Top Catholic Songs – share, learn, promote

Hip Hop lyrics by Alex were made into a Hip Hop song and a Folk-Country song. See how we did it! Richard has recorded two audio demos. See revised lyrics in Comments section. See the Comments section for the progression of lyrics and the two different song approaches. 

Love 101
Original Hip Hop lyrics by Alex:

1st Verse:
The cold weather followed me around town
But I never sold my soul even though I was mostly down...
Then I got to know the lord
That's when I knew it was time to put down my sword
That frown turned upside down and I started to adore...
Everything around me - and it seemed magical
Was I in a dream - because life became manageable...
And beyond - this must be the answer
So I put love into every song and mess around like an amateur dancer...
Because very few opinions only matter to me
Life gave me a platter when I decided to be free...
  

NOTE: We submitted this song to Oregon Catholic Press (ocp.org) but it was not accepted. 

​Our World So Beautiful is a new Christmas song co-written by Dan vi Nguyen, Richard Schletty and André van Haren. Dan posted her lyrics here and asked if anyone could make a song out of her words. Richard Schletty rewrote the lyrics to give them a consistent rhyme, line length, metrical pattern and overall poetic structure. Then Richard came up with a melody. Next, André van Haren wrote a beautiful piano arrangement based on an a cappella recording of the melody by Richard. Using Sibelius, André engraved the sheet music not only for piano and voice, but developed the song fully by adding guitar chords and two additional instruments: flute and cello. He also engraved a version of the song with optional SATB harmonies in the refrain... 

SONG LYRIC:  We taste heaven meal
08/02/2017
By:  Dan Vi Nguyen

CHORUS
On earth we get to taste heaven meal
Bread and wine on the alter present by priest
Bread turns into body, and wine turns into blood of Christ
Believers in faith for salvation.

VERSE
Come to the meal of heaven
On earth we get to participate in heaven meal
With Mother Mary leads the way to the church
Her way is perfection of her heavenly love for Christ.

VERSE
Heavenly of graces from Mother Mary
In the church, Mother shares her joy of her children
Together we are one body of Christ
We are nurture in blood and body of Christ.

VERSE
We praise the Lord, our salvation, our Christ
In the church we sing with joy
We share the meal of heaven 
With our brothers and sisters.

I love this Bible verse about sow the seed.

Mathew 13: 1-9
The Parable of the Sower:  "On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea."  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.  And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow, And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some felt on rocky ground, where there it had little soil.  It spring up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it as scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.  Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked.  But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, and hundred of sixty or thirty-fold.  Whoever has ears ought to hear.

SONG LYRIC:  I Go To Sow The Seed
VERSE
I go to sow the seed
The seed land on rough land
I hope my prayer on land of dragon
Will someday springkle with hope
For humanity of God loves
To open up their will
To accept the truth of Christ for justice.

VERSE
I go to sow the seed
The seed land on a narrow path
The land of Buddism fields
I hope my prayer on the land of Budda
Will someday hear the truth of Christ
When the generation has pass
The truth of Christ will crack open
Through the narrow path.

VERSE
On the land that mother born my life
Where my life began with cry
And the land my father call his homeland
Is the land that I walk my life with dignity
With hope and desire to serve
With love and compassion for humanity
The land where fathers defend for freedom
I call the land my father's land.

CHORUS
The sower goes to sow the seed
The birds came and ate it up
Some seed land on rocky ground
Some seed feel among thorns
Some seed feel on rich soil
Until the day of gather fruits
The fruits produced hundred of sixty or thirtyfold.

Song Lyric:  TAKE ME IN WHEN I AM HOMELESS
By:  Dan Vi Nguyen
06/13/2017

CHORUS
On the pilgrimate to the house of the Lord, take me into your house, 
When I am sick and weavy, you come to restore my health.

VERSE
My walk on earthly life on journey of pilgrimate
I am homeless and you take me into your home
When I am in prison and you visit me
I am hungry and you feed me with bread and wine.

BRIDGE
Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ,
All the things you do for us is all good.

VERSE
Gather together in bread and wine
In the house of the Lord I praise you, Christ,
All day long I sing the song of praising
On earth I hear the man comes for our salvation.

VERSE
Be joyful when we all in the house of the Lord
There is no more pain and suffering 
So praise the Lord and glorify him in heaven
With his Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Hallelua, Hallelua, Hallelua!

A new track from Alexander John (lyrics) and Richard Schletty (performer). Hip Hop Remix is also included in post. Please take a few minutes to listen and comment.

What's Left Is Beauty 

1st Verse:
So we go on in this quest for answers
And hopefully do what's best by removing our spiritual cancer...
I don't know how love can't be the way
As I flow I hope you get to know me as I pray...
GOD's perfect design
Was worth the wait and time...
To be one of his children is more than one can ask for
As we build buildings and have fun that's doing a task and being more...
The way to the light may take time and patience 
And we may be in for a fight against the night but it all makes-sense...
These words touch the paper with heart
But the saviour is the real creator of the true art...
The freedom to be who we want to be
From preaching to teaching to basking in his glory
May seem like a task if you don't know the story
But when I asked him about the light I realised darkness was boring

Hook:
GOD knows us better than anyone else
This track is more like a letter and I'm using my heart felt 

2nd Verse:
As the road gets more and more of a bumpy-ride
I know the core of it all is nothing-but-nice
So as I must-sing on this mic
It's like I'm hustling for the light...
But truth is I'm aware and I bet you are too
If you feel blue just stare at the world and you may see something new...
I only want to be
What GOD intended from me
I'm not pretending when I say all I want to see is peace...
So as I put the mic down after a track 
I look around for a good bite in town, praise GOD, he's got our backs...
The best thing about love is it's free
To rest and know a King is looking over us when we might see a dove it was all meant to be...
So paradise isn't too far away
Beyond the cameras-and-mics is where I wanna lay
And everyday until that day I will continue to pray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jGND4EUJPU

Hail Holy Mary

You gave us Jesus, who lives with us today

I wish you are mine forever 
In my heart you are the only one
Look up to the cross when I feel lonely
You choose me from the moment I conceive 
Teach me the lesson of obedience
To the 10 laws of commandments 
Take me from places of poverty 
Raise me up in the house of the Father
Give me the treasure of chastity
To love brothers and sisters as ourselves.
 

CHORUS
Finding my tone, finding my voices
In the chaos world
Isolate all the noise around me
To listen to your words speak from heaven.

VERSE
From mother wombs I heard the voices
Echo in the water and blood of her womb
So gentle and care of mother nature world
For a child about to enter the world.

VERSE
Fear not my child, you being protected
From the moment you conceive in me
You are made by my blood and water from me
And your bone is from the man at heart.

VERSE
The moment you enter this world
The Father in heaven knows your name
Knows your voices for the world
Father knows even a hair on your head.

BRIDGE
Father knows his child conceive for the world.

A shorter version of our dedication to Mother Mary, which we most often sing as a recessional hymn

CHORUS
Finding my ground with you, my Lord.
When my heart is heavy in life
Carry my cross with you, Christ
Light up my life with burden of the world.

VERSE
Through suffering with you on the cross
You help me to carry my own cross
In my life so much trouble sins
Forgive me, my own sin upon the cross.

VERSE
I am too fall on my knees
Just as you, Christ, felt on your knees
On the way you carried the cross to Calvary
On my way of my life on earth.

VERSE
Rise me up upon the cross
As you are being rise on the cross
Forgive my sins as I am forgiving others
Together we seek for the cross.

I am trying to encourage participation by members of this site. Perhaps some significant structural changes are needed in the way posts and comments areas are presented. Perhaps it needs to be more like a Facebook interface. Not sure. I know that people experience Internet overload and "fatigue." My hope is that members here would make collaboration a priority. Maybe a live chat feed would engage people. 

Here is an example of songwriting collaboration: I helped Asiansa09 with his English translation of a prayer he learned as a child.

I like to post photos and 1-minute videos at Instagram. Instagram is a nice model of social networking. 

However, here at TCS, we need to dig deep into Catholic music making and spend some time reflecting, sharing and helping each other. We have a Forum area being neglected. 

Your suggestions for enlivening this site are most welcome!

In Christ,
Richard

See finished song here:
topcatholicsongs.com/enchristment-nguyen-schletty

CHORUS
I am on my knees
My eyes focus on you in your tabonacle
My heart close to you my Lord, Jesus Christ
In the moment of encharistment.

VERSE
My God, my Christ, whom present in my heart
I praise you, oh Lord, I worship you
In your present at the tabonacle
For me to be with you forever more.

VERSE
My God, my Christ, whom present in my mind
I pray with Mother Mary for virginity
And for others to receive your graces
For me to have faith in you throughout my life.

VERSE
My God, my Christ, whom present in the church
I pray for mom and dad to live a faithful life
Upon the Lord, Jesus Christ, in heaven with the Father
And loves brothers and sisters as self.