I have developed a minor obsession about the worship song of the late 1960's and 70's "Sons of God, Hear His Holy Word". It represents for me the impermanence of some worship music. The song was very very popular in its day yet has completely disappeared from the church landscape.
I could never find a recording of it and have blogged about it more than once. I continue to get people coming by the blog looking for it.
But today eureka! In a very unlikely place : a Coptic Orthodox website I found a mp3 of this song. Here is the collection of songs. It is third from the bottom.
I downloaded the song and you can listen to it here. Get out your acoustic guitar start strumming and enjoy! Below are 6 verses to this song.
Now, on to more forgotten classics of the folk worship craze ... Shalom, anyone?
Refrain: Sons of God: Hear His Holy word,
Gather around the table of the Lord
Eat His Body, drink His Blood
And we'll sing a song of love
Allelu, allelu, allelu, alleluia.
Brothers, sister we are one,
And our life has just begun,
In the spirit we are young,
We can live forever.
Shout together to the Lord
Who has promised our reward,
Happiness a hundred fold
And we'll live forever.
Jesus gave a new command:
That we love our fellow man,
Till we reach the promised land
Where we'll live forever.
If we want to live with Him,
We must also die with Him,
Die to selfishness and sin
And we'll live forever.
Make the world a unity,
Make all men one family,
Till we meet The Trinity
And we'll live forever.
With the church we celebrate,
Jesus coming we await,
So we'll make a holiday,
So we'll live forever.
15 comments:
We sang that every week in our first communion classes! I love that song. Thank you for taking the effort to find it.
Thanks go much for finding and posting this song. Being a '60's kid and '70's folk group/Charismatic Catholic groupie it brings back wonderful memories. The guitarists in our little folk group used to joke about it's monotonous chords "C, Am,F and G we we will play eternally! Alleu! Alleu! Alleuia!" - which, if sung p to the melody, actually fits the Chorus!
Ha, thats funny!
WOW, WOW, wow.. someone just like me....
I had an insanely MAJOR obsession with finding the hymn. I grew up with it as well and when it dissapeared I actively looked for it for YEARS....Many, Many years.
If I was visiting a different Catholic church I would scour the aisles looking for an old copy of a hymn book that might have the song.
I live in Mississauga Canada. In our area Catholic Education is offered in French and English and my daughter had the benefit of attending a French Elementary school.
I wasn't expecting it but during her First Communion mass at the French Church "Saint Famille" the kids started singing this familiar melody and instantly I knew it was "Sons of God" en Francais which is translated to "Rassemble". The year was 2001 or 2002 and accompanying the children was the priest who played in beautifully on a BANJO. The lyric "Sons of God" was not translated the same in French... that lyric was Ra-sem-ble pronounced RAH-SOMM-BLAY and I think that is the reason why it wasn't bansished from the French church - much to my delight.
I finally found it on the internet on a very obscure site in Australia. I went looking for it again but I couldn't find it but on my old PC not plugged in a the moment I have a scanned in photocopy of the hymn and a midi done in the key of D or Dminor. Once I plug it in again I will post or send you the midi.
Your MP3 you found is AWESOME.
I am able to play the song on piano and guitar and I also use the chords C-AM-F Major - G Major and it works for the ENTIRE hymn. All versus chorus and a little rythmic bridge that can be played between chorus and verse.
Another hymn I love a lot is "Here I am Lord". I emailed the author -Daniel Shutte and he sent me the name of the composer and author of Sons of God (as soon as I dig up that email I will post the information to your blog as well).
Great find!!!!
Warm Regards,
Howie
(Mississauga, Ontario, Canada)
Hi Howard,
Great note you posted. The hymn does exert a strange fascination for many. It was omnipresent in many churches for a time and then it just disappeared.
Lots of folks come here looking for the hymn or lyrics.
Yes please post whatever you have.
Thanks.
When my Father was alive, my two brothers, sister and I would sing this in the car with my Mother as a family, happily at the top of our lungs driving down the road. I love this song. I had memorized most of the verses but it is so great to have the entire lyrics now. Thank you so much for sharing it. Henry Family : )
I've been looking for this song for years! I remember singing it during morning Mass in grade school waaay back in the mid to late 60's. The refrain stuck but the rest of the song was lost on me until now! Thanks!
I, too, have had a strange fascination with this song and have sung it for my kids numerous times over the years - although the chorus is really the only part I could remember. They didn't really get the "Eat His Body, Drink His Blood" part but now I have all the verses to help put it into context. Also, being a guitarist myself, I liked mikedrabik's comment.
Thanks
I agree with everyone else. Why is it gone ? Another song that we sang at the end of every communion was "sent forth by God's blessing". It's still there, but not sung more than once a year.
Steve Higgins sang this last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It was truly awesome!
It's funny that you found it on a Coptic web site. I grew up in the Coptic church in the '80s, where we often sang the hymn during communion. I hadn't thought about it in decades, until I attended a new Coptic church this morning and heard the hymn again. It brought back such happy memories of my boyhood that I was struggling to keep it together (which was probably mystifying to my wife). I've always loved this hymn.
Oh man, I am so glad to have found this site...Btw, if anyone has the lyrics to a song from that era entitled "Men of Faith, Men of Hope," I would highly appreciate it! :) I have been looking for that hymn for quite some time.....
I heard an impromptu rendition of "Sons of God" this morning on WGN radio in Chicago. Some banter about how priests tell jokes during their sermons morphed into an exampe of how short a homily will be on the day of a big game ... two sentences and "Sons of God, hear His...." Next thing you know, the whole studio staff is singing along.
The 70's worship song that won't go away.
thanks so much same as others has brought back a lot of good memories.I wonder if you know of another oldie not sure of title I assume it is How high the sky as this is the beginning of song.We used to sing it at same time of Sons of God
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