This edition was prepared by Allen Garvin — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Help Lord for wasted are those men
Staff Notation • Sacred, Sacred songs
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2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
SAATB · David Fraser
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Help Lord for wasted are those men by William Byrd — Lyrics
Help Lord for wasted are those men,
which right’usnesse embrace:
And rarely found that faithfull are,
but all the truth deface.
Each to his neighbour falsehood speakes
and them seekes to beguile:
With flattering lips and double heart,
when smoothest hee doth smile.
All flattering lips, the Lord our God,
in justice will confound:
And all proud tongues, that vaunt great things
hee will bring to the ground.
Our tongues say they shall lift us up,
by them wee shall prevail:
Who should us let, or stop our course,
that thereof wee should faile.
For the destruction of the just,
and such as bee opprest:
And for the mournings of the poore,
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About Help Lord for wasted are those men
This setting of a devotional English text by William Byrd for SAATB voices opens with a lament on the prevalence of falsehood and deceit. The singers express the pain of seeing neighbours speak lies and dissemble with flattering lips. The text then turns to God's promised judgment on proud tongues and deceptive speech, and a declaration of God's intention to rise up for the oppressed and the poor. Byrd’s music would have been intended for private devotion or chapel services, reflecting the complex circumstances of English Catholic music in the late 16th century.
