially the same as Frey's published version. The singer in this recording is only identified as "H. Wylie," and no date is given, though it's probable that the recording was made in April or May of 1926.
According to Winick, the usual song title of "Kumbayah" comes from a misunderstanding of an African American dialect. Winick says that Marvin Frey claimed "the pronunciation 'Kum Ba Yah' originated when Luvale-speaking people in Angola and Zaire translated 'Come by Here' into their language." But, says Winick, "In Wylie's dialect, which is most likely a form of Gullah, the word 'here' is pronounced as 'yah,' rendering the song's most repeated line 'come by yah,' a phrase that can be phonetically rendered as either 'Kum Ba Yah' or 'Kumbaya.'" In short, the Marvin Frey story simply isn't credible. Today's singers can choose to sing "Come by here," or if they prefer they can use the Gullah dialect and sing "Come by yah."
The words and tune of the present version are drawn transcriptions in Winick's article. I've released the simple arrangement into the public domain. Note that the metronome marking is from Winick's article. Winick also provides additional verses from a 1936 recording in the Library of Congress, made by John Lomax, including "Somebody moaning Lord...," analogous to commonly-sung verses like "Someone's singing, Lord," etc. Additional verses from this 1936 recording are included in the sheet music. Improvised lyrics are appropriate for this kind of spiritual, though it is to be hoped that improvisation would not be limited to simply substituting different verbs in the phrase "Somebody's moaning, Lord."
Winick points out that "Kumbayah" has come "to stand for the touchy-feely, the wishy-washy, the nerdy, and the meek." It is hoped that the present version, with the vigorous melody and words from the 1926 and 1936 audio recordings, will improve perceptions of this powerful African American spiritual. Click for more information.
I've also included a lead sheet with just the first section of the song, retaining much of the rhythm and melody of the Wylie version.
The song is #11924 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Text by Henry Alford, 1844. The second verse has been substantially rewritten, and I've released the rewritten version into the public domain. The tune and arrangement by George Job Elvey are taken from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914.
The familiar text by Ralph Chaplin, taken from the 1918 edition of the I.W.W. Songbook. The music is slightly adapted from the original nineteenth century sheet music for "Darling Nelly Gray" by Benjamin R. Hanby. The original song was an anti-slavery song.
The origins of this song are obscure. Although typically called a Mexican folk song, it appears to have been widespread throughout Latin America as early as the 1500s; however, I’ve retained the usual attribution as "Traditional Mexican."" All the metrical English translations appear to be protected by copyright, which is also true of some newly-written Spanish-language verses. The two verses given were sung by Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers during organizing meetings. Abby Rivera, who participated in these meetings, later recalled, "after the first few lines, my entire demeanor and attitude would change. By the time the song was over, a total transformation of my spirit would occur." Another participant in the meetings, Kathy Murguia, recalled, "De Colores ... enhanced the sense of community, of being connected with the struggle for justice... The rooster, the hen, the great love of many colors—these images brought such joy, such pleasure, and lastly for those who sang it, such hope." It is in this spirit that this song in included here.
Other public domain verses include:
De colores, de colores
Brillantes y finos se viste la aurora.
De colores, de colores
Son los mil reflejos que el sol atesora.
De colores, de colores
Se viste el diamante que vemos lucir.
De colores, de colores
Si, de blanco y negro y rojo y azul y castano.
Son colores, son colores
De gente que rie, y estrecha la mano.
Son colores, son colores
De gente que sabe de la libertad.
Traditional words and music for this familiar round, transcribed from oral tradition. This round, or canon, has been variously attributed to Mozart or Palestrina, though both attributions are questionable. There are frequent references to the round from the mid-twentieth century on, and it's entirely possible that it was composed during the early to mid twentieth century. Nevertheless, it seems completely safe to assign it to the public domain, as the music and text have been widely reprinted and recorded, with no one claiming copyright.
The tune and arrangement are taken from the earliest known publication of this tune (1918, Hampton Institute, Plantation Melodies). Some of the verses are of unknown origin. The song is #11886 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
There are many different versions of the tune, including many recorded by African Americans and European American bluegrass and country singers. The present version is an African American version from the earliest known publication of the tune, in the 1867 book Slave Songs of the U.S. The simple arrangement is released into the public domain.
The poem "Earth Is Enough" is by Universalist Edwin Markham. The original begins with a couplet that is here included under the hymn title. This version of tune and arrangement comes from the 1905 Methodist Hymnal. The tune is "Fillmore," and is usually attributed to Jeremiah Ingalls. The tune is #08859 in D. DeWitt Wasson's Hymn-tune Index.
This chant is NOT included on this website any more, because it is probably an example of cultural misappropriation (Native American melody repurposed withdifferent lyrics). For a worthy alternative, see "Earth My Body."
This anonymous chant, transcribed from oral tradition, is probably from the late twentieth century North American Pagan community. It is typically sung repeatedly for 3 minutes or so. Two versions are given: a lead sheet, and a very basic SATB arrangement. I release both arrangements into the public domain. (N.B.: This is a worthy substitute for the questionable chant "The Earth Is Our Mother," which latter is probably an example of cultural misappropriation.)
This anonymous chant, transcribed from oral tradition, is probably from the late twentieth century North American Pagan community. It is typically sung repeatedly for 3 minutes or so. (There are many variants of this chant, and I notated it the way I happened to learn it.) The groups I sang this with often used to harmonize a third above or a sixth below the melody. I have found two different attributions for this chant. Libana claimed copyright for their 1984 performance. Reclaiming Collective cites Michael Tierra as the author of this chant, but with no copyright notice. I believe this chant is safe to use without worrying about copyright trolls. But given the ambiguity, if you're extremely risk-averse, you may wish to avoid it.
Two anonymous chants, transcribed from oral tradition, probably from the late twentieth century North American Pagan community. The changes may be sung separately, successively, or simultaneously. Although these two chants may be sung together simultaneously, the harmonies (and dissonances) may be challenging for the average congregation; it might work better to have the congregation sing one of these chants while a soloist sings the other.
Text by Ralph Waldo Emerson, adapted to hymn form by Samuel Longfellow for the 1864 hymnal Hymns of the Spirit. This is, in fact, one of the few hymns actually written by Emerson, with words that have not been substantially rearranged. The tune "Clamanda" derives from an eighteenth century song tune; the present harmony was first published in 1820 in Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony; and the present four-part version, derived from that, was published in the 1902 Cooper revision of The Sacred Harp. The tune is #11061 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
The words are from Saint Helena Island Spirituals, Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School (1924). The verses are slightly adapted, taking them out of dialect and changing "heaven" to "freedom" in the second verse. Melody and arrangement from Religious Folk Songs of the Negro as Sung on the Plantations, arr. Thomas P. Fenner, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (Va.) Institute Press, 1909, and adapted as follows: m. 4, rising phrase in soprano and alto added; mm. 8-12, optional piano accompaniment added (small notes in bass clef) for solo; changed from a 12 bar song to a 16 bar song by repeating mm. 9-12 (as is more common practice in the last half century).
The text is excerpted from the poem "Unrest" by Don Marquis, as printed in his collection Dreams and Dust (Harper Bros., 1915). The tune was first published in 1816, and is attributed to Capt. Robert Boyd. The tune is called "Salvation." The present arrangement is from The Southern Harmony (1854). The tune is #15430 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
The first two verses of the text are anonymous. The first verse appeared at least as early as 1873, and the second verse at least as early as 1890. The third verse is attributed to Mary J. Garland in The Kindergarten Review (Springfield, Mass.: Nov., 1899), p. 163. The music is from Church Hymns: With Tunes, 1903 (London). The tune is called variously "Baden" and "Was Gott Thut." The tune was composed by Severus Gastorius (1681; some sources attribute the tune to Johann Pachelbel); this version was adapted and harmonized by J. Goss.
The original text was written by Folliot Sandford Peirpont, and first published in 1864. The present text is taken from the following sources: vv. 1, 3, chorus: Hymn and Tune Book (American Unitarian Assoc., 1914); v. 2: Pierpont's original 1864 words. While the 1914 Unitarian version begins the chorus with "Lord of all," in the late 1970s Unitarian Universalists removed the masculine reference by singing "God of all" or "Source of all," and the latter wording is now the most popular. The tune comes from a melody in the chorale "Treuer Heiland, wir sind hir" by Conrad Kocher, from his Stimmen aus den Reicher Gottes (1838). William H. Monk revised and shortened Kocher's melody, and published his arrangement in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). The present version of the music is the 1861 version, transposed to G and changed from 4/2 to 4/4 time.
Text by Unitarian minister Frederick Hosmer, from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The tune is by Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, from the same hymnal.
In The Philadelphia Songster of 1789 (pp. 12-13), this text is attributed to a "Mr. Bidwell of Connecticut." The 1789 version gives the opening phrase as "Friendship to every generous mind...." The original melody came from "Viva la face, viva l'amor" in the third act of Handel's opera Atalanta. By 1798, the tune had been published with the present text in The American Musical Miscellany, ed. Andrew Wright (Northampton, Mass.: Daniel Wright and Co., 1798, pp. 249-252). The present arrangement is by William Walker, in his Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist of 1860. Walker's arrangement does not follow conventional rules of harmony (there are tritones on the down beat!), but if you can resist the temptation to regularize it you'll find it's satisfying to sing.
The text, often wrongly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, is by Eliza Thayer Clapp, a Unitarian mystic who contributed this poem to the Transcendentalist periodical The Dial in 1841. The poem was made into a hymn by Frederic Hedge and Frederic Huntington in 1853. It was included in the influential Hymns of the Spirit, ed. Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson (1864). The tune is the cheerful eighteenth century tune "Amsterdam," in a nineteenth century shape note arrangement, slightly altered for congregational use. The tune is #1648c in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Tune and chorus published in 1873 by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the first internationally known African American singing ensemble. Additional verses are "floating verses" learned at various folk music jam sessions 2007-2019; my research shows them to be free of copyright.
The classic African American spiritual in an 1873 arrangement by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The small notes are an optional simple piano accompaniment for what was an a capella solo in the original (released into the public domain). The Library of Congress website on spirituals says this song was "used by Harriet Tubman to identify herself to slaves who might want to flee north."
The text is by Samuel Longfellow, from his hymn "Eternal One, Thou Living God." This version is from Hymns for Church and Home (American Unitarian Assoc., 1896), verses 3 and 4. Verse 3 in the original said: "We bless thee [i.e., God] for the growing light." The present version renders this, "May we now bless the growing light," thus hopefully staying close to the original text. If you prefer, you could simply sing, "We bless God for the growing light." The tune is from Hymns for Church and Home (American Unitarian Assoc., 1896), where it is attributed to the Hamburger Musikalisches Handbuch (1690). The tune's name is "Winchester New."
This folk song was collected by Willis Laurence James. Professor at Spelman College from 1933-1966, James received a grant in 1939 to collect African American folk songs, and he collected this song in southern Georgia. James commented that although the melody uses only three pitches, "yet it has great power." The most familiar arrangement is the one by Wendell Whalum, a younger colleague of James; Whalum fully notated the vocal ornaments that James indicated by grace notes, made it into a call-and-response song, and added a more sophisticated harmony. Whalum's copyright-protected arrangement has become so widespread that it is all too easy to slip into its familiar melody and harmonies when improvising. The present arrangement instead uses the very simple melody notated by James, with a very simple arrangement folk-style harmony (the arrangement has been released into the public domain); like the version James collected in the field, it is not in call-and-response form.
Traditional Jewish nigun, or chant, sung as a form of prayer or meditation. I notated this as I learned it from oral tradition.
The text is from the poem "The Worship of Nature" by John Greenleaf Whittier, from The Complete Poetical Works of Whittier (Houghton Mifflin, 1894). The tune in Singing the Living Tradition is protected by copyright. The tune given here is by Thomas Commuck from Indian Melodies (1845), harmonized by Thomas Hastings. Commuck calls this tune "Waupun."
The poignant text is by Penina Moise, who was arguably the first major American Jewish woman poet. The tune is by Alois Kaiser, a composer who has been called "the founder of the American cantorate." Both music and text are from Union Hymnal for Jewish Worship (1914).
Traditional African American tune and text, in an SAB arrangement released into the public domain. The arrangement is for SAB; the small notes are for piano left hand. Roud #10075.
N.B.: A version sung during the Civil Rights Era, with the chorus "Keep your eyes on the prize," is copyright 1963 by Alice Wine. Wine's copyright-protected verses apparently include those beginning: "The only thing twe did right," "The only thing we did wrong," "The only chain," "Freedom's name is mighty sweet," and others. Additional verses which are clearly in the public domain include: "I got a mother [father, etc.] in the promised [freedom] land, Never gonna rest till I shake her [their] hand"; "Ain't been to heaven but I've been told, The streets are pearl and the gates are gold"; "Didn't come here for to stay always, In that promised [freedom] land I got a place"; and others.
This is not an old Quaker hymn, as is claimed in many hymnals and songbooks. The earliest known publication of the words was in 1868, in the New York Observer, where it was attributed to "Pauline T."; Robert Lowry then set the text to music for his 1869 Bright Jewels for the Sunday School. The third verse, written in 1950 by Doris Plenn, was the subject of litigation when Enya recorded this verse, thinking it was a public domain song. Pete Seeger's publishing company sued her, claiming copyright, but in litigation the court determined that Seeger did not have a good claim to the copyright, and that Plenn had intended the verse to go into the public domain.
The text was taken from History of Woman Suffrage, vol. III, ed. Elizabeth Cady Stanton et al. (1886), p. 39n. Frances Dana Barker Gage wrote the poem c. 1851 for the Ohio Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio (this was the convention at which Sojourner Truth gave her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech). I have changed the text slightly to remove gender-specific language; I release all such changes into the public domain. The tune, an American folk hymn, was probably first printed in the shape-note hymnal Genuine Church Music (Winchester, Va., 1832). It appears as 334, "The Christian's Farewell," in The Southern Harmony (William Walker, 1854). The present arrangement is a public domain adaptation of the 1854 version.
The origins of this song are somewhat obscure. J. B. Herbert obtained copyright for two arrangements of the song in 1923. One of these arrangements says, "from melodies suggested by T. H. Wiseman." This seems to be the earliest publication of the song. I have not been able to determine the relative contributions of Rev. Wiseman, Herbert, and oral tradition. Rev. T. H. Wiseman recorded the song in 1923 with a quartet that included A. C. Brogdon, H. S. Allen, J. C. Eubanks, and himself (Victor #19119-A). The version given here is mostly taken from sheet music published in 1923 by The Rodeheaver Co. (Chicago). However, two bass riffs from the recording have been added to the Rodeheaver sheet music.
The text by Frederick Lucian Hosmer is excerpted from "A Day in October," The Thoughts of God in Hymns and Poems: 2nd Series (Boston: Roberts Bros., 1894), pp. 117-119. The anonymous tune, named "Consolation," may have been composed by Lucius Chapin. This arrangement is from The Southern Harmony (1854). The tune is #14117 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
The tune and arrangement are by Sarah Lancaster (1834-1918), a composer of hymn tunes and shape note music; the alto part was added in 1911 by Belle Spivey; both taken from the Cooper revision of The Sacred Harp (1902). There are several texts with a refrain of "I'm on my journey home," from both the black and white American musical traditions; the present version includes verses from three different sources. As is usual with such songs, the journey home is a journey to "Canaan's land," which can be interpreted in many ways: as heaven, freedom, a better life.
The words are from the public domain. The first version of the music is a public domain choral arrangement; the second version is a lead sheet loosely based on the singing of Rev. Pearly Brown. This song is easily made into a call-and-response song. (N.B.: During the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, the ending of the first verse was changed from "Canaan's land" or "that new bright land," to "the freedom land.")
Text by William Channing Gannett, taken from Unity Hymns and Chorals, 1911, slightly altered. The music (named "Far Off Lands" for another hymn text with which it was paired) is hymn #254 in Hemlandssänger utgifna af Augustana-synoden, a Swedish-language Lutheran hymnal published in Rock Island, Ill., in 1892; this hymnal attributes the melody to the Bohemian Brethren.
The tune, arrangement, and text for vv. 1-3 are from Cabin and Plantation Songs: As Sung by the Hampton Students, 3rd ed., arranged by Thomas P. Fenner, Frederic G. Rathbun, and Bessie Cleveland (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1901), p. 118. The text for vv. 4-6 come from oral tradition. The song is #2286 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
The song started out as a folk song, and during the Civil War more complex words were added to it. Two versions are given. The text of the first version follows the poem published in the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 16, 1861, with a few minor changes; while the music is a composite of nineteenth century arrangements. The second version uses text and music of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, from The Story of the Jubilee Singers: With Their Songs, 1881. This became was a favorite of white and black Americans during the Civil War, and John Brown was understood to be a white man who cared enough about black equality to give his life for the cause. It was only in the early twentieth century that racist white Americans began to say that the only reason John Brown gave his life to free slaves was because he was mentally ill. In fact, there's really no evidence to support the claim that he suffered from mental illness. It's time to reclaim this song as an anti-racist anthem, to take its place alongside all the songs of struggle from the African American tradition. The song is #771 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
The text, by Henry van Dyke, was written for a theme in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and published in van Dyke's 1911 Book of Poems. A few minor changes have been made in the present text; I've released this text into the public domain. Although often attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven, the music is actually an arrangement Edward Hodges, of a theme by Beethoven. Hodges wrote his arrangement for Trinity Church Collection (1864). Some people will tell you that this tune is not the way Beethoven wrote it, and they're absolutely correct; but this is, in fact, the way Hodges arranged it. (After looking at Beethoven's score for the Ninth Symphony, I decided I appreciated Hodges's ability to make something that's singable by us ordinary mortals.)
The tune comes from The Choir, or Union Collection of Church Music, published by Lowell Mason in 1832. Mason named the tune "Nashville," but gave no attribution for the melody. The present arrangement, with a tenor and alto part different from the 1832 version, was published in The Boston Academy's Collection of Church Music in 1836; here, the tune is said to be "arranged from a Gregorian chant." Since Lowell Mason was on the editorial board of The Boston Academy's Collection, it's possible that he wrote the new tenor and alto parts, and provided the attribution. The words are from the poem "Barter" by Sara Teasdale, published in her book Love Songs (1917). The present version has three minor changes to the words: "Oh" added to the beginning of the first and second stanzas (to better fit words to the music); "white" changed to "bright" in the third stanza. The tune is #20427 in D. DeWitt Wasson's Hymn-tune Index.
By brothers Rosamond Johnson (music) and James Weldon Johnson (text). The latter described the origin of this song as follows: "A group of young men in Jacksonville, Florida, arranged to celebrate Lincoln's birthday in 1900. My brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, and I decided to write a song to be sung at the exercises. I wrote the words and he wrote the music. Our New York publisher, Edward B. Marks, made mimeographed copies for us, and the song was taught to and sung by a chorus of five hundred colored school children. Shortly afterwards my brother and I moved away from Jacksonville to New York, and the song passed out of our minds. But the school children of Jacksonville kept singing it; they went off to other schools and sang it; they became teachers and taught it to other children. Within twenty years it was being sung over the South and in some other parts of the country. Today the song, popularly known as the Negro National Hymn, is quite generally used."
The text is by Samuel Longfellow, very slightly adapted from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The music is by Franz Josef Haydn, slightly adapted from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914.
The familiar Unitarian Easter text by Samuel Longfellow, as altered in the 1924 Beacon Hymnal. The tune is called "Easter Hymn," and derives a tune published in Lyrica Davidica in 1708; Nicholas Temperley, in his Hymn and Tune Index, assigns this family of tunes the number 685. However, this variant of tune #685 doesn't match any of the tunes in Temperley's database, which only tracks tunes published in 1820 or earlier. Therefore, it appears this is a post-1820 variant of the tune. The arrangement is taken from early twentieth century Unitarian hymnals.
A lovely Easter text by Frederick Lucian Hosmer, from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914; I've altered it slightly and released the altered text into the public domain. The music is "Warren," a charming and catchy tune and arrangement written by the great 18th C. American composer William Billings. The tune is #4030 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Text is by Henry R. MacFayden, 1925. The music is the tune "Prospect,"" attributed to "Graham," from The Southern Harmony (1835); alto part from The Sacred Harp.
Tune, text, and arrangement are all from The [Fisk] Jubilee Singers (1873). The small notes were not in the original, and represent a possible simple accompaniment for the solo sections; I've released this arrangement into the public domain. The metronome marking is merely a suggestion, and represents the approximate tempo used by such singers as Paul Robeson and Odetta. The song is #3348 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
I learned this through oral tradition. After much research, I have not been able to find any evidence that this is copyright-protected.
The texts are drawn from the 1867 book Slave Songs of the U.S., as well as transcribed from oral tradition. The soprano and alto parts are from the 1867 book Slave Songs of the U.S. The tenor and bass parts were added to this version, and have been released into the public domain. The song is #11975 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
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 "Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Julia Ward Howe.
The text, by Unitarian William Channing Gannett, appeared in a substantially different form under the title "The Crowning Day" in Unity Hymns and Chorals for the Congregation and the Home, ed. W. C. Gannett, J. V. Blake, and F. L. Hosmer (1889). The present version of the text is taken with only slight modifications from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The tune is "Merionydd" by William Lloyd of Wales, and was first published in 1840. The arrangement is from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914, slightly modified.
An anonymous late 20th century North American chant, probably from the Pagan community. The first verse can be sung repeatedly as a chant; sing for three minutes or so. Or add the other anonymous verses to make a short song.
Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words in 1831. The music was probably adapted by Henry Carey in the late eighteenth century.
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.
The text is four stanzas from a poem by John G. Whittier titled "My Psalm." This version was taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Whittier (Houghton Mifflin, 1894), pp. 397-398. The tune is an English traditional song known variously as "Van Diemen's Land," "The Gallant Poacher," etc. The tune was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams prior to 1906, and included as the hymn tune "King's Lynn" in the English Hymnal (1906). Two arrangements are given: first, Vaughan Williams's arrangement for unison voice and piano; second, a basic SATB arrangement which I've released into the public domain. The tune is #221 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Text, tune, and arrangement all come from Cabin and Plantation Song: As Sung by the Hampton Students, ed. Thomas Fenner, 1880. One small alteration in the 1880 text: "Nobody knows but Jesus" has been replaced with "Nobody knows my sorrow," an alternative which comes from oral tradition. This song was first published in 1867 in Slave Songs of the U.S. with a slightly different tune and text. A second arrangement by Harry T. Burleigh is also included, taken from Botsford Collection of Folk Songs, vol. 1 (1929, now in public domain).
The first verse is by Isaac Watts. The second verse is by James Merrick. Both texts are from the eighteenth century. The music is a brilliant choral miniature by William Billings. This tune, named "Africa" by Billings, deserves to be better known; when sung as a four-part choral piece, each part has melodic interest in itself. The tune is #3357 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
This version is from The Beacon Song and Service Book (1925). The text was written by Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1902) and slightly adapted; the adaptation is released into the public domain. In The Beacon Song and Service Book, the tune given is "St. Clement" by Clement C. Scholefield.
The present version of the text by Samuel Longfellow was taken from the Proceeding at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Free Religious Association (1877), where it was sung to the tune of "Sweet Hour of Prayer." Since the Free Religious Association was non-theistic, the mention of "God" in the text may be interpreted metaphorically. I made one or two slight modifications to modernize the text. The tune is "Truro" by Charles Burney, from the late eighteenth century; the arrangement was taken from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The tune is #3991a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
The first three verses, tune, and arrangement are from Cabin and Plantation Songs: As Sung by the Hampton Students, 3rd ed., arranged by Thomas P. Fenner, Frederic G. Rathbun, and Bessie Cleveland (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1901), p. 114. The fourth verse comes from the Civil Rights Movement, which adapted this song for its own purposes. The song has many additional verses, come from its use in Christian churches, but many more from its use by the Civil Rights Movement. (Many versions of this song from the Civil Rights Movement have been published, mostly in arrangements that have been copyrighted.)
Alternate lyrics sung by George Carvill include: No more hunger... There'll be peace...
The traditional New Orleans jazz standard, transcribed from oral tradition. The very simple arrangement is released into the public domain. The melody dates back to the early 1900s, with the first recorded version issued in 1923. The song is #13983 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
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.
Verses 1, 3, 5; tune; and arrangement as printed in Fisk Jubilee Singers (1873). V. 4 from Hampton Institute, and v. 2 found in various 19th century sources.
This version of Frederick L. Hosmer's text comes from the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book and Candle Light Service, where it appears with the present tune. This is the hymnal used at the Star Island retreat center. The tune, "Litlington Tower," is by Joseph Barnby (1908).
The text is extracted from "The Present Crisis," a poem written by James Russell Lowell in 1845 to protest the Mexican American War. In the years leading up to the Civil War, abolitionists adopted it as a poetic anthem. I was not able to discover who adapted Lowell's long poem into a hymn; it does not appear in Johnson and Longfellow's Hymns of the Spirit (1864), but it was included in the American Unitarian Association's abridged ed. of Hymns for Church and Home (1904). The tune is called "Ebenezer" or "Ton-y-Botel" (lit. "tune in a bottle"), and was written by the Welsh composer of hymn tunes Thomas John Williams in 1890. The present arrangement was taken from the English Hymnal (1906). Note that while the music is in the public domain in the U.S. and Canada, it may not be in the public domain in the E.U., and possibly elsewhere.
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.
The origins of this song are obscure. It's surely of African American origin, and probably dates back to at least the nineteenth century. The tune is from oral tradition, with a very basic public domain arrangement.
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).
The text is a poem by Sarah Flower Adams; the present version was taken from the American Unitarian Association's Hymns for Church and Home: With Tunes (1896). I adapted some wording, and released all such adaptations into the public domain. The tune and arrangement are from Amos Pillbury's United States Harmony (1799), where it is named "Charleston." The tune is #7876a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
The text is a poem by Caroline Miles Hill, as printed in The World's Great Religious Poetry (Macmillan, 1923). The tune, known as "Charlestown," comes from Amos Pillbury's United States Harmony (1799). The arrangement is from the "James Edition" of The Sacred Harp (1911); melody moved from tenor to soprano, and soprano part given to tenors. The tune is #7876a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Two versions of this hymn are given. The first text is adapted from a hymn by William Channing Gannett, written for the Harvest Festival at the St. Paul Unitarian church in 1882. Originally titled "The Year of the Lord," I've adapted it as a Transcendentalist hymn; not many changes were needed, and I release this adaptation into the public domain. The first tune is by Thomas Commuck, from his book Indian Melodies (1845), the first book of music published by a Native American composer. The arrangement is by Thomas Hastings. Commuck contracted with Hastings to write the arrangements, doubtless with the thought that Hastings's name would help sell the book. The second text uses a degenderized version of the traditional words by Gannett; this slight adaptation is released into the public domain. The second tune and arrangement by George Job Elvey are taken from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914.
The text is the poem "Prayer for This House" by Louis Untemeyer, first published in This Singing World: An Anthology of Modern Poetry for Young People, ed. Louis Untemeyer (Harcourt Brace, 1923), p. 67. The wording and punctuation are exactly as they appear in the 1923 version. The music is the hymn tune "Oldbridge," by R. N. Quaile, 1905. This arrangement appeared in The Riverdale Hymnal, 1912.
The poem "A Prayer in Spring" by Robert Frost, from his book A Boy's Will (1913). The music is "Song 22" by Orlando Gibbons. The tune is #392 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
A shaker tune sung with vocables rather than lyrics. Dances and "marches" were regular features of Shaker worship services. Sister Lilian Phelps of the Canterbury, N.H., Shakers, wrote in 1961:
"It was the belief of the Shakers that every faculty should be used in the worship of God, and so, various forms of physical exercise were introduced, particularly the March. A group of eight or ten singers, occupied the center of the room, around which the members marched in perfect formation. It was with a graceful, rhythmic motion of the hands as the members marched to the slow or quick tempo of the music."
Sister Lilian Phelps goes on to add that as Shaker groups changed and had a larger proportion of elderly members who could not participate, dancing and marching were discontinued, so as not to exclude any of the worshippers from union.
This song was used in some Shaker communities for dancing. It would be inauthentic for non-Shaker communities to try to replicate Shaker dances and marches, but non-Shakers can use this song as a form of prayer to help create "perfect union among the members" and with God (or some higher power). Like many other meditative chants and rounds, it can be sung repeatedly for some minutes.
A rousing spiritual, in a beautiful arrangement by Harry T. Burleigh from 1918. Burleigh's original piano accompaniment varies from verse to verse; the present arrangement uses just one of Burleigh's verses, and is released into the public domain.
The origins of this song are obscure. The somewhat repetitive tune was supposedly composed by Christoph Praetorius (died 1590), though I have not been able to confirm that. The English words clearly do not date from the fourteenth century. The earliest publication I've found for the words is in a 1934 songbook of the Kent County (U.K.) Girl Guides, so they may be copyright-protected. However, in their songbook Rise Up Singing, Annie Patterson and Peter Blood call this a public domain song; Patterson and Blood carefully research copyright, and I'm inclined to trust them; plus, no one has sued them for copyright infringement.
This anonymous chant, transcribed from oral tradition, is probably from the late twentieth century North American Pagan community. It is typically sung repeatedly for 3 minutes or so. Two versions are given: a lead sheet, and a very basic SATB arrangement. Both versions may be sung as a three-part round. I release both arrangements into the public domain.
From the poem "In Common Things" by Minot Judson Savage. The present version was taken from his book Poems of Modern Thought (1884), and slightly modernized. In the late 20th century, this text was paired with the tune Coolinge, which is protected by copyright. However, in earlier hymnals this text was often paired with the tune "Langran," composed by James Langran, the pleasant and easily singable melody of which covers a range of just a sixth. This version of "Langan" comes from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914.
Tune, text, and arrangement are by Robert Lowry (1864). The present version was taken from Lowry's Bright Jewels for the Sunday School (1869).
The copyright status of "Simple Gifts" is complicated, as transcriptions from manuscript sources have been published as copyright-protected music; the version included here does not match any of those published versions. Chord progressions or choral arrangements for the tune may also be copyright-protected; the chord progression in the version included here is an utterly simple I-V progression which could not conceivably be protected by copyright. Both a lead sheet and a very simple SATB arrangement are provided.
This traditional Zulu song is best known in a copyright-protected arrangement by the Swedish-South African choral director Anders Nyberg, published in his book, Freedom Is Coming in 1984. According to Boris Gorelik, in "'Siyahamba': The Origins and Significance of a South African Chorus," Journal of Music Research in Africa, vol. 17, 2020, issue 2, "the earliest documented performance of the chorus took place in Dundee in the current uMzinyathi district of the former Natal province (now KwaZulu-Natal or KZN), South Africa, in 1952.... However, it appears that this musical work has a longer undocumented history...." The version given here has the public domain folk melody, adding a simple SATB arrangement that is released into the public domain.
Alternate lyrics from Ocupella include: We are singing for a peaceful land... We are dreaming of a peaceful land... We are ready for a peaceful land...
Words, melody, and arrangement from Religious Folk Songs of the Negro as Sung on the Plantations, new edition, Thomas P. Fenner, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (Va.) Institute Press, 1909, slightly adapted as follows: verses 2 and 4 from oral tradition; in the 1909 version, the last line is always repeated after a one-measure phrase with the words "True believer." The song is #10072 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was well known poet in her day, an African American, and a religious liberal who belonged to both Unitarian and AME churches. As we rethink the emphasis we have traditionally given to texts by dead white men, it made sense to me to use one of Harper's poems as a hymn text. This text is taken from the poem "Songs for the People"; the meter has been regularized in a few places, and all alterations are released into the public domain. The tune is "Mohegan" by Native American composer Thomas Commuck, from his 1845 book Indian Melodies, harmonized Thomas Hastings. Some rhythmic alterations in the tune were required to fit the unusual meter of the text; all alterations are released into the public domain.
Tune and text from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1873. According to the Library of Congress webpage on spirituals, this song was composed by Wallace Willis, an enslaved man from Oklahoma.
To avoid all copyright issues, the present version uses a new tune and arrangement that have been released into the public domain. In addition, the original 1861 words are used. (N.B.: The version by Waldemar Hille and Pete Seeger may be entirely covered by copyright, since they significantly modified both the public domain text and the public domain music, and wrote the arrangement.)
Text, tune, and arrangement are from Cabin and Plantation Songs: As Sung by the Hampton Students, 3rd ed., arranged by Thomas P. Fenner, Frederic G. Rathbun, and Bessie Cleveland (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1901). The text has been slightly adapted, and is released into the public domain.
The first version is arranged by the great African American composer Harry T. Burleigh. Note that Burleigh emphasizes the first word of the chorus, "Swing low, sweet chariot...." The second version is a simpler 1872 arrangement by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (rebarred slightly). This song was sung by Wallace and Minerva Willis at Spencer Academy, a school for Choctaw boys. The Willises were of African descent, and enslaved by a Choctaw man named Britt Willis. The Fisk Jubilee Singers learned the song through an intermediary who had worked at the Spencer School. Some historians (e.g., Currie Ballard) assert the song was composed by Wallace and Minerva Willis. The song is #5435 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
The text is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore from his Love's Gift and Crossing (Macmillan, 1918), p. 147. Tagore's poem is in free verse, and required a few minor changes so that it would fit into a hymn tune with a regular meter: "Then amidst" for "Amidst"; "small" for "little"; in the last verse, "and then my life" for "and my life". These changes are released into the public domain. This text is paired with two different tunes. The first tune and arrangement, named "Still Better," is by Israel Bradfield and J. L. Meggs (1869), and is taken from the 1911 James edition of The Sacred Harp. The second tune and arrangement are from Amos Pillbury's United States Harmony (1799), where it is named "Charleston." The tune is #7876a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Two versions of this traditional Georgia Sea Islands song are given. The first follows the Alan Lomax recording of Bessie Jones singing this song. (The transcription does not do justice to Jones' many subtle variations on the basic tune, and there is no reason to sing this song exactly the same way every verse.) The second version approximates the way Bernice Johnson Reagon sang this song. Variant words are given in the two versions.
Text by John Addington Symonds (1880), taken largely from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The tune is "Truro" by Charles Burney, from the late eighteenth century; the arrangement was taken from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The tune is #3991a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Though the origins of this song are obscure, the tune and text are clearly in the public domain, and date to c. 1920. Some sources state that the text was copyrighted by Ava B. Christansen c. 1920, and the tune was copyrighted by Harry Dixon Loess c. 1920, but I have not found a publication with tune and text that early. Even if these two White people copyrighted tune and text, they may well have adapted it from folk tradition; so the widespread attribution of this as an African American folk song may be correct (though if so, it sounds more like a gospel era song than a pre-Civil War song to my ears.) Since all the arrangements found were copyright-protected, a public domain lead sheet with very basic folk-type chords is provided, as well as a very basic public domain SATB arrangement with a Swing-era turnaround to keep it from getting too boring (and to prevent anyone from claiming that this is one of the copyrighted versions). The song is #17768 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Alternate lyrics from Ocupella include: Homes and jobs for everyone...
The song was first recorded in 1964 on the Folk-Legacy audio recording Golden Ring. The lyrics of the first two verses were first published in 1983 in The New American Songster, ed. Charles Darling. Darling notes, "Howie Mitchell learned the words to 'This Old World' from Bernie Lourie while attending Cornell University." I can find no earlier instance of this exact text, and my best guess is that musicians in the Folk Revival of the 1950s and early 1960s borrowed phrases from other folk religious songs to make up these lyrics. The 1964 recording simply repeats the first verse as the third verse; for this version, I borrowed phrases from various "floating verses" to make up a somewhat different third verse; I don't think this third verse is copyrightable, but if it is, I release it into the public domain. Two arrangements of the tune "Restoration" are provided. The first is from The Southern Harmony (1854). The second is from The Sacred Harp (1911); note that the melody is in the tenor in this second arrangement. One possibility for congregational singing is to use the first arrangement for the first two verses, then when the congregation has the melody firmly in their minds, switch to the second arrangement for some variation. The second arrangement can also be used for SATB singing. The tune is #25258 in D. DeWitt Wasson's Hymn-tune Index.
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.
The text by Sarojini Naidu is from her book The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death, and the Spring (London: Heinemann, 1912). A poet and a politician, Naidu was a follower of Gandhi, and also supported women's rights. The tune is from Louis Bourgeois' Geneva Psalter; this tune is usually called "Donne Secours." The harmonization is from The English Hymnal (1906). Note that while the music is in the public domain in the U.S. and Canada, it may not be in the public domain in the E.U., and possibly elsewhere.
Composed by Richard Jones in 1924. When Bertha "Chippie" Hill's recording of this song (with Jones on piano) was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, The Blues Foundation called it "one of the enduring anthems of the blues as hope for the future even in the darkest of times." Although accompaniment to this jazz standard is usually improvised, a simple SATB arrangement is provided and is released into the public domain.
Text from "Stanzas of Freedom" by James Russell Lowell, The Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell, 1885. The tune, titled "Salzburg," was composed by Jacob Hintze, and harmonized by J. S. Bach.
The text is by Clifford Bax, written for Gustav Holst's motet on the tune Old 124th. The motet was published c. 1919, though apparently Bax wrote the text around 1916. The First World War undoubtedly influenced Bax's poem, and this may be considered another hymn for peace. The text has been degenderized, and those minor alterations are released into the public domain. The tune is by Louis Bourgeois, from the Genevan Psalter, and the arrangement comes from The English Hymnal (1906). Note that while the music is in the public domain in the U.S. and Canada, it may not be in the public domain in the E.U., and possibly elsewhere. Holst's motet is now in the public domain (in the U.S.), and could serve as a choir anthem. The tune is #123a in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Two versions of the music are given. The first version is a lead sheet with melody and chords. The melody is essentially the same as that given in Folk Songs of the American Negro, ed. Frederick J. Work (1907); the guitar chords are a simple indication of one possible harmonization. The second version is by Harry T. Burleigh, published in 1922. Burleigh's original piano accompaniment varies from verse to verse; the present version uses one of Burleigh's verses, and is released into the public domain. The words are taken from oral tradition. Several of the verses are "floating verses," used in more than one spiritual. The song is #5439 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
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.
The words are traditional/anonymous. The first three verses are attributed to South African sources; the other verses are anonymous. While the music for this song is best known in a copyrighted arrangement by Anders Nyberg (Walton Music, 1984), Annie Patterson and Peter Blood, in their exhaustively researched songbook Rise Again, found no copyright of the song itself, attributing it to "traditional South African." The present version, including all three vocal parts, was published by the City of Glasgow, Scotland (with no copyright), with the attribution "Traditional, collected South Africa."
In 2017, a federal court ruled that the tune, arrangement, and first verse of "We Shall Overcome" are in the public domain (We Shall Overcome Foundation v. The Richmond Organization, Inc., 2017 WL 3981311 [S.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2017]). In addition to the court ruling, the defendant and plaintiff subsequently entered into a settlement agreement which said, in part, that TRO would not "claim copyright in the melody or lyrics of any verse of the song 'We Shall Overcome'"; furthermore, TRO agreed that all verses of the song were "hereafter dedicated to the public domain" (We Shall Overcome Foundation v. The Richmond Org., 330 F. Supp. 3d 960 [S.D.N.Y. 2018]). The present arrangement is released into the public domain.
A little-known but excellent spiritual, from the Fisk Jubilee Singers 1873 song book. The words have been slightly adapted, including adding "floating verses" (i.e., verses used in several other spirituals).
The song is #12302 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The Index lists two sources. First is John W. Work, ed., American Negro Songs and Spirituals (1940), where the song is titled "I'm Going to Sing," and the words are "I'm going to sing when the spirit says sing"; other verbs were then substituted for "sing."
The Fresno State University Traditional Ballad Index lists the earliest publication date as 1973, giving a typical verse as "We're going to move when the spirit says move." The Traditional Ballad Index also supplies the following notes: "Listed in Folksingers Wordbook [ed. Silber and Silber, 1973] as a Civil Rights song, though I've met it as a sort of religious play-party. Despite the Silber/Silber-Folksingers Wordbook title, the first verse I've usually heard is 'I'm gonna sing when the spirit says sing.' Which has a more solid Biblical basis anyway; 1 Corinthians 14:15 refers to singing praise with the Spirit, but I don't recall moving with the Spirit." Quakers might disagree; they often speak about being moved by the Spirit.
There are several main variants of the words. As noted, the Traditional Ballad Index uses the first person plural pronoun, "We're going to move....". The songbook Rise Up Singing uses the first person singular pronoun, "I'm Gonna Do What the Spirit Says," and includes a verse (presumably from the Civil Rights Movement), "I'm going to jail when the Spirit says 'jail'." The hymnal Singing the Journey has an uncommon variant, using the second person (singular or plural?) pronoun, "You got to do when the Spirit says do."
In the version given here, even though the first publication in 1940 uses the first person singular, I chose to go with the first person plural, the primary variant given in the Traditional Ballad Index. I didn't use the second person pronoun, since it appears to be uncommon. But this is folk music, and you can use whatever pronoun you wish. I took the rest of the words from a variety of public domain sources, but here again, you can improvise as you please.
The melody is the way I learned the song; it's a folk song so you may know a different version. I also give a basic SATB arrangement. I release both my transcription of the melody and the SATB arrangement into the public domain.
The text is three stanzas from the long poem "The Seeking of the Waterfall," by John Greenleaf Whittier. The present version is taken from Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier, new revised edition, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1883. The tune, called "Devotion," was written by Alexander Johnson in 1818. The arrangement comes from the 1902 Cooper revision of The Sacred Harp. The tune is #16108 in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index.
Often wrongly assumed to be a folk song, the text was published in the periodical Family Memorials in 1880, where it was attributed to "Mrs. M. A. Brigham." The tune and arrangement were written by the nineteenth century gospel composer Charles Gabriel.
The text is by Sarojini Naidu, 1905, from her book The Golden Threshold (London: William Heineman, 1905). The tune is by Johann Hermann Schein (1628), harmonized by Johann Sebastian Bach (c. 1730), B.W.V. 377.
The first version has a melody based on oral tradition, with a simple arrangement that has been released into the public domain. The second version is a lead sheet with a melody based on a recording by Pastor Jerome Jackson (youtube.com/watch?v=4CvId9Z6ebw).
The origins of this song are obscure, though it's clearly a public domain folk song. "Woke Up This Morning with My Mind on Jesus" was recorded as early as 1936; according to Fresno State University's Traditional Ballad Index, the 1936 version has the following verses: "I woke up this morning with my mind standing on Jesus"; "I'm walking and talking with my mind..."; "I woke up singing..."; "I'm saying my prayers...." The Traditional Ballad Index also states that the first recording of "Woke Up This Morning...Stayed on Freedom" was c. 1962, at the "Albany Mass Meeting." In Pete Seeger's book Everybody Says Freedom (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1989), the claim is made that Rev. Robert Wesby of Aurora, Ill., substituted the word "freedom" for "Jesus" in this song. Robert Zellner then made a well-known arrangement as a call-and-response song. Zellner's arrangement is protected by copyright, so be very careful when recording or performing a call-and-response version of this song that you're not unconsciously copying his protected arrangement.
These are the original words from Stith Mead, General selection of the newest and most admired hymns and spiritual songs now in use (1811). The original did in fact say, "And while from death I'm free / I'll sing and joyful be..." — this was later modified by someone with a different theology to say, "And when from death I'm free," which has a very different meaning! The original meaning is much better aligned with present-day religious progressives. The tune comes from the 1840 revision of William Walker's Southern Harmony. The present arrangement of the tune dates from a 1911 edition of The Sacred Harp (when the alto part was added). The tune is #33330 in D. DeWitt Wasson's Hymn-tune Index.
The text, a poem titled "The Future," is often misattributed to Adin Ballou, but it was first published in September, 1848, in the Western Literary Messenger, where it was attributed to "G. H. C." Two tunes are provided. The first tune is "Pilgrim," with which this text was often paired; this arrangement comes from the American Unitarian Assoc. Hymn and Tune Book of 1914. The second tune is "Hyfrydol."
Words and music "received" by Malissa Soule of the the Mount Lebanon Shaker community, circa 1869; in a public domain arrangement.
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).
Many hymns and sacred songs are known by more than one title. This list gives some of these alternate title. (The titles used on this webpage are, to the best of my knowledge, the titles used by the authors of the original texts.)
All Are Architects of Fate — see: The Builders.
All Whose Boast It Is — see: True Freedom
Cumbayah — see: Come by Here
Future, The — see: Years Are Coming
Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield — see: Down by the Rieverside
Hail the Glorious Golden City — see: City of Our Hopes
Here on the Paths of Every Day — see: Earth Is Enough
Keep Your Hand on the Plow — see: Hold On
Kumbayah — see: Come by Here
May Nothing Evil Cross This Door — see: Prayer for This House
My Life Flows on in Endless Song — see: How Can I Keep from Singing
No More Auction Block — see: Many Thousand Gone
O Give Us Pleasure in the Flowers— see: Prayer for Spring
Oh I Woke Up This MOrning — see: Woke Up This Morning
Pilgrim's song — see: Wayfaring Stranger
Preacher and the Slave — see: Sweet By-and-By
Sakura — see: Cherry Blooms
Study War No More — see: Down by the Riverside
Tis a Gift To Be Simple — see: Simple Gifts
When Israel Was in Egypt's Land — see: Go Down, Moses
When the Spirit Says Do — see: We're Going To Do
