Lyr Add: 23rd Psalm in Scots

Subject: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From: Griffy
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 04:39 PM

Hello All,

I was on this website: www.rampantscotland.com/songs/ and I noticed that it has a version of the 23rd Psalm in Scots. I had a look at it and thought that it sounded really good in Scots and indeed is superior to the English hymn version which has always seemed a bit 'clunky' to me. The thing is, the Scots version doesn't fit to either of the usual tunes which are used for this hymn (Crimond and Belmont). The more I looked at the words, and tried to fit a replacement tune to them, the more 'The Road and the Miles to Dundee' kept pushing it's way into my head. What do you guys think? Do you think it would be okay to sing it to this tune or doea anyone know of something more suitable? Has anyone heard this actually being sung?

Ta,

Griffy

Subject: RE: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From:
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 05:30 PM

It gets sung in churches reasonably often. I can't remember the name of the tune. There are at least two. There is a prose version and a sung version in English and in Scottish Gaelic. May be the same with the Broad Scots version, I assume you are referring to.

Subject: Lyr Add: 23RD PSALM IN SCOTS
From: Haruo
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 06:17 PM

Here's the text from the site Griffy failed to link to:

23RD. PSALM IN SCOTS

The Lord is my Shepherd in nocht am I wantin'
In the haugh's green girse does He mak me lie doon
While mony puir straiglers are bleatin' and pantin'
By saft-flowin' burnies He leads me at noon.

When aince I had strayed far awa in the bracken,
And daidled till gloamin' cam ower a' the hills,
Nae dribble o' water my sair drooth to slacken,
And dark grow'd the nicht wi' its haars and its chills.

Awa frae the fauld, strayin' fit-sair and weary,
I thocht I had naethin' tae dae but tae dee.
He socht me and fand me in mountain hechts dreary,
He gangs by fell paths which He kens best for me.

And noo, for His name's sake, I'm dune wi' a' fearin'
Though cloods may aft gaither and soughin' win's blaw.
"Hoo this?" or "Hoo that?" -- oh, prevent me frae spearin'
His will is aye best, and I daurna say "Na".

The valley o' death winna fleg me to thread it,
Through awfu' the darkness, I weel can foresee.
Wi' His rod and His staff He wull help me to tread it,
Then wull its shadows, sae gruesome, a' flee.

Forfochen in presence o' foes that surround me,
My Shepherd a table wi' denties has spread.
The Thyme and the Myrtle blaw fragrant aroond me,
He brims a fu' cup and poors oil on my head.

Surely guidness an' mercy, despite a' my roamin'
Wull gang wi' me doon tae the brink o' the river.
Ayont it nae mair o' the eerie an' gloamin'
I wull bide in the Hame o' my Faither for ever.

That really is a very good text. The metre is 12.11.12.11 fair sich as may wunna cull the indices. (Nae, that's na Scots, I made it up so it must be American. Lallans, I calls it.) The only 12.11.12.11 tunes the Cyberhymnal lists are Blacklands, Down Ampney and Draper; Kremser is another obvious one. There are doubtless many others (and 12.12.12.12's and 12.10.12.10's etc. can easily be turned into 12.11D's by the judicious application of slurs or bifurcation of notes. But I agree with Griffy "The Road and the Miles to Dundee" works well.

Haruo

Subject: RE: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 07:09 PM

I posted it. http://www.geocities.com/cigneto/thctxt/ll/thelordis1.html. I prefer Blacklands, actually.

Haruo

Subject: RE: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From: Haruo
Date: 04 Sep 02 - 01:13 AM

Another 12.11.12.11 tune that seems to work with the text is "Handful of Laurel", the tune probably best known in the US as "The Cowboy's Lament / The Streets of Laredo". I've added its MIDI as an alternative melody for the Scots text in my hymnal.

I've also taken the opportunity to add the Auld & Hill Esperanto version of 'The Road and the Miles to Dundee' to La Lilandejo's song collection, and to add W. J. Downes' original Esperanto metrical 23rd Psalm (Ja paŝtas min la Eternul'), which is sung to Crimond and thus the cultural equivalent of "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want", the hymn Griffy said seemed "clunky" to him, to my online hymnal.

Anybody know anything about the tune "Blacklands" or its composer, Ray Steadman-Allen? The Cyber Hymnal has a photo but precious little else, at He Giveth More Grace.

Haruo [= Leland, formerly Liland]

Subject: RE: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From: Venthony
Date: 04 Sep 02 - 01:20 AM

This is wonderul stuff. Thanks, especially, to Liland for a true rendering of beauty and of faith.

Tony

Subject: RE: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From: GUEST,Scabby Doug
Date: 04 Sep 02 - 04:38 AM

How about the tune used normally for "The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended"?

Cheers

Steven

Subject: RE: 23rd Psalm in Scots
From: Haruo
Date: 04 Sep 02 - 06:46 PM

If you're talking about this one, the text is 98.98, not 12.11.12.11, though there may I suppose be enough room to slur one's way into it. I'll try tonight.

Haruo aka Leland