How Can I Keep From Singing?

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CD: How Can I Keep From Singing?
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CD: How Can I Keep From Singing?--Accompaniment Tracks

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Words: Attributed to "Pauline T."; Music: Robert Lowry; Arrangement: Sally DeFord and James Loynes

This is one of those beautiful old folk-type songs that I have just been aching to arrange for quite a long time. During a month that James and Fran spent with us in the summer, it was inevitable that we ended up playing with it. It's a lovely expression of gratitude, joy and hope. The lyrics seem to have first appeared in "The New York Observer" in the mid-1800s, and the setting by Robert Lowry has since become a favorite standard hymn.

Lyrics

My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation
I hear the sweet, tho' far-off hymn
That hails a new creation
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing
It finds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?

What tho' my joys and comfort die?
The Lord my Saviour liveth
What tho' the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night He giveth
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that Refuge clinging
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin
I see the blue above it
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart
A fountain ever springing
All things are mine since I am His
How can I keep from singing?