David Babich, saxophone. Chris Buckley, euphonium. Recorded for my church's online service using Acapella app.
FOREST GREEN is an English folk tune associated with the ballad "The Ploughboy's Dream." Ralph Vaughan Williams (PHH 316) turned FOREST GREEN into a hymn tune for The English Hymnal (1906), using it as a setting for "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Shaped in rounded bar form (AABA), FOREST GREEN has the cheerful characteristics of folk tunes. Those characteristics help to support the humanness of this text: We are to be the children (folk) of God! --Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988
Forest Green is used as a hymn tune for many different hymn texts. I've chosen to list the text for I Sing the Mighty Power of God.
I sing the mighty power of God
that made the mountains rise,
that spread the flowing seas abroad
and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day;
the moon shines full at His command,
and all the stars obey.
I sing the goodness of the Lord
that filled the earth with food;
Who formed the creatures with his Word
and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how your wonders are displayed,
where'er I turn my eye,
if I survey the ground I tread
or gaze upon the skies.
There's not a plant or flower below
but makes Your glories known,
and clouds arise and tempests blow
by order from Your throne;
while all that borrows life from You
is ever in Your care,
and everywhere that we can be,
you, God, are present there.