O Lord, How Vile Am I in Tonic Solfa
O Lord, How Vile Am I in Tonic Solfa to SOUTHWELL, doh is Ab: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 9 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| l,O- | dLord,-dhow-t,vile-t,am- | l,I,-----dUn-- |
| dho--dly,-rand-run-- | mclean!-----mHow- |
| scan-sI-fdare-fto- | mven--mture-rnigh-mWith- |
| rsuch-da-t,load-t,of- | l,sin?----- |
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- Key
- F minor
- Doh
- Ab
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- l, (F)
- Range
- l, to s (F to E♭, a seventh)
- Tune
- SOUTHWELL
- Words
- John Newton
- Music
- From William Daman's Psalter, 1579
Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune SOUTHWELL (From William Daman's Psalter, 1579); words by John Newton (1725–1807). 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 Ab · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in F minor, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O Lord, how vile am I,
Unholy, and unclean!
How can I dare to venture nigh
With such a load of sin?
Is this polluted heart
A dwelling fit for thee?
Swarming, alas! I in every part,
What evils do I see!
If I attempt to pray,
And lisp thy holy name;
My thoughts are hurried soon away,
I know not where I am.
If in thy word I look,
Such darkness fills my mind,
I only read a sealed book,
But no relief can find.
Thy gospel oft I hear,
But hear it still in vain;
Without desire, or love, or fear,
I like a stone remain.
Myself can hardly bear
This wretched heart of mine;
How hateful then must it appear
To those pure eyes of thine?
And must I then indeed
Sink in despair and die?
Fain would I hope that thou didst bleed
For such a wretch as I.
That blood which thou hast spilt;
That grace which is thine own;
Can cleanse the vilest sinner's guilt,
And soften hearts of stone.
Low at thy feet I bow,
O pity and forgive;
Here will I lie and wait, till thou
Shalt bid me rise and live.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Ab 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 l, (F), on the word “O”, 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
John Newton wrote these words. They were printed in Olney Hymns (London, 1779), Book III, hymn 7, “Behold I am vile!”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Short Metre (6.6.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to SOUTHWELL; any other Short Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words: John Newton (1725–1807)
- Melody (1579): From William Daman's Psalter, 1579
Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune SOUTHWELL (From William Daman's Psalter, 1579); words by John Newton (1725–1807). The Open Hymnal Project publishes this tune as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Sung to the same tune: Along My Earthly Way, And Must This Body Die, Arise, My Gracious God, At the Creation's Birth, Behold Th' Amazing Sight, Behold the Morning Sun, Behold the Sun, How Bright, Blest Are the Sons of Peace, Children of Light, Awake, Come to the House of Prayer, Come, Kingdom of Our God, Come, Ye Who Love the Lord, Destruction's Dangerous Road, Far as Thy Name Is Known, Father, in Whom We Live, Firm and Unmov'd Are They, From Early Dawning Light, Good Is the Heavenly King, Grace! 'Tis a Charming Sound, Great Is the Lord Our God, Here, in the Broken Bread, How Gentle God's Commands, How Honored Is the Place, In Darkness as in Light, It Is a Comely Thing, Jerusalem, Rejoice, Jesus, My Truth, My Way, Let All Our Tongues Be One, Let God the Father Live, Let Hearts and Tongues Unite, Lord Jesus Think on Me, Lord of the Harvest, Hear, My God, My Life, My Love, My God, Permit My Tongue, My Spirit on Thy Care, O Spirit, Freed from Earth, O, Where Shall Rest Be Found, Our Heavenly Father, Hear, Religion Can Assuage, Stand Up and Bless the Lord, Sure There's a Righteous God, The God Jehovah Reigns, The Law by Moses Came, The Time Is Drawing Near, The Word of Christ, Our Lord, Thou Seest My Feebleness, To Christ Th' Anointed King, To Thee, O God in Heaven, We Give Thee but Thine Own.
Questions about O Lord, How Vile Am I
What is the doh of O Lord, How Vile Am I?
In this version, in F minor, doh is Ab. 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 O Lord, How Vile Am I start on?
It starts on l, (F in F minor), a pickup on the word “O” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to l,.
Is O Lord, How Vile Am I in the public domain?
Yes. John Newton died in 1807; the words were in print by 1779 and the music in 1579. 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.