Hark (Newborn King)
Info:
| Words: | Charles Wesley |
|---|---|
| Music: | Don Chapman |
| Key: | Ab major |
| Time Sig: | 4/4 |
| Tempo: | 136 | uptempo |
| CCLI #: | 7289197 |
| Verse: | Luke 2:14 |
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“Hark! (Newborn King)” sets the words of Charles Wesley, the prolific eighteenth-century English hymn writer, to a new melody by Don Chapman. Wesley’s 1739 original began “Hark, how all the welkin rings,” until preacher George Whitefield changed it to the opening line the whole world now sings at Christmas.
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is one of the most popular Christmas carols of all time But here’s what most worship leaders don’t know: the carol nearly didn’t happen! Charles Wesley’s original first line was “Hark, how all the welkin rings” (welkin is an old word for the sky), and it was set to a somber tune that went nowhere. George Whitefield rewrote the opening in 1753, and the melody we sing today came from Felix Mendelssohn, who said it should NEVER be used with sacred words. William Hayman Cummings did, back in 1855, pairing Mendelssohn’s melody with “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
Mendelssohn must be spinning in his grave! So I wrote a brand-new melody for Wesley’s lyrics. It took me over a year to finish, and the result is Hark! (Newborn King), an upbeat, modern take your congregation can sing on the first try because they already know every word. It’s a perfect call to worship for December!
Start your Christmas set with Hark! (Newborn King) and follow it with a song that keeps the celebration going. Suggestions:
Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy) (Chris Tomlin): Two upbeat Christmas openers back to back. Hark announces the newborn King, and Tomlin’s anthem calls the whole earth to receive Him.
Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground) (Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash): My bridge ends on “Jesus our Emmanuel,” so the handoff practically makes itself. Drop the tempo here for a reflective moment.
King of Kings (Hillsong Worship): Wesley wrote that Jesus was “born that man no more may die,” and King of Kings carries that story from the manger to the cross to the empty tomb.
Watch for the a cappella moment: After the bridge, instruments drop out (mostly) and then intensity builds back up with “Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” It’s one of my favorite moments in the song!
