‘An Australian Carol’? Singing ‘When God Almighty Came to Be One of Us’ to ‘Waltzing Matilda’

Описание: The challenge, or problem, of ‘an Australian Carol’ is that you sometimes end up singing of kangaroos, or “rusty Holden” utes; or of the “north wind” “tossing the leaves” while the “grass in the paddock” turns “brown”—which this year in Gippsland in NOT working with this unseasonably wet summer! Thus the problem of achieving an Australian feel by appeals to geography or meteorology!

I like these lyrics by an English (and Anglican!) priest, Michael Edward Hewlett (1916-2000), written circa 1969, called “When God Almighty Came to Be One of Us”—they’re fairly universal lyrics. And I love the theme of the historic observation of the vast dramatis personae of the Nativity—drawing a conclusion that the engagement of humanity with the Incarnation of Christ keeps expanding to include the Lukan “all”.

What could possibly make it ‘an Australia Carol’ ? Turns out it fits rather neatly to the irregular metre of Australia’s beloved tune “Waltzing Matilda” that resides deeply in an Australian collective conscience and the dormant repertoire of many. Like the Iona songwriters, I think those dormant repertoires are great candidates for re-purposing!

The lyrics only need a little alteration from the original—some may wish to come up with more gender inclusive position descriptions than ‘policemen’ and ‘taxmen’. Others might like to modify other aspects of the lyrics.

To my ear—the combination of tune and lyrics could be quite powerful.

The idea for trying this marriage came from the comment of ‘Rosemary’ posted on Natalie Sim’s “Singing the Lectionary ” blog site for Epiphany—6 January 2025–but the marriage could be sung any time in Advent or Christmastide as well.

Lastly, I learnt the tune in E flat major, but it would be so much more comfortable singing it in D major for the second half of the first line of the chorus! I haven’t a great vocal range!