Sing hallelujah to the Lord

Linda Stassen’s single stz has been extended by other hands to make a song doubly unusual. Each of its eventual 4 stzs consists of one brief sentence repeated in lines 2 and 4, of which a fragment, also repeated, makes up the 3rd line. And the ‘2nd part’, marked optional but almost invariably used, repeats each phrase with a descant-style variation. Since each repetition begins as the first phrase is completed, rather than after it, there is a feeling of constant movement. It is the anonymous stzs 2–4 which name Jesus as the Lord. The song originated in July 1974, when its composer (later Linda Stassen Benjamin) produced it as her assignment in a class for artists and musicians at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California, USA. It was taught to a congregation the following week, and soon recorded for ‘Maranatha! Music’. The first book to print it was also named Praise, in Laguna Hills, 1975. Some books name Linda Stassen as the sole author as well as composer. The present arrangement by Norman Warren of the tune SING ALLELUIA/HALLELUJAH [TO THE LORD], which has also been given the name STASSEN, appeared in Jesus Praise which he compiled in 1982, and later that year in HTC.

see Author index. No.471.