WHEN THE HERALD ANGELS SANG

(A Contemporary Carol by Peter Casey and Michael Lehr)

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Peter is a long-time friend of mine (from back in the 60s), and a talented lyricist with whom I've collaborated often. I loved the words of this the moment I saw them. To my mind they marry the best of the old and the new, and carry a lot of depth. I wanted to get that feeling into the music.

Whilst this was originally written as a congregational or solo piece, it seemed to lend itself to four-part harmony, and the music for that is available at the bottom of this page. You can listen to the MIDI of it by clicking here, or an MP3 of quite a good live recording by clicking here.

(page one of 'When the Herald Angels Sang' sheet music in *.gif format)

(page two of 'When the Herald Angels Sang' sheet music in *.gif format)

(page three of 'When the Herald Angels Sang' sheet music in *.gif format)

(page four of 'When the Herald Angels Sang' sheet music in *.gif format)

Lyrics (by Peter Casey)

When the herald angels sang
"Glory to the newborn king",
He was least of all on earth,
No choir carolled at his birth,
Not a bell on earth would ring,
Just a baby's hunger-pang.

Only when he stood to face
Pilate, waiting for his death,
Would he take the name of king,
When he had given everything,
Stripped himself of all but breath,
Then he ruled all time and space.

Can this be reality?
The wise are fools and fools are wise;
A baby holds the world in thrall;
A man is king when stripped of all
And lives for ever as he dies.

(Repeat first verse)

This is the version in four-part harmony.

(page one of 'When the Herald Angels Sang' sheet music in *.gif format)

(page two of 'When the Herald Angels Sang' sheet music in *.gif format)

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