Stand By Me (Tennessee Ernie Ford)

Here is a spiritual sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford, originally broadcast during his weekly variety show which ran on television from 1956 to 1961. He closed almost every show with a hymn or a spiritual. "Stand By Me" was written by the Rev. Charles Albert Tinney, born in Maryland in 1851. His father was a slave and his mother was free. His mother died when he was a child and he was sent to live with his mother's family so he could remain free.

   

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For the Beauty of the Earth (John Rutter)

There is definite value in praising the Creator. It may not be for the reasons we think (who can plumb the depths?), but those who have been involved in a choir understand. They know that praise can have a cleansing effect, it puts things in a new light. We see the world differently from the vantage-point of praise. Our lives are given a different perspective.

"For the Beauty of the Earth." is John Rutter's wonderfully soaring take on an older hymn, lyrics by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint. Listen to this beautiful rendition, sung by Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary) choir, which someone has thankfully interwoven with beautiful pictures of the earth's beauty.