Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)

Subject: Hark now the words resound (carol)
From: DMcG
Date: 23 Dec 01 - 12:20 PM

I'm looking for a carol of which the only words I can remember is the end of the chorus:

Hark now the words resound again Peace on the Earth, Goodwill to men!

(Not much to go on, I know, but I have great confidence in you!)

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Hark now the words resound (c
From: DMcG
Date: 23 Dec 01 - 12:31 PM

Sorry all, I have found it! (Softly the night, from the CopperFamily, of course)

Subject: Lyr Add: SOFTLY THE NIGHT (Bob and John Copper)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 05:53 PM

Copied from http://www.thecopperfamily.com/songs/coppersongs/softly.html

SOFTLY THE NIGHT

Softly the night is sleeping on Bethlehem's peaceful hill
Silent the shepherds watching their gentle flocks are still
But hark the wondrous music falls from the opening sky
Valley and cliff re-echo glory to God on high
Glory to God it rings again
Peace on the earth goodwill to men.

Come with the gladsome shepherds quick hastening from the fold
Come with the wise men bringing incense and myrrh and gold
Come to him poor and lowly all round the cradle throng
Come with your hearts of sunshine and sing the angels' song
Glory to God tell out again
Peace on the earth goodwill to men.

Wave ye the wreath unfading the fir tree and the pine
Green from the snows of winter to deck the holy shrine
Bring ye the happy children for this is Christmas morn
Jesus the sinless infant Jesus the lord is born
Glory to God to God again
Peace on the earth goodwill to men.

[Sung by Bob and John Copper on the "Song for Every Season" LP.]

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 05:58 PM

Would someone supply the Copper tune?

There are two settings of this I came across at the Hymns and Carols of Christmas site (click), but both are dreadful (IMIO). I also found it mentioned as a "Padstow carol." It's also in the 1894 collection Songs That Never Die.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 11:03 PM

One would think that the A Song for Every Season book would include every song from the Song for Every Season LP set, but it doesn't. I checked Bob Copper's Songs and Southern Breezes,, and didn't find the song there, either.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)
From: Reinhard
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 11:44 PM

And it isn't in the Copper Family Songbook.

If you want to listen to the song and have neither a turntable nor the Song for Every Season LPs: It's on the Coppers at Christmas CD from 2007 too.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)
From: Reinhard
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 11:59 PM

Joe, I just checked the notes accompanying the A Song for Every Season LP set. They have an appendix with the words of the 15 (!) songs not included in the A Song for Every Season book, but unfortunately just the words, without a melody.

And the book also has a lot of songs that aren't on the LPs. If I have counted correctly, the LPs have 45 songs and the book has 47. So if 15 songs are on the LPs but not in the book, they have a common set of 30 songs, and 17 songs in the book are not on the LPs.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 12:39 AM

Ah, you're more diligent than I am, Reinhard. Thanks.

-Joe-

Subject: Lyr Add: SOFTLY THE NIGHT IS SLEEPING (A Taylor)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:57 PM

The song can be found in Worship in the Family and School-Room: A Manual of Devotion by William Theodore Wylie (Springfield, Mass.: W. J. Holland & Co., 1867), page 104, under the title GLORY TO GOD. It is attributed to Rev. Alfred Taylor, and appears with musical notation for 4 voices. It has an additional verse (the 2nd) not in the Copper's version:

Day in the east is breaking—day o'er the crimsoned earth;
Now the glad world is waking, glad in the Saviour's birth!
See where the bright star bendeth over the manger blest:
See where the infant Jesus smiles upon Mary's breast!
Glory to God!—we hear again,
Peace on the earth, good will to men!

The other 3 verses agree exactly (except for punctuation) with those posted above.

However, I also found it in other later books with other titles, for example, PEACE ON EARTH and CHRISTMAS.

Maybe it's just as well to stick to the time-honored custom of calling hymns by their first line—SOFTLY THE NIGHT IS SLEEPING.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Softly the Night (Copper Family)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 18 Nov 11 - 02:39 PM

Thanks, Jim. Do you happen to know if this (or any of the other variants you encountered) matches the tune the Coppers use?

Elsewise, if someone would just hum the Coppers' tune into his computer to make an MP3 and email it to me, I'll work up an ABC/MIDI for posting here--PM for an address.