New From Ben & Rose: “How Great Thou Art”
Ben & Rose are back, this time covering a hymn beloved by many. “How Great Thou Art” went up on YouTube yesterday, their first new song since “Stroll Over Heaven” at the end of June.
The hymn has an interesting history. It started life as a Swedish poem, “O Store Gud,” written by Carl Boberg in 1885, reportedly after he was caught out in a sudden storm – which just as suddenly “subsided to a peaceful calm.”
It was first translated to English in 1925, but only later did Stuart K. Hine give it the words familiar to many today, around 1949.
It achieved further prominence in America through the Billy Graham crusades of the 1950s, and according to Wikipedia, has been recorded a whopping 1700+(!) times. So Ben & Rose are picking a true standard to cover here.
And we’ve actually heard this one on the site before, under rather different circumstances. Back in 2015 a group of Amish girls sang “How Great Thou Art” with instruments (keyboard, guitar, and accordion) in the Pinecraft, Florida community.
This is also one of their fuller studio arrangements. Ben and Rose handle the vocals, with Daniel Beachy on steel guitar and Jason Barie on fiddle, while producer Conrad Fisher covers drums, bass, keys, and guitar. As usual, it was recorded and produced at Conrad’s Ragamuffin Hall.
Here are the lyrics (they sing verses 1 and 4 in this version):
“How Great Thou Art” – Lyrics
O Lord my God
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works
Thy hands have made,
I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout
The universe displayed!Chorus
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!Verse 2
When thru the woods
And forest glades I wander
And hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down
From lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook
And feel the gentle breeze,Chorus
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!Verse 3
And when I think
That God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in –
That on the cross,
My burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died
To take away my sin!Chorus
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!Verse 4
When Christ shall come
With shout of acclamation
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And then proclaim,
My God, how great Thou art!Chorus
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!
A gorgeous one to hear them perform – Rose’s lead vocals powerful as usual, and some excellent backing.
Fitting the beauty of the song, the video is one of the most beautiful they’ve recorded as well – shot in a wheat field in the lush central Pennsylvania landscape.
I expect this one is going to get a lot of listens. Enjoy your own listen here:
