Learning all 144 Secular Hymns

The Secular Hymns are a free, shared resource used by choirs everywhere. Often used as sight-reading material, these simple little hymns are like musical vitamins. They help build strong choirs, quartets, family singers, and even soloists. These are the same famous hymn tunes that we all know and love. The words have been thoughtfully changed so that singers in public choirs can enjoy them outside the church walls. Learn all 144 Secular Hymns and you'll be an expert in hymn tunes!

Sure, you can buy the actual books. But it's really not necessary because you can learn all 144 Secular Hymns right here online by clicking on the titles in the Correlation Table below. You can also download the clean, beautiful .PDF files to print out or use on your tablet.

CORRELATION TABLE
Secular Hymn Title	Traditional Hymn Title(s)
1. A Beauty Hides in Everyone	A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
2. A Long Long Way We've Come Today	Eternal Father Strong to Save The Solid Rock Melita
3. A Peaceful Walk	At the Cross
4. Accommodating Others	In Heavenly Love Abiding Penlan
5. Achieving Disagreement	O Jesus I Have Promised
6. All Need To Feel Significant	Abide With Me
7. All Praise to the Troubled	To God Be The Glory
8. All the Seven Deadly Sins	Just a Closer Walk with Thee
9. Assuming There's Peace	Oh Worship the King Lyons
10. "Bad" is Not a Name	Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
11. Because Violence Can't End Violence (SOL-FA)	Marines Hymn Gendarmes' Duet
12. Borders, Boundaries, Walls and Fences	(from the "Candelescence" opera)
13. Building a Door	Faith of Our Fathers
14. Climbing Up The Ladder	Holy, Holy, Holy
15. Climbing Up The Mountain	Wye Valley At The Name Of Jesus
16. Come Live With Us	(from the "Candelescence" opera)
17. Communication is the Answer	Coronation All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
18. Crank and Sprocket	Jesus Christ is Risen Today
19. Disassemble Every Gun (SOL-FA)	Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Nettleton
20. Diversity in Thought (SOL-FA)	My Jesus I Love Thee I Know Thou Art Mine
21. Don't Choose Sides	Salve Regina Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above
22. Don't Know How I Got Here	It is Well With My Soul When Peace Like a River
23. Each Little Raindrop (SOL-FA)	Sutra Hymn
24. Education is our Destination (SOL-FA)	Warrenton Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
25. Every Space for Every Face	At the Lamb's High Feast Salzburg
26. Everybody Has Their Issues (SOL-FA)	There is a Balm in Gilead
27. Everyone Must Make a Living (SOL-FA)	Pleading Savior Sing of Mary
28. Everything's Changing	Still, Still With Thee
29. For Those Who Have Beliefs Bizarre (SOL-FA)	We Cannot Measure How You Heal Ye Banks and Braes
30. For What I've Done (SOL-FA)	Come Holy Ghost
31. Go Further Farther	O God of Bethel By Whose Hand Dundee I To The Hills Will Lift My Eyes God Moves in a Mysterious Way
32. Going Up, Going Up	Since Jesus Came Into My Heart
33. Grief Has Got To Take Its Time (SOL-FA)	Rock of Ages
34. Happy Be	Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
35. Harvesting Hunger	Lord of All Being
36. I am a Terrorist	Breathe On Me
37. I am the Captain of My Boat	Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief
38. I Declare a Brand-New Me (SOL-FA)	Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean
39. I Have a Garden in the Park (SOL-FA)	My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less
40. I Have a Puzzle of the World	How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
41. I Once Was So Certain	Immaculate Mary (Lourdes Hymn)
42. I Surrender (SOL-FA)	I Surrender All
43. I Think I Could Work in a Castle	Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
44. I Think I'm Right (SOL-FA)	Come to the Savior Make No Delay
45. I Will Look and I Will See	And Can It Be?
46. If We're Not the Ones	Shall We Gather at the River
47. I'm Marching, Marching (SOL-FA)	Old Hundredth / Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow
48. In The End	Blessed Assurance
49. Informed People (SOL-FA)	Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending Helmsley
50. Injustice to You is Injustice to Me	The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended
51. Intelligence is a Bouquet	O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
52. It's Great to Know Some Things by Heart	Dear Lord and Father of Mankind Repton
53. I've Never Known a Sinner (SOL-FA)	O For a Thousand Tongues
54. Journey Forward	God Be With You Till We Meet Again
55. Just Because (SOL-FA)	He Who Would Valiant Be
56. Land of Gray (SOL-FA)	Alleluia! Sing to Jesus Our Great Savior Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens Love Divine, All Loves Excelling Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
57. Let's Make a Right	Come Thou Almighty King
58. Let's Ride In Our Time Machines	In the Garden
59. Let's Start a Big Commotion (SOL-FA)	I Vow to Thee My Country
60. Let's Stop Making Weapons	His Eye is on the Sparrow
61. Let's Try Something Different	Tell Me the Old Old Story
62. Long Road	Alpha and Omega Meine Hoffnung Stehet Feste All My Hope On God is Founded Day of Judgment! Day of Wonders!
63. Make Just One Brand-New Friend (SOL-FA)	How Firm a Foundation
64. May We Make Moments of Peace	Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun
65. No Cheers for David	O Perfect Love
66. No Need To Sing The Same Notes	We Plough the Fields and Scatter
67. Nonviolence May Take a Long Time (SOL-FA)	Redeemed
68. Nonviolence Must Be Taught	All in the April Evening
69. Nothing's Heavy with Lots of Hands (SOL-FA)	Take My Life and Let It Be
70. Oh Child Do Not Despair (SOL-FA)	St. Thomas Oh Bless the Lord, My Soul! I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord Come We That Love the Lord
71. Ojalá (SOL-FA)	Holy God We Praise Thy Name
72. Onward, Upward	Onward Christian Soldiers
73. Open Open Up the Window	Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken
74. Our Garden Full of Flowers	O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded
75. Pain Can Cause	Have Thine Own Way, Lord
76. Parents Gone	Wondrous Love What Wondrous Love is This
77. Past Performance is No Guarantee	Lead Us Heavenly Father Lead Us
78. Peace Is Not What I Looked For	What a Friend We Have in Jesus
79. Peace Like a River	Peace Like a River
80. People are More	Jesus Lover Of My Soul Aberystwyth
81. People We Need To Meet (SOL-FA)	Fairest Lord Jesus Beautiful Savior
82. People Will Change	Praise to the Lord Lobe Den Herren
83. Relieving Suffering	I Need Thee Ev'ry Hour
84. Rise and Shine (SOL-FA)	Holy Manna Brethren, We Have Met To Worship
85. Seen, Heard and Understood (SOL-FA)	Nearer My God To Thee
86. Skating, Skating	Westminster Abbey Christ is Made the Sure Foundation
87. So Many Ways	Praise to the Holiest in the Height Billing
88. Some Are Young, Some Old	We Have an Anchor Will Your Anchor Hold
89. Someday When Guns Are Gone	Blest Be The Tie That Binds
90. Someone Should (SOL-FA)	Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
91. Spent Our Treasure	Were You There?
92. Standing At Bat	When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
93. Step by Step (SOL-FA)	Jesus Loves Me This I Know
94. Storms Will Come	St. Helen Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor
95. Striving To Be	Fight the Good Fight
96. Swapping Shoes (SOL-FA)	For the Beauty of the Earth Dix Praise to God, Immortal Praise
97. Tall Oaks From Little Acorns Grow (SOL-FA)	The King of Love My Shepherd Is
98. The Greatest Walk	Jerusalem And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time
99. The Many Truths	Be Still My Soul Finlandia (Sibelius) We Rest on Thee
100. The Only Path to Peace is Peace	Our God Our Help In Ages Past
101. Them Over There	From All That Dwell Below the Skies
102. There Are Times	Jesus Paid It All
103. There is a Game	Hark! Tis the Shepher's Voice I Hear Bring Them In
104. There is a Rule of Thumb	Diademata Crown Him With Many Crowns Soldiers of Christ, Arise Make Me a Captive, Lord
105. There is an Empty Box	The Church's One Foundation
106. There is Something Wrong	The Old Rugged Cross
107. There's a Better Way (SOL-FA)	Blessed Be the Name All Praise To Him Who Reigns Above
108. There's a Road Between Our Lands	Royal Oak All Things Bright and Beautiful
109. There's Claim Number One (SOL-FA)	Revive Us Again
110. There's More Than One Way	Ye Servants of God Hanover
111. Things Are The Way They Are	Now Thank We All Our God
112. This Day, This Day	For All the Saints Sine Nomine
113. Tick-Tock	Regent Square Angels From the Realms of Glory Christ is Made the Sure Foundation Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending
114. Tis a Gift (SOL-FA)	Simple Gifts
115. To Find a Place	Lift High the Cross
116. To Live Our Lives Addiction-Free	Deus Tuorum Militum O Love, How Deep Bless Thou the Gifts The Lord is King, Lift Up Thy Voice Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New What Thanks and Praise to Thee We Owe
117. To Make the World a Better Place	There is a Green Hill Far Away Horsley Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned
118. To Soldiers Lost	I Bind Unto Myself Today St. Patrick's Breastplate
119. To Those Who Came Before	Come Down O Love Divine Down Ampney
120. Today Is My Day	Trust and Obey
121. Today's the Day	Rejoice, The Lord Is King Darwall's 148th Join All The Glorious Names
122. Together for So Long (SOL-FA)	Lenox Arise, My Soul, Arise! The Jubilee (Blow Ye Trumpet, Blow)
123. Towards a World That Has No Guns	Joyful, Joyful (Beethoven's Ode to Joy)
124. Trusting You, Trusting Me	Going Home Largo from Dvorak's "New World Symphony"
125. Ultimately We May Not Have Free Will	Noel Nouvelet
126. Unconscious Bias	Ebenezer Come O Spirit, Dwell Among Us Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness Ton-y-Botel O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus Singing Songs of Expectation Once To Every Man and Nation
127. Unless There's No-One Watching (SOL-FA)	How Can I Keep From Singing?
128. Wake, Awake	Wachet Auf Wake, Awake, For Night Is Flying
129. Walking in Someone's Shoes	O God of Loveliness
130. We Are People, Plastic People	Angel Voices Ever Singing
131. We Are Searching	I Will Sing the Wondrous Story
132. We Can Be Tolerant (SOL-FA)	Be Thou My Vision
133. We Can Get Things To Happen	Let Us Break Bread Together
134. We Mean "Will You Love Me?" (SOL-FA)	The Solid Rock
135. We're Not Alone	I Cannot Tell Londonderry Air Danny Boy
136. We're Not At Our Best (SOL-FA)	Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
137. We're Parents of a Soldier (SOL-FA)	Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
138. What Are We Doing?	Thine Be The Glory
139. When Feeling Lost	I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say O Sing a Song of Bethlehem Kingsfold
140. When I Am Down (SOL-FA)	Down to the River to Pray Come Let Us All Go Down
141. When Playing Cards	How Great Thou Art
142. Who's My Neighbor? (SOL-FA)	The Strife is O'er
143. Why Does This Phrase Have Five Measures?	Lauda Anima Praise My Soul the King of Heaven
144. You Took the One Road (SOL-FA)	Loch Lomond

The "SOL-FA" designation is given to those special hymns that are purely diatonic - all the notes in all the voices belong to the same 7-note family with no exceptions. They are great for singing with solfege syllables (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do) because you won't have to deal with altered syllables (such as "Di", "Ra", or "Ri").

The 24 songs in red boxes are regularly sung by the St. Louis Peace Choir.

(A commission is being offered to choral groups that upload recordings of their SATB performances)

Interested in researching the hymn tunes found in the Secular Hymnal?
The hymnary.org website has nicely organized them: http://www.hymnary.org/hymnal/SH2014

Secular Hymnal Books

OR Solo Edition

The Secular Hymnal is available in 6 inexpensive versions. Each version contains all 144 Secular Hymns:
Secular Hymnal (328 pages - perfect-bound paperback - SATB) ($12)
Secular Hymnal (328 pages - spiral-bound - SATB) ($18)
Secular Hymnal (digital edition - SATB) ($10)
"Solo" Secular Hymnal (182 pages - perfect-bound paperback - "lead-sheet" format - comfortable range) ($10)
"Solo" Secular Hymnal (182 pages - spiral-bound - "lead-sheet" format - comfortable range ) ($14)
"Solo" Secular Hymnal (digital edition - "lead-sheet" format - comfortable range ) ($8)

In the past our famous hymns were off-limits to many teachers because the verses were written for religious worship. But now those same familiar melodies support alternative lyrics that are rich, respectful, and inclusive to all people.

These famous tunes have echoed from the churches for ages. The purpose of the Secular Hymnal is to allow the rest of us access to this treasure trove of music so that our lives too may be enriched by the beauty of hymns.

If you like the Secular Hymns, you'll certainly enjoy the Jo Puma songs. They're based on the famous "Sacred Harp" songs. Although their new egalitarian lyrics have been given the same care as the hymns have been given, the music is a LOT wilder! Click on the book to go there:

The Secular Hymns were first introduced in a series of "Roadway" booklets pictured below. Although some of the old booklets may still be around, the hymns have been reworked, numbered, alphabetized and compiled into a single large volume simply titled "Secular Hymnal".

Learning all 144 Secular Hymns

Secular Hymnal Books

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