Looking at today’s Gospel, I remembered a song from the 70s—Jean Goeboro’s “Consider the Lilies”—that would have made a nice selection for Preparation of Gifts or a second Communion song.

Not so fast.

I found my copy and, of course, I had not remembered its text peculiarities. (Listen here.) The refrain and first verse are fine, but verses 2–4 have grisly off-accents: The accents are on the wrong syllable! Verse 2: The birds of the air. … in the eyes of God? Verse 3: gives clothes to his chil-dren. Verse 4: for tomorrow… Seek first His king-dom.

Oh, dear.

These days an alert editor would have made adjustments—little rhythmic jogs, a couple of pickup notes, that sort of thing—enabling singers to sing it in a way that makes sense. (Which is what I would do if I wanted to use the song for this Sunday.) And it’s a pity someone official hasn’t actually done that since 1974.

This happens in Christmas carols, such as “The First Nowell”: “This star drew nigh to the northwest …”

But it points up what I often urge: you should sing all the verses of a possibly useful song aloud—yes, aloud, to yourself, even if there’s no one else in the room. You will save yourself a lot of time. Your community won’t thank you because they don’t know what you’re doing, but you will have saved them and your singers the discomfort of an awkwardly-set text.

It’s the right thing to do.