Come Back Again

[MarkM]

We have a hymn in our parish that I cannot find when I Google it.
The title is "Come Back Again", the first few lines are
"Come Back Again there's no need to be afraid, it doesn't matter how long or far you've strayed."
I have a photocopy on two sheets with staff notation and guitar chords, but no author's name.
Has anyone ever heard of it? In the key of C, great tune, to be sung "great conviction".

Thanks.

And thanks for your advice last year on offertory hymns - we no longer limit ourselves to just
offertory hymns and often use hymns relevant to the readings of the day for that part of the Mass.

[alan29]

Sorry, I can't help you there Mark.
Is a composer or lyricist mentioned on your copy?
Maybe its something home grown.

[VML]

Seems similar to 'Come back to me With all your heart.'

[MarkM]

To alan29, no composer's name on it. We do have some home-grown hymns, but we don't believe that this is one of them. There is a sophistication to the arrangement. There are three staves - first for voice with guitar chords above it and treble and bass staves for keyboard; the guitar chords have some odd spacings, it has taken me a while to master playing it. I wanted to track down the composer to see what else he/she has written.

[JW]

Just a thought, and I know there could be copyright considerations. In the interests of finding the composer is it worth uploading a scan to this forum. You could take it down again once the composer is identified.

[MarkM]

To JW, ok, here are scans of the two pages.

[JW]

Doesn't ring any bells with me but there must be someone out there who recognises it?

[Southern Comfort]

Interesting.

A few comments for the composer, whoever he or she may be:

(1) "forgive the sins of men" (end of the refrain). Inclusive language considerations mean you can't sing that these days. Difficult to find a good solution to this. "through his Church forgives our sins. Amen" is rather weak.

I do wonder, actually, if the entire song ought to be recast using "we", "us" and "our" instead of "you" and "your". Easy to accomplish. Then the refrain might run "And Christ still lives, still loves, still calls us back to him, and through his Church forgives our ev-ry sin".

(2) A number of instances of consecutive 5ths between melody and bass (end of phrases 1 and 3 on page 1; "Christ still" and "still loves" in the refrain on page 2). These can easily be cleaned up.

(3) The high E on a closed vowel ("sins") near the end is probably not a good idea. If the refrain text was changed, as suggested above, this would not be so problematic, but E is still high for the average congregation.

[alan29]

Nowt wrong with consecutive 5ths. Ask Vaughan Williams.

[Southern Comfort]

Nowt wrong with consecutive 5ths. Ask Vaughan Williams.

No, as long as they are used deliberately by people who know what they are doing. This composer, along with many others, didn't.

It is acceptable to "disguise" consecutives by using secondary 7ths, 9ths, etc. This composer, along with many others, didn't do that either.

It's all about craft and technique.