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Tomlin v. Hudson

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Home » Forums » Hymnary Editor Room
Sun, 07/04/2021 - 18:33 — Haruo

I noticed that the Chris Tomlin-refrained version of "When I survey the wondrous cross" has a separate text athority from the refrainless Watts one. I thought added-later refrains were to be ignored in making text authorities. For a similar example, "Alas, and did my Savior bleed?" has a single text authority that includes in its instances those with the Hudson refrain and also other refrains, like "Oh, how I love Jesus", "Thanks to the Lamb" and "He loves me"... Why this special treatment for Mr. Tomlin and his coauthors? It seems to me none of them ought to be listed as "authors" of the hymn, but only of the refrain.


Comments

Tue, 07/06/2021 - 11:23 — dianneshapiro

An exception was made in this case because "The Wonderful Cross" by Tomlin is a popular contemporary worship song. We did not want it to get lost among the 1800 instances of "When I survey the wondrous cross" by Watts. Hudson's refrain has been tacked on to a number of different hymns, and the tune has also been used with a number of different hymns, not only "Alas and did my Saviour bleed." That is true of the other refrains also. Some hymns, especially in revival era hymnals, had hundreds and thousands of different refrains tacked on, so it would be unwieldy to make a new authority for each separate refrain. 

Sat, 07/10/2021 - 23:48 — Haruo

I spend more time with the revival era hymnals than the contemporary worship stuff, but I understand.

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