It was written by American social justice advocate and at-the-time Roman Catholic seminarian, Ray Repp (1942-2020), and included in a recording "Come Alive" which was released by Friends of
English in the Liturgy (FEL) in 1967. Copyright ownership was
retained by Repp's Otter Creek Music. Sheet music was released in the
Hymnal for Young Christians, Volume 2.
The words were found in a "home made" hymnal in Ireland, most probably from the 1970's or 80's and used by the charismatic movement. More recently the song has been translated into Spanish as Entre Tus Manos, and sheet music for this is available from OCP.
Some people change the words from plural ("we commend our spirits") to singular ("I commend my spirit").
The unnamed tune has a Common time-signature. When the tune is written down in the key of E, the first few notes are E E G F FF G A GE C B,B,
The words were found in a "home made" hymnal in Ireland, most probably from the 1970's or 80's and used by the charismatic movement. More recently the song has been translated into Spanish as Entre Tus Manos, and sheet music for this is available from OCP.
Some people change the words from plural ("we commend our spirits") to singular ("I commend my spirit").
The unnamed tune has a Common time-signature. When the tune is written down in the key of E, the first few notes are E E G F FF G A GE C B,B,
Downloads
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Original recording - solo singer with backing:
Singer, self-accompanied on acoustic guitar:
Small group / soloists with praise band:
Instrumental - electronic keyboard, played as a piano:
Lyrics
The lyrics are copyright, so cannot be reproduced here. They are, however, available on this website. A rough outline is:Chorus: Into your hands we commend our spirits, oh Lord ...
1 Oh God my God, why have You gone from me
2 Our fathers trusted and You delivered them,
3 You've been my guide since I was very young ...
4 My days are weary with people hating me ...
5 On every side my neighbours stare at me ...
6 I will proclaim your name to all my friends ....
Ray Repp seems to have been the composer of this song - see website below
ReplyDeletehttp://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00Aooq
Thanks Rosaleen. Knowing that it was by Ray Repp helped me find lots more information about the song, and so I've totally re-written the page.
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