Christ be Beside Me - Quinn

This hymn of petition is based on a translation of a section of the Lorica of St Patrick. It was written by Scottish Roman Catholic priest James Quinn SJ (1919–2010).

With meter 5.5.5.4 D, tunes it has been set to include

BUNESSAN - very commonly used, a traditional Gaelic melody (composer unknown) which is also used for the song Morning has Broken. Thus the tune is in the public domain, even though the words are not.
A tune by Laura Wasson

The setting was first published in Quinn's 1969 book "New Hymns for all Seasons", and has since been included in many hymnals including

20th Century Folk Hymnal volume 2, published in 1975/76
The Veritas Hymnal, published in 1973

Downloads

Included in a number of compliations.

Examples

Solo singer, piano accompaniment:

Large choir with organ:

Small group with guitar accompaniment:

Instrumental - karaoke style track:

Professional quartet - tune / arrangement by Michael Fischer:

Lyrics

The lyrics are copyright so cannot be reproduced here. But they are currently available on this website. A rough outline is:

1 Christ be beside me, Christ be before me ...

2 Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand ...

3 Christ be in all hearts thinking about me ...