Nearer My God to Thee

Uploaded by stack45ny on Jan 5, 2010
Nearer My God to Thee Titanic a capella ( lyrics in description )

Christian Hymns playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BD1B04EAC0152F4B

Lyrics:

1.Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

2.Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

3.There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

4.Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise,
out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
so by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

5.Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!


"Nearer, My God, to Thee" is associated with the RMS Titanic, as one passenger reported that the ship's band played the hymn as the Titanic sank. The "Bethany" version was used in the 1943 film Titanic and in the Jean Negulesco's 1953 film Titanic, whereas the "Horbury" version was played in Roy Ward Baker's 1958 movie about the sinking, A Night to Remember. The "Bethany" version was again used in James Cameron's 1997 Titanic.

The verse was written by the English poet and Unitarian hymn writer Sarah Flower Adams (18051848) at her home in Sunnybank, Loughton, Essex, England, in 1841. It was first set to music by Adams's sister, the composer Eliza Flower, for William Johnson Fox's collection Hymns and Anthems.

In the United Kingdom, the hymn is usually associated with the 1861 hymn tune "Horbury" by John Bacchus Dykes. "Horbury" is named after a village near Wakefield, England, where Dykes had found "peace and comfort". In the rest of the world, the hymn is usually sung to the 1856 tune "Bethany" by Lowell Mason. Methodists prefer the tune "Propior Deo" (Nearer to God), written by Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan) in 1872. Sullivan also wrote a second setting of the hymn to a tune referred to as "St. Edmund", and there are other versions, including one referred to as "Liverpool" by John Roberts. Other ninetenth century settings include those by the Rev. N. S. Godfrey, W. H. Longhurst,[9] Herbert Columbine, Frederic N. Löhr, Thomas Adams, and one composed jointly by William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt. In 1955 the English composer and musicologist Sir Jack Westrup made another setting of the text, in the form of an anthem for four soloists with organ accompaniment.



Nearer My God to Thee - Christian Hymn

Text: Sarah F. Adams, 1805-1848
Music: Lowell Mason, 1792-1872
Tune: BETHANY
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