David Hepburn does it again. This short poignant gospel song has a wonderfully singable melody, a fantastic and expressive lyric, and a timeless message.
Perhaps the most unusual thing about this song is its lack of verse/chorus structure. It is memorable without being the least repetitious, and in that way has more of an art-song structure, but it also clearly has roots in traditional gospel music. Overall, it is quite a compelling song.
The lyric is perhaps the song's best feature:
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I came as a pauper, not as a prince,
To the foot of the cross where Jesus died,
To plead for His mercy, for I knew I was lost,
If His grace to me was denied.
I had no great riches, position, or fame,
My talents were common to men,
And I knew if I needed these things when I came,
Then my search for forgiveness would never end.
So I came empty handed, stripped of my pride,
I knelt at the cross where the Savior died,
His grace and forgiveness to me were applied,
And now I'm a child of the King.
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The sound sample is of a slightly different arrangement, and the piano accompaniment is ad-libbed to a significant degree.
The song is easy to sing for tenors or sopranos; range is C to F, an octave and a half.
MP3 sound sample: Covenant Four, solo by David Hepburn, 1988.
A CHILD OF THE KING comes in a pdf file of 984k, including a four page vocal part with very simple piano accompaniment and guitar chords, and a license page, five pages in all. Performance time is just over two minutes.