Lift Every Voice and Sing
James Weldon Johnson's poem to his brother J. Rosamond Johnson's music of 1900, long called the Black national anthem, for 2 to 4 singers: the first verse, broad and stately, a breath at every line of the poem. The parts are built on Rosamond Johnson's own four voices from the first printing, smoothed for beginners; where he has every voice sing "Sing a song full of the faith" in octaves, the alto, tenor and bass hold his organ's chords under the tune.
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The first verse
Words: James Weldon Johnson (1900)Tune: J. Rosamond Johnson (1900)
Lift ev'ry voice and singTill earth and heaven ring,Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;Let our rejoicing riseHigh as the list'ning skies,Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught usSing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;Facing the rising sun Of our new day begun,Let us march on till victory is won.
About Lift Every Voice and Sing
Lift Every Voice and Sing has words by James Weldon Johnson and music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson. James wrote the poem for Lincoln's birthday in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1900, where 500 schoolchildren first sang it. By 1920 the NAACP was calling it the "Negro national anthem". Our arrangement is read from Rosamond Johnson's own four voice parts in the earliest known printing, by Jos. W. Stern of New York in 1900, a semitone lower and smoothed for beginners. Where he has every voice sing "Sing a song full of the faith" in octaves, the lower parts hold his organ's chords under the tune. This is the first verse for 2 to 4 singers, broad and stately.
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