Born in the Night, Mary's Child

This Christmas hymn was written in the late 1950's by English Methodist minister and founding member of the Notting Hill Ecumenical Group Ministry project, Geoffrey Ainger (1925-2012). It was originally one of two songs written to accompany a modern-day nativity play written for a church youth-group in Essex (ref).

The song was first published by Stainer & Bell Ltd, in "Songs from Notting Hill" in 1964. Hymn-books which it has been published in since then include:

Supplement to the New English Hymnal,
Hymns Old and New (Kevin Mayhew Ltd, various editions)
Complete Mission Praise.

With meter 7.6.7.6 it is almost always set to a tune called MARY'S CHILD which was written for the text. This has a 4/4 time signature. In the key of G, the first few notes are B_ AG B_ BA_G_.

text superiposed on a picture of Bethlehem city, with the stable in a corner

Downloads

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Choral arrangement (SATB) by Hal Hopkinson

Examples

Choir with piano - recorded live:

Singer self-accompanied on guitar:

Solo singer with piano, on-screen lyrics, professional recording:

Instrumental - piano with violin, and on-screen lyrics:

Lyrics

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

1 Born in the night, Mary's child ...

2 Clear shining light, Mary's child ...

3 Truth of our life, Mary's child ...

4 Hope of the world, Mary's child ...