Come, Sing a Song With Me

Come, Sing a Song With Me Notes From the Arranger Hello, and thank you for your interest in this SSA version of the traditional Unitarian hymn, Come, Sing a Song With Me. My goal in arranging this was to put an American song into a multicultural context, rather than hijack and arrange a traditional song from another culture. To that end, three verses of the song are in languages other than English. I chose languages that are important to the United States: Lenape, which represents the people native to this land; Swahili, representing people who were brought here against their will; and Spanish, to represent the many people who have come here seeking a happier and safer life. Sadly, many Native American languages have been lost, so I am deeply grateful to the New Jersey Sand Hill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Indians for their help with the translation and pronunciation of the second verse. Pal, wichei lashimwi, nteli wahan kte roughly translates to Come, dream a dream with me, that I might know your mind. It is pronounced, Pahl, wee-CHEI la-SHEEM-wee, nDEL-ee wa-HAN k-TEI. Words ending with ei sound somewhere between ay and eh. For examples of pronunciation, visit https://www.talk-lenape.org. The third verse, Njoo, pamoja na mvua, ili nipate kukujua, roughly translates to, Come, walk in rain with me, that I might know your mind. The original languages of African slaves who were forceably brought to the United States have also mainly changed or been lost, so I chose Swahili because it is derived from older languages and is currently the most commonly spoken African tongue. The line is pronounced, Njoa, pah-moh-ja mVOO-ah, i-li ni-PAH-teh ku-ku-JU-ah. The first word is tricky to write out; it sounds similar to the English word jaw, but an oh sound comes before the aw. The last verse loosely translates to Come, share a rose with me, that I might know your mind. (With all the translations, I had to do my best to make the words fit the music and the meaning, so they are not exact.) The Spanish line is: Ven, comparte una rosa con me, para que conozca tu mente. It is pronounced: Ven, cohm-PAR-te U-na ROH-za cohn meh, para kei coh-NOH-scah tu MEN-teh. For all of these pronunciations, finding a native speaker is the best option, if possible; I cannot adequately write out all the inflections and vowels. I hope you enjoy the song. Your humble servant, Sarah OSullivan