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Play “When Our Heads Are Bowed with Woe”

Free same-meter accompaniment for When Our Heads Are Bowed with Woe (Henry Hart Milman): organ, piano or guitar playing the tune CANTERBURY (Orlando Gibbons) in four-part harmony, 7 verses, with the words on screen. Choose the key and speed, add an introduction, project the words on a TV, or practice your own choir part. Made for churches and home groups without a musician.

Sung here to CANTERBURY (Orlando Gibbons), a 7.7.7.7 tune — not necessarily the tune usually paired with this text. Any tune in the same meter fits the words.

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  1. 1When our heads are bowed with woe,
  2. When our bitter tears o'erflow,
  3. When we mourn the lost, the dear,
  4. Jesus, Son of Mary, hear!
  5. 2Thou our throbbing flesh hast worn,
  6. Thou our mortal griefs hast borne,
  7. Thou hast shed the human tear;
  8. Jesus, Son of Mary, hear!
  9. 3When the solemn death-bell tolls
  10. For our own departing souls,
  11. When our final doom is near,
  12. Jesus, Son of Mary, hear!
  13. 4Thou hast bowed the dying head,
  14. Thou the blood of life hast shed,
  15. Thou hast filled a mortal bier;
  16. Jesus, Son of Mary, hear!
  17. 5When the heart is sad within
  18. With the thought of all its sin,
  19. When the spirit shrinks with fear,
  20. Jesus, Son of Mary, hear!
  21. 6Thou the shame, the grief, hast known,
  22. Though the sins were not thine own;
  23. Thou hast deigned their load to bear;
  24. Jesus, Son of Mary, hear!
  25. 7Amen.

About this music

CANTERBURY — Orlando Gibbons. 'Canterbury' or 'Song 13' Orlando Gibbons, 1623. Setting: "Common Service Book" (ULCA), 1917.. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project, copied from 'Common Service Book With Hymnal' ULCA, 1917 Hymn 156.; music and setting are in the public domain. The words above are from the hymnal cited on the When Our Heads Are Bowed with Woe page.

Played in your browser with instrument sounds from the FluidR3 soundfont by Frank Wen (MIT license). No recordings are used.

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