Learning the 144 Secular Hymns

♪♪♪ SING ALONG ♪♪♪ as a piano plays the chords and melody (from the SOLO Edition of the Secular Hymnal). Singing along to a simple, chorded melody like this is an ideal way to develop your harmonizing skills!

Lyrics:

Suffering 'round the world, carnage and so much fear
Coming from something ugly, something that we make here

It's not our movies or veggies, or cars we proudly display
Or anything we are making in a "Love Thy Neighbor" way
We hide it cuz it's shameful, but we make them ev'ryday

The world can have our movies, our veggies and our cars
But let's stop making weapons, 'cuz that's not who we are

Conflicts can be resolved, and in a healing way
Simply ask any teacher, they do it ev'ryday

Or ask the auto mechanic, the veggie farmer and son
And others that we look up to, who refuse to own a gun
A diff'rent way of thinking, but the thinking must get done

The world can have our movies, our veggies and our cars
But let's stop making weapons, 'cuz that's not who we are

 

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Here's the same hymn in 4-part harmony (from the SATB Edition of the Secular Hymnal). If you and your choir prefer to print out your own score of this hymn, click here to access a beautiful PDF file.

To research the history of this hymn tune: http://www.hymnary.org/hymnal/SH2014

 

Out of respect for our diverse society, please work to keep our public school and community choirs "secular" (comfortable and welcoming to both religious and nonreligious singers). For more information, please visit the secular choirs webpage.

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(Page last updated: January 16, 2016 )