"How Can I Keep From Singing" by Robert Lowry

I first heard this song on the 1991 album Shepherd Moons by Irish "new age" artist Enya (Eithne Ní Bhraonáin). It immediately became one of my favorite songs, and I thought it sounded very hymn-like in spite of it being very secular in its lyrics. The third stanza always reminded me of the apostle Paul singing in prison.

Several weeks ago, while looking for something else entirely, I happened across a website (which I forgot to bookmark and now can't track down) that had a poem that was obviously the original version of these lyrics attributed to Robert Lowry from 1865. Knowing that Robert Lowry had been a prolific 19th-century hymnist, I assumed that he had also written music for it. At that moment I forgot whatever it was I had been looking for and immediately set out to try and find a copy of the sheet music for it. I was unable to find any kind of SATB version of the sort that would have been printed in a hymnal, but I was able to find a simple piano score accompaniment for it, which was enough for me. It was only a matter of time for me to arrange an a capella SATB* version from the piano score.

Below is a graphic to illustrate the differences between the two versions. Click to enlarge.


According to the Wikipedia entry for this song (which I have no reason to doubt), there is some argument as to the origination of the lyrics. Some attribute it to Lowry, but it seems more likely that someone else wrote the words and Lowry was the first to put them to music. Our best guess now, 150 years later, is that the true identity of the author has been lost.

As you can see from this graphic, the first stanza is identical in both versions except for some of the punctuation. The second stanza begins to diverge, with some similarities but with all the Christian references removed for the folk song version (attributed to folk musician Pete Seeger). The third stanza is entirely different, with the folk song version turning the song into more of a "political persecution" song rather than a Christian hymn.

Again according to Wikipedia, this song was not included in many hymnals until after Enya's 1991 version gave it a resurgence in popularity; after that it appeared in several hymnals in the very late 20th century.

I see no reason why the original lyrics could not be sung in a Christian worship service today. The song could easily serve as a song of both edification and praise. The links below lead to files that anyone is free to use as they see fit to learn and sing this song. I hope they will be of use to someone.

How Can I Keep From Singing - sheet music: A pdf file of the sheet music written in a simple SATB version with shape notes.

How Can I Keep From Singing - soprano emphasized
How Can I Keep From Singing - alto emphasized
How Can I Keep From Singing - tenor emphasized
How Can I Keep From Singing - bass emphasized

The previous four files are simple mp3 files with the various parts emphasized so that anyone can listen and learn their part by ear. The "emphasized" part uses a midi organ sound and is boosted at a higher volume than the accompanying parts. The non-emphasized parts use the midi "choir oohs" sound at a lower volume level.

And finally, to hear the song with all parts set to piano at the same volume level, click on How Can I Keep From Singing - all parts.

NOTE: This is the first of what I hope to be many songs that I have categorized as "not in the book." By this I mean, not in the book that my home congregation currently uses, that is, Songs of Faith and Praise from 1994 edited by Alton Howard, et. al. Any song so categorized only means it is not in this particular book. It does not mean that it is not in any book. I would very much like to see any SATB version written by Lowry himself. If you know of such a version, please leave a comment.

*"A capella" and "SATB" are terms that I will likely use often on this blog. "A capella" in its modern meaning simply means any song that is written for voices only. "SATB" means "Soprano Alto Tenor Bass," and refers to songs written in the style commonly used in a capella hymnals.

The Majestic Hymnal Number 2

Title: The Majestic Hymnal Number Two
Year Published: 1959
Publisher: Firm Foundation
Editor: Reuel Lemmons
Binding: Hardback
# of Songs: 442
Sect: Church of Christ
Style: Shape note (7-shape system)
Dimensions: 8 1/4 x 5 3/4 x 1

I suppose The Majestic Hymnal is the best place to start with my collection. Published 5 years before I was born, it was the book I grew up with and was widely used by many Churches of Christ at the time. It was used in Floresville, where my parents first took me to church and where I first stood in front of a congregation and began learning song-leading in the "singing class" we always had at 5:30 PM on Sundays, just before the evening service (usually choosing number 131--"Here We Are But Straying Pilgrims"). It was also used by the congregation in Stockdale when we moved there when I was 6 years old. It continued to be used there for several years thereafter. As you can see from the photo, this book's spine was repaired with duct tape. At one point, the books were badly falling apart but the congregation didn't have the funds to buy a bunch of new books, so they were all repaired this way.

The Majestic Hymnal was the standard for songbooks for the Church of Christ for--I'd guess--20 to 30 years. Many might now look back upon it as somewhat archaic--it now looks odd to me for containing only 442 songs, unlike most newer songbooks that include upwards of 900. It includes many songs that are considered old standards, and were even considered such at the time of its publication, but it also includes many songs that were relatively new at the time, having been written within 10 years or so of it's publication.

The songs used in The Majestic Hymnal are songs that were written by songwriters who really knew what they were doing. The long list of compilers who chose songs for this book were almost all songwriters as well, and proof-checked each other for mistakes. These songs were written before the rise of "contemporary Christian" pop music and therefore does not include any pop songs that someone tried to re-arrange as hymns (with inevitably disastrous results). This does set it apart from some newer hymnals which have some bad form and many outright mistakes in the songwriting which make the songs sound weak (or just plain wrong) and also make them difficult to sing. In my opinion, this is the Majestic's great strength and makes it continue to stand as a reference for the way gospel hymns should be written.

It's sad that some newer hymnals have neglected to include many of these old standards, especially since they have been replaced not by modern songs which are equally as well-written and inspirational (of which there are an abundance--but you wouldn't know it by looking at the most modern and widely-used current hymnals), but by pop songs so that people can try to sing what they hear on the radio.

What's different about this song? The answer

click to enlarge

In comments to the previous post I said a hint was which notes you don't see. A quick scan of this piece will reveal that there are no Fas or Tis: no half steps. This is a scale which is used in different variations all over the world for many different kinds of music. However, this is the first time I've ever seen a song in any hymnal that was written in a pentatonic scale.

As I said before, another odd thing about it is that it ends on Re, which leaves a feeling of it being unfinished to western ears (this particular song being based on a Japanese melody). But since that last post, I have come across a few other songs which appear to be in a minor key, beginning on a minor chord (La-Do-Mi) as one would expect, but ending on a chord based on Re (either Re-Fa-La or Re-Fi-La). Such endings are outside my experience and training and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is supposed to be going on.

UPDATE: Click on Here O Lord to download a simple mp3 version of this song if you want to hear what the tune sounds like.