Top 6 - Hymns, selected with Mary Green

I'm delighted to be able to introduce my mother, Mary, to my website to help select our Top 6 Hymns. It might have seemed that we didn't have much in common when long ago I don't know if her attempts to teach me how to knit were any more successful than when I showed her how to play chess. But we share a number of great things which include, not necessarily in this order, a devout admiration for Brian Clough, a continuing love of the music of Handel, a natural rapport with dogs and we don't mind a bit of hymn singing whenever we get the chance, either.
So, what I thought we might do is collaborate on a joint selection of our Top 6 hymns for this website's feature and, having been so well brought up, I'm obviously going to invite her to go first.
Mum, which is the first hymn would you like to put on our list of six?

This is hard,, my choice of hymn changes with mood and occasion. I think therefore my first choice has to be one which is fairly widely used although not too closely connected with a particular situation (except maybe a Welsh rugby crowd at Cardiff Arms Park) and one which I think most people would be familiar enough with to sing along it is - Guide me O thou Great Redeemer (or Jehovah according to which hymn book you are using) The tune has to be Cwm Rhondda. It has me singing and air conduction every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJCxt2DjZK0

Good start. I wouldn't mind our way being through green pastures or forever idly resting by still waters but I realize it isn't really like that so I'll have Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer. What next?

Ok, we'll go all personal now, how about Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us, one we had at our wedding. Hopefully we'll get led o'er the world's tempestuous sea and be guarded, guided, kept and fed.

Some of the supernatural elements of the hymn writers' imaginations are worth having. The stately and powerful Lo ! he comes with clouds descending is quite dramatic and I especially like the 'deeply wailing'. Michael Rangeley used to give the piano a right old bashing most days in school assembly but the last line of these verses gave him every excuse to put in a bit extra.

This time I will acknowledge the season and chose When I survey the wondrous cross to the tune Morte Christe such a very moving piece especially when sung by a Welsh male voice choir. I think of most hymns as a whole words and music together although you can use different tunes to words there always seems to be one which fits best and to me these two go together perfectly.

To finish I'm going to have to have the one that prompted the question, really, which was seeing that My Song is Love Unknown was up on the board in the church we went into on Thursday. It says on Wikipedia that,
The hymn tune to which it is usually sung is Love Unknown by John Ireland. Ireland composed the melody over lunch one day at the suggestion of organist and fellow-composer Geoffrey Shaw.
But I daresay, chosen at another time, we'd have had made some different choices. Thanks for doing that.