  I was on a small island in the Carribbean, lying in a hammock under a palm tree beside a sparkling azure bay, my seaplane anchored just offshore, sipping something with a funny little umbrella in it when this song just came to me, wafting on a warm sea breeze. Well, not really. That is the way I wish it had happened. In reality, I was in the shower on a Friday morning, getting ready to go to work. There was no tropical sea breeze in the air, just the scent of Suave shampoo and Zest soap. It was warm and humid in there though, despite the cold wind blowing outside the window.... I was idling away on a kind of Jose Feliciano guitar and melody thing, and suddenly this lyric, which I had memorized nearly thirty years ago, came to mind. Now, such a thing happens quite frequently, but I never seem to be able to get it down on paper before it is gone. In this case, I studied the melody, decided D was a good key for it, and mentally wrote the first phrase, F#, D, G, F#, E, F#. Somehow, I rembered when in the shower on Saturday that I had a good musical idea the day before, and was able to reconstruct the tune beginning with the note sequence I had worked out. I sang it to myself a few times to refresh it, then, before my hair was completely dry, I sketched the melody into the computer. The rest of it just kind of happened as I fleshed it out on Saturday evening, after a day of one of my least favorite things: car shopping. I'm not sure where the vaguely Carribbean feel came from. I was aiming for something more Latin. Maybe it is the tempo. Anyway, the end result is restful, easygoing, and peaceful, like the sense of calm in the midst of a storm that the lyric talks about. + + + Jesus, priceless treasure, source of purest pleasure, Truest friend to me! Oh, how long I've panted, and my heart has fainted, Thirsting Lord, for Thee! Thine I am, oh spotless Lamb! I will never, never hide Thee, Nothing else beside Thee! Nothing else beside Thee! (break) End the fear and sadness, for the Lord of gladness, Jesus enters in. We who love the Father, though the storms may gather, Still have peace within. Fires may flash and thunders crash, Yes, and sin and hell assail me, Jesus will not fail me! Jesus will not fail me! (break) Any burden I must bear, still in Thee is purest pleasure, Jesus, priceless treasure! Jesus, priceless treasure! Jesus, priceless treasure! Jesus, priceless treasure! + + + Talk about going to the well for a lyric! I learned this lyric while memorizing the first six and final movements of BWV227, Jesu, Priceless Treasure, by J.S. Bach (available elsewhere in the sheet music section of this site), back in 1976. The original lyric for the hymn was penned in German by J. Franck in 1655, and was translated to English by Catherine Winkworth in 1863. I have cut and pasted from a couple of different places in the original hymn text and modernized the English, but otherwise, the lyric for this song is by Franck and Winkworth. I hope you find this a fun and thoughful interpretation of the text, rather than a trivialization. I think the text is very joyful, and while my little tune cannot hold a candle to the Johann Creuger hymn tune for simple majesty, it probably does sit better on the modern ear. The score is for vocal solo, flute, guitar, bass, and wood block. No doubt there are many ways to use this in a worship setting, including congregational singing, and recordings of performances, however creative, are always welcome. MP3 sound sample: Entire piece (synthesizer/midi). JESUS, PRICELESS TREASURE, accompanied vocal solo with lyric by Franck and Winkworth, music by Tom Kirkland, comes in a pdf file of 686K, with an eight-page score, a two-page melody line with chords, and a license page, eleven pages in all. Performance time should be approximately 3:45. |
| WE SEEK RECORDINGS TO USE AS DEMOS The majority of our sheet music pieces use electronically-produced demos on the item pages. We would much prefer to use actual recordings, so if you email us a digital recording or link to an online video and we end up using it as a demo on our site (fully credited), we will send you a coupon code good for US$25 toward your next purchase from our site. BLANKET RECORDING POLICY FOR SHEET MUSIC Many of our sheet music licenses state that the purchaser does not have the right to record the work. We have modified our policy on this, and unless the license page states that you must obtain permission from a party other than www.tributek.com to record the work, we will allow a small number (less than 50) of copies of an audio or video recording of a live performance to be made and distributed and/or posted to a free web site for viewing/listening, so long as www.tributek.com, the composer, arranger, and lyricist are credited. IN THE DOWNLOADABLES BUSINESS OVER Visit our hard goods division at  .usA customer commented: "Today I made my first purchase from Tributek. Every aspect of the transaction exceeded my expectations. The description of the product included a Quicktime demo in addition to a clear, interesting, well-written description of the product. The price of the product was a bargain. The ordering process could not have been easier or faster. I will definitely shop with Tributek again!" Another customer commented: "I would like to compliment you on the ease of purchasing music on-line. I require the music for a wedding in a couple of weeks, and didn't want to wait for music to be sent in the mail. It was great to be able to hear the music and to know the length of the PDF file and performance time." Another customer writes: "I bought some choral music off your site. It's great. I hope we can do all of it in our church. I don't know how you can sell it so cheap. It's a great service you offer." NOTE: All www.tributek.com customers are given the opportunity to rate our service, value, and quality, and 98% of www.tributek.com customers who have ever returned satisfaction surveys rate their overall experience doing business with us as "excellent" (71%) or "good" (27%). You can't please all of the people all of the time, but we do try very hard.
Visit our hard goods division at tributek.us Copyright (c)1999-2022 www.tributek.com All rights to all text, sounds, and graphics are reserved. Last update: 24 APR 2023 |
