339-lift every voice.

mus, Page 1

THE LIFE OF THE NATIONS

339 Lift Every Voice and Sing

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& 8 œœ œœ œœ œœ .. # œœ .. œœ .. œœ œœ œœ œœ .. œœ ..
1 Lift ev - ery voice and sing till earth and heav - en

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2 Ston - y the road we trod, bit - ter the chas - tening

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3 God of our wea - ry years, God of our si - lent

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& œœ .. œœ # œœ œœ œ. #œ. œœ .. œœ .. œœ .. œœ œœ
ring, ring with the har - mo - nies of lib - er -
rod, felt in the days when hope un - born had

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tears, thou who hast brought us thus far on the

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ty. Let our re - joic - ing rise high as the lis - tening
died. Yet, with a stead - y beat, have not our wea - ry

.
? # œœ . œœ œœ œœ œœ .. œœ .. œœ # œœ œœ œœ .. œœ .
way; thou who hast by thy might led us in - to the

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& œœ .. œœ œœ # œœ œœ .. œœ n œœ œ œœ .. œœ œj ˙ .
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skies; let it re - sound loud as the roll - ing sea.
feet come to the place for which our par - ents sighed?

œ. œ œ œ œ. œ œ
light, keep us for - ev - er in the path, we pray.

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˙.
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Initially a poem for a school assembly at which Booker T. Washington spoke on Lincoln’s birthday in 1900,
this text and tune have gained national recognition and devotion, not only within the African American
community, but also among all who seek liberation from oppression.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TEXT: James Weldon Johnson, 1900 LIFT EVERY VOICE
MUSIC: J. Rosamond Johnson, 1905 Irregular

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 339-lift every voice.mus, Page 2

THE LIFE OF THE NATIONS

#
& œ. œ. œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
We have come o - ver a way that with tears has been wa - tered;

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Lest our feet stray from the plac - es, our God, where we met thee;

œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ.

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& œ. œ. bœ. ˙.
œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ ˙.
sing a song full of the hope that the pres - ent has brought
we have come, tread - ing our path through the blood of the slaugh -

nœ.
lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we for - get

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#œ. œ. œ nœ œ œ. #œ.
us. Fac - ing the ris - ing sun of our new day be -
tered, out from the gloom - y past, till now we stand at

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thee; shad - owed be - neath thy hand may we for - ev - er

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& œœ .. œœ œœ # œœ œ . œœ œœ œ œœ .. œœ œœj ˙˙ . Œ.
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gun, let us march on, till vic - to - ry is won.
last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

. œœ .. œœ # œœ œœ b œ œœ .. œœ œ ˙ .
stand, true to our God, true to our na - tive land.

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