My Jesus, I Love Thee in Tonic Solfa
My Jesus, I Love Thee in Tonic Solfa to GORDON: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the four verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dMy- | mJe----fsus,-fI- | mlove--r_dThee,-mI- |
| rknow---t,Thou-t,art- | dmine;-----dFor- |
| mThee---fall-fthe- | mfol---r_dlies-mof- |
| rsin---t,I-t,re-- | dsign;-----mMy- |
| sgra----lcious-sRe-- | fdeem--mer-r_-s,my- |
| mSa--s_-fvior-rart- | dThou---t,_-dIf- |
| mev----fer-fI- | mloved--r_dThee,-mmy- |
| sJe--f_-msus,-r’tis- | dnow.----- |
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- Key
- F major
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (F)
- Range
- s, to l (C to D, a ninth)
- Tune
- GORDON
- Words
- William Ralph Featherstone
Tune GORDON by Adoniram Judson Gordon (1836–1895); words by William Ralph Featherstone (1846–1873). Sources and licences.
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is F · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in F major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum F and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
- Pitch the first note. The tune starts on d (F), on the word “My”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 4/4 means four crotchet beats in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest.
- Know the notes. The tune uses d r m f s l t. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
About the hymn
William Ralph Featherstone wrote these words as a young man; Adoniram J. Gordon found them in a London hymnal of 1870 and wrote the tune GORDON for them in 1876.
- Words (1864): William Ralph Featherstone (1846–1873)
- Music (1876): Adoniram Judson Gordon (1836–1895)
Tune GORDON by Adoniram Judson Gordon (1836–1895); words by William Ralph Featherstone (1846–1873).
Sung to the same tune: Delay Not, Delay Not, O Sinner, Draw Near, How Dear Is the Thought, That the Angels of God.
Questions about My Jesus, I Love Thee
What is the doh of My Jesus, I Love Thee?
In this version, in F major, doh is F. If your choir sings it in another key, doh moves to the new key note and every solfa syllable stays the same — that is what movable doh means.
What note does My Jesus, I Love Thee start on?
It starts on d (F in F major), a pickup on the word “My” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is My Jesus, I Love Thee in the public domain?
Yes. William Ralph Featherstone died in 1873, Adoniram Judson Gordon died in 1895; the words were first published in 1864 and the music in 1876. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in the UK, the EU, the United States and Nigeria. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.