# "Jerusalem", by William Blake .wav? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827 "2004-06-11T15:55:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827/1 "2004-06-11T15:55:38Z")
Like most Americans, I suppose, I’m more familiar with _Jerusalem_ (“And Did Those Feet In Ancient Times…”) by William Blake as part of a Monty Python sketch than as a church hymn. A choir just sang the hymn at Reagan’s funeral. Where can I find the melody as a .wav or midi online? ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827/2 "2004-06-11T15:59:32Z")
[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rulebritannia.html](http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rulebritannia.html) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827/3 "2004-06-11T16:04:36Z")
I was listening to the funeral online, and I couldn’t quite make out the words to the song, but from what I could hear, they weren’t Blake’s _Jerusalem_ (besides, they’d be rather inappropriate: “In England’s green and pleasant land”). Also, the original only has two verses, and this seemed to have three or four. Thus I propose it was the tune by Charles Parry, that was written for Blake’s poem, but with different words. Does anyone know what the words they were singing were? (BTW, I love the original; it will be played at my funeral. I wish it were the English national anthem, rather than yawntastic _God save the Queen_.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827/4 "2004-06-11T16:10:05Z")
That was _fast_, **APB**! Thanks! **jjimm** : Yeah, it’s hard to make out the words when they’re sung by a choir and you don’t go to church. But to me it _sounded_ like _Jerusalem_, and that’s what I was looking for. I thought it was a little odd that a song about England would be played at Reagan’s funeral; but Reagan _was_ a bit of an anglophile, and was proud of his Irish heritage. So I can see an English hymn being played. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827/5 "2004-06-11T16:13:04Z")
I’d guess tthe alternative lyrics weren’t these: [http://www.diamondgeezers.org.uk/sounds/lyrics/jerusalem2.html](http://www.diamondgeezers.org.uk/sounds/lyrics/jerusalem2.html) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerusalem-by-william-blake-wav/249827/6 "2004-06-11T16:16:54Z")
Aha - [http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=1935187](http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=1935187) … > [@](#): > > Cathedral Choir sings anthem tune “Jerusalem,” by Horatio Bonar, 1858.