I have a copy of this song to hand, straight from the 2006 'Breaking Bread' book. I'm also very familiar with it. It is in the key of D, changes to F for a bit, then goes back to D.

Those chords have been derived from a lush, loungelike accompaniment to this song, written for piano and choir. That's the most likely explanation I have for them. Because for the typical person playing chords on a guitar, they are pretty awful. The first note of the song is a C#. It is discordant against a G chord. Same thing for the second syllable of 'abide.' Where there's Gm above 'whom' the note is an A.

It is true that discord and dissonance can add meaning to a song, but these chords go too far, in my opinion. Even when I was in a choir and our skilled leader was at the grand piano, the first measure of this song always sounded like a train wreck.


I've been playing it here on my little keyboard, and I think that for a lone folkie trying to get folks to sing, the chords need reworking.