Today’s song from Sing Praise is “My soul finds rest in God alone” by Aaron Keyes and Stuart Townend and based on Psalm 62. I didn’t find this easy to sing, with lots of dotted quavers or semiquavers, and a mixture of 3/4 and 5/4 time, but perhaps it’s one of those intended to be sung by a soloist or a worship band alone rather than by full congregation.
As with many Psalms, this is an affirmation that we can trust in God when everything else around us seems untrustworthy. The various afflictions mentioned here, whether the cursing and lies of enemies, temptations in the world around, financial worries or the ultimately unavoidable shadow of death, are countered by the various images of the unchangeable God: rock, fortress, salvation, the hope of heaven.
I basically agree with Stephen: I think this is a worthy attempt at putting the sentiments of the Psalm into meter, and drawing out the ways that Christ fulfils them; but I also felt that the intricacies of the tune were too complex for the effect. I think that if one wants to write a tune in a strange time-signature then one needs to consider whether the overall effect is worth it in terms of additional impact, heightening the meaning of the words, enabling it to stay in the worshipper’s mind and so on. And whilst there are memorable hymns that do this (the most obvious that springs to mind is Stuart Townend’s “How deep the Father’s love for us” – no. 46 in the book – which is essentially in a 5/2 time signature except for the link from one verse to the next), I don’t quite think this one works. I was tempted to sing the verses to “Golden Sheaves” (by Arthur Sullivan), because, after all, they are 8.7.8.7.D verses – but I felt I had a duty to convey what effect the tune gave.