Name that hymn

[MotherBluestocking]

A man that looks on glass
On it may stay his eye

Ornally - that's not fair - I will think of that now!

We used to sing 'most highly flavoured gravy' rather than 'most highly favoured lady' in 'the Angel Gabriel' at school. You would have thought I'd gave grown out of that now I'm in my 40s!

Pigeon, oh yes, that one! DS never did it again after the wedding when it turned out that the bride had, in fact, run away...

Sorry, DB (the organist) not DS.

On the subject of inappropriate puns and double entendres, we always used to smirk at this line from Good King Wenceslas:

Heat was in the very sod
which his foot had printed

...and then there's this one:

Shy little flowers in hedge and dyke
That hide themselves away.
God loves them, though they are so small,
He makes them bright and gay.

(I Love God's Tiny Creatures. Really saccharine tune!)

I've just remembered the 'Plumbers' Hymn' the second verse of which goes:

Crown him, ye morning stars of light,
who fixed this floating ball;
now hail the Strength of Israel's might,
and crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all!

Organ improvisations with. Sense of humour are a real treat if the player is clever and subtle enough.

The big kids are choral scholars. They recent proscessed out to improvisations in the imperial march from Star Wars ( presumably for Star Wars day!).

Young's modulus hymn:

'Take from our souls
The strain and stress..'

(Young's modulus being stress / strain)

The hymn to poor bicycle maintenance:

'My chains fell off..."

Like that Brenda!

Nancy, songs of praise, I think.

Percy Dearmer asked J Anstruther ( author of Mrs miniver) to write a hymn, she said but I'm agnostic/ atheist, he said never mind, so she wrote When a knight... So I always think of it as the Atheists' hymn, and jolly fine it is.

I weep easily, but especially during
O valiant hearts
Abide with me
The lord's my shepherd, to Crimond

These two...
Crowns to the valiant, to weary ones rest...../Nor the thing prayed for come short of the prayer.

...Thou wilt receive
Wilt Welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve

Another to spot, which was a sort of unofficial school hymn at secondary

Our hearts are pining/ to see thy shining

Teach me my God and King was the school hymn when I was 9.

I can highly recommend all the Maddy Prior /Carnival Band CDs of early gallery hymns.

Maddy keeps the hobgoblins I am delighted to say:

Lord for ourselves; in living power remake us-
self on the cross, and Christ upon the throne,
past put behind us, for the future take us:
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Rousing last verse at the Queen's 90th birthday service

There's one with a really long gloria that I used to love. All I can remember is: Glo-ooooo-ooooo-ooooo-ria hosanna in excelsis and the tune.

I adore do not be afraid (do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine. when you walk through the waters I'll be with you, you will never sink beneath the waves. do not be afraid...) but it always makes me cry now as it was my grandmas final funeral hymn. Still love it though, beautiful words.

I have forgotten a lot now but my brain won't let go of colours of day and lord of the dance

Immaculate Mary,
Our hearts are on fire.

Remember this one now. I never understood that verse about dowry!

Brain is kicking in and I'm now and I'm remembering our whole school singing "thine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord..."

I go to a pentecostal church and we sing a lot more modern things like rend collective, matt redman, hillsong etc but we still sing some old ones as well such as How great thou art and this one "here in the ground his body lay,
Light of the worlds by darkness slain; Then bursting forth on glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again!"

Eiffels I'm with you on Lord for the Years. Love that hymn even though it's rather 'modern'! Even my Ma likes it

Judah and Jerusalem fear not, nor be dismayed.
For tomorrow, go ye forth,
And the Lord he will be with you.

Perfection!

Cheese, a Carol, Angels from the realms of glory?

Or ding ding merrily on high?

And on that day
When my strength is failing
The end draws near
And my time has come
Still my soul will
Sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years
And then forevermore

Loving this one at the moment

Intercessor friend of sinners
Earth's redeemer plead for me
When the songs of all the sinless
Sweep across the crystal sea.

Sang at our wedding,beautiful.

Really miss hymns! We sang a hymn in assembly every day at my school in the 1970s, I think it set us up for the day. I was at a humanist funeral recently and we sang Abide With Me and it was beautiful. Someone had heard that the uncle concerned had liked the hymn despite losing his faith. I used to amaze my children by singing bits of hymn in the car, Guide me oh they great redeemer was my favourite when tackling fierce London roundabouts or for when we were lost. I've been a happy humanist/atheist for years but still miss belting out a good hymn. Sing very badly, btw.