School hymns

The other day I was sitting in the art room with my friend at lunch (escaping the cold and rain!) and I got a song stuck in my head. At first, I was like: where did this come from, it's so random, I've never heard it before. But then I remembered that I used to sing it in school.

I went to a Church of England primary school and every day in assembly, we would sing hymns.

And I loved those hymns. Even by the time I got to year six and it was no longer cool, and you just had to stand there looking bored, I still had a great time, belting it out and having my own little boogie.

Since I've gone to secondary school, I've actually really missed it!

So when I had this hymn stuck in my head it was completely out of the blue, but it made me begin to reminisce about all the songs that I haven't sung in years.

The one that I had stuck in my head is actually called Autumn Days (nice how things work out seasonally isn't it?) and although I could only remember about two lines of it, after looking it up (yes, I actually did that) I have been singing the entirety of the song, much to my friends pleasure, all day every day.

Autumn days when the grass is jewelled
And the silk inside a chestnut shell.
Jetplanes meeting in the air to be refuelled.
All these thing I love so well

So I mustn't forget
No, I mustn't forget.
To say a great big
Thank You
I mustn't forget

That is just the first verse and the chorus, but do any of you know it?


Now of course, one of the best known amongst primary school children and one of my personal favourites is the Easter hymn (not quite as seasonally appropriate) Lord of the Dance.

I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the Moon & the Stars & the Sun
I came down from Heaven & I danced on Earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth:Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!

 

Again, I've just got the first verse and the chorus here, but I am VERY proud of the fact that I still remember all of the words to all of the verses. That's right. Impressed?

It was always one of my favourites because it's quite happy and bouncy and even though it isn't always telling a happy story, especially in verses 3 and 4, it still manages to convey it the severity of what happened while singing quite a jubilant and light-hearted song.






The next one, which I don't actually think is a hymn because quite a lot of my friends (who didn't go to C of E schools) knew it and we all had a little sing song despite none of us knowing the words! It's a special harvest one (so sort of seasonally appropriate) and is called Cauliflowers Fluffy.

Cauliflowers fluffy and cabbages green, 

Strawberries sweeter than any I’ve seen. 

Beetroot purple and onions white, 

All grow steadily day and night. 

 

The apples are ripe,

 and the plums are red,

The broadbeans are sleeping in the blankety bed.

 

In myschool, when you had your year 6 leavers service you (as a class) got to choose what songs to sing in the service. Everyone always wanted to sing Cauliflowers Fluffy. I don't know why, but it is just such a great song. However, they wouldn't let us sing it because apparently it was right for the time of year. (But then, we had to sing another Easter song, and I have always wondered why, considering the next harvest was a lot closer than the next Easter!)

 

 

 

The last song that I want to talk about is another Easter one, called I'm Special. This one always meant a lot to me, because I remember singing it when I was very young and just really feeling and understanding the meaning of it. It's a really beautiful hymn, that I still remember the words to!

 

I'm special because God has loved me
For He gave the best thing that He had to save me
His own Son Jesus, crucified to take the blame
For all the bad things I have done
Thank You Jesus, thank You Lord
For loving me so much
I know I don't deserve anything
Help me feel Your love right now
To know deep in my heart
That I'm Your special friend

 

 

So there we have it, just a few of the hundreds of hymns that I sung in primary school! I do actually really miss them, but they just wouldn't work in secondary schools.

Tuesday seems to be turning into a bit of a reminiscing day doesn't it? I promise I don't mean it to be, it's just how the days have fallen!

 

See you soooooon!