Saturday, December 20, 2008

Message From The Archbishop Of Catterbury

The Cat's Carol

Poem: Canon Eddie Hughes - Once vicar of All Saints' Church, Oystermouth (Mumbles), Swansea in Wales. Rowan Williams' vicar when he was young.

Tune: Once in Royal David's City

Come you cats of ev'ry colour,
Kittens too of ev'ry size;
See the Lord who made the tiger,
Low within the manger lies.
Praise him all his little tigers
Let your joyful purring rise.

Siamese and stately Persians,
Homely black and tabby gay,
Leave your cushions and your saucers
Make your peace with mice today.
Swift and silent, velvet-footed,
Hasten now down Bethlehem way.

See, He smiles to see you coming,
Mary welcomes you within,
Joseph with a friendly finger
Gently rubs a furry chin;
Ox and ass will kneel beside you,
Sheep and camel peering in.

We, and angels, sing His praises
In our varied sharps and flats.
Join the chorus, cats and kittens;
Praise him just by being cats:
Join the chorus, cats and kittens,
Praise Him just by being cats!


Thanks to Ann.

15 comments:

  1. Göran, I'm singing it.

    I just learned how to get the two dots over the "ö" in your name, without copying and pasting. It's Alt 148. Yay!

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  2. Thank you, grandmere (and Ann) for this one.

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  3. Mmmrrrooowwwww!

    Purrrrrrrr...

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  4. I prefer "Lauda anima", one of the tunes to which "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" is sung.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NllXjNOEzoc

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  5. Scott and +Maya, I'm glad you like it.

    Very nice video, Lapin.

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  6. Willy sings all kinds of songs from pop tunes to Mozart arias every morning for us. This morning at 7AM it was "Voi Che Sapete" from The Marriage of Figaro.
    And yet, for such a wide ranging repertoire, all his singing sounds the same.

    MeOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWRRRRRRR!

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  7. Translation: Feed me. What a smart cat you have there.

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  8. The Lauda anima tune is very English, quite catchy, in fact.

    All in Major keys, wheras ours are in minors...

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  9. "Translation: Feed me. What a smart cat you have there."

    Close. It's more like, "Where's my breakfast, dammit! and why aren't you 2 out of bed paying full attention to me?! It's 6AM already! I want my head scratched, my back rubbed, and my litterbox cleaned NOW!"

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  10. Great song, Mimi. And thanks for the tips on dots -- now tell me how to type Grandmere properly!

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  11. LJ, for the accent grave on the letter "e", hold down the Alt key and type 138 on the numbers on the right of the keyboard, not the numbers at the top. Voila "è"!

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  12. Oh bummer. Neither works on my mac. I don't have the side numbers. I do have an accent grave key, but it doesn't go over the letters, just next to them. I'm such a dunce about this stuff. Maybe I'll try the help page.

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  13. LJ, sorry. Those instructions are only for Windows. I don't know about Macs.

    Counterlight, what am I, a language teacher?

    Nevermind. I'm always at your service. Here are the instructions. I found them through that Google thingy. Have you heard of it?

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