I found this intriguing: "Beautiful Savior" in the Psalter hymnal comes as "Fairest Lord Jesus" in other hymnals. I am not sure of the reasons for this change, but I suspect that the Psalter editors didn't like the lyrics in the first verse, so they threw them out, renamed the song, and modified several other lyrics. I honestly don't know which is the original or classic version, but I have seen the Psalter change the original before. Judge for yourselves.
This is what I grew up with in "Praise! Our Songs and Hymns":
Fairest Lord Jesus
Fairest Lord Jesus! Ruler of all nature!
O Thou of God and man the Son!
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou my soul's glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows, Fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling storry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heav'n can boast.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, Praise, adoration
Now and forevermore be Thine!
Here is the Psalter's rendition:
Beautiful Savior
Beautiful Savior! King of creation!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I'd love thee, truly I'd serve thee,
Light of my soul, my joy, my crown
Fair are the meadows, fair are the woodlands,
robed in flowers of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer;
he makes our sorrowing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine, fair is the moonlight,
bright the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine!
9 comments:
John—
Funny…I seem to have the Psalter’s edition pretty well ingrained in my head. Especially the first verse. I mean, I think that’s the one that I grew up with…or did I?
Why do you think the Psalter maybe didn't like the other (original?) first verse?
I think they didn't like the word "nature", and would rather use the word "creation".
I also think that someone on the council didn't think woodlands were fairer than meadows.
I think the thought process behind the other changes went like this: "We took out nature and the insensitive comparison among landforms. Since we're making changes, lets take out the Thees and Thou's and archaic words like host, garb, and woeful."
That is the only sense I can make of it.
Did you? Did you grow up with hymns? Keep in mind the "new" first verse is a mix of the "original" first verse and the "original" fourth verse.
For all I know, the hymnbook I grew up with has modifications from previous versions.
I honestly couldn't tell you now—I know we sang a few hymns growing up (though not many), but it seems like Dordt banged their versions of songs bretty hard into my skull. Maybe I should look in a Lutheran hymnal—that's probably what my growing-up church used.
Fairest Lord Jesus is the hymn that we have always sing back at home. I have never heard of Beautiful Savior before. Maybe it is a CRC thing.
I would be interested in seeing if "Fairest Lord Jesus" is in the blue or red Psalters. I will ask my brothers-in-law as one is PR and the other URC. I suspect that the URC also uses the Psalter since they broke off from the CRC after (but not because) the CRC started using the grey.
http://www.faithclipart.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/fairest-lord-jesus-the-song-and-the-story.html
Hi all,
my husband and I lead worship at our church and we do the version that Christy Nockels does. They (whoever "they" are) added a sort of chorus that they call a "channel" (weird) but it is a GREAT version and rocks a little more. I love the classical feel of the song and I too was confused about the ditto version...but in my music store bought hymn book, it has both songs and at the top it says they both were written by someone (German name - can't remember right now), whose names looks very similar to each other. So it's probably the same person as the link I put up in the post beforehand alludes.
I LOVE THAT SONG!
So, what it looks like is that the verses are all in the same song, just maybe left out of some hymnals...too long? Too "church" incorrect? Who knows! Great lyrics...God Is What that Song says...so we sing it! Yes?!!
rr
If you go to www.hymnary.org and search for Beautiful Savior (Psalter Hymnal #461) you will find an explanation. Both are variations of the original with the changes related to intended usage in worship.
Thank you anonymous.
http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/PsH/461#textinfo
There you have it. Originally in German as "Schönster Herr Jesu." "Beautiful Savior" is the first English translation, but it seems "Fairest Lord Jesus" is more accurate and doesn't appear much later.
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