Thanks to The Kingdom Come for this – William Tyndale sings “The King James Song” to the tune of ”The Battle of New Orleans.” I’m certainly not a “King James only” kind of guy, but I do greatly appreciate its legacy. I’ve added the lyrics below, since some are hard to follow:
Verse 1:
In sixteen-one-one not too considerate,
The Bible was in Latin very few men could read it
So James did his own version
Written by a special team
And they wrote it all in English,
Boy the priesthood really screamed
Chorus:
Just priests and nuns could read the book in Latin
Gave ‘ em lots of power over everybody ‘ s soul
Yes, King James made the Bible far more common,
Everyone could read it,
Yes that really was the goal
Verse 2:
The Vulgate was in Latin
Guess old James thought this was dumb
Just to know know what God said
Latin scholars they ‘ d become
The people don ‘ t know Latin
and can ‘ t understand the thing
“So we ‘ ll write it in their language
and they ‘ ll read of Christ the King”
[chorus]
Verse 3:
The Pope he thought that it wasn’t really wise
To let the people read God ‘ s word using their own eyes
He thought fer sure
that the common folk would yell,
‘ Cause what the Church was teaching
wouldn ‘ t save the folks from … well
[chorus]
Verse 4:
So they read through the Hebrew
and they read through the Greek
and they read Aramaic
So God ‘ s word we could now seek
They produced the Holy Bible
In the language that we speak
So you could have your own copy
and can read it every week
[chorus]
(Instrumental)
Verse 5:
Although it is Old English
Don ‘ t let it bring on a frown
Just know God ‘ s word is greater
In there yes the truth is found
So read the Bible daily
Though you might not be inclined
‘ Cause in there is the Good News
That saves body, soul, and mind
[chorus]
Verse 6:
Just remember it ‘ s a priviledge
You can read His Holy Word
You can read it with your own eyes
Not just what at Church you ‘ ve heard
Thank King James and his scholars
Who translated God ‘ s word whole
And we ‘ ve got it in a codex not
on some ungainly scroll
[chorus]
Verse 7:
So they read through the Hebrew
and they read through the Greek
and they read Aramaic
So God ‘ s word we could now seek
They produced the Holy Bible
In the language that we speak
So you could have your own copy
and can read it every week
[chorus]
Roderick Edwards
