Doxology. . . or All People That on Earth Do Dwell?

One day, I was driving my car on the way to school. While listening to The Message on Sirius XM, I heard a familiar song, similar to how I have heard it before, but a new rendition. It took a little bit to figure out what that was, and I wondered how I knew every single word even though I didn’t think I had ever heard it before. When it finally clicked, I realized it was the “Doxology” that we sing every Sunday following Communion at church. Anthem Lights composed their form of “Doxology,” and it was just slightly different from what we sing at church. The melody was extremely recognizable then and still is to this day. When reading Chapter 4 “The Protestant Reformation and Metrical Psalms,” I ran into the video of “All People That on Earth Do Dwell.” I immediately recognized the melody as that of “Doxology.” Instead of listening to the lyrics, my mind kept singing the words to “Doxology.”

I can clearly remember how it felt learning what the words actually were to “Doxology” rather than just repeating what I thought my parents were singing. I experienced the same feeling when hearing “Doxology” on the radio and, once again, hearing “All People That on Earth Do Dwell.” I am struggling to realize if it will make it easier to memorize lyrics put to a melody that you already know or harder because you may get the words mixed up. I plan to keep researching how bible verses coincide with melodies already created, and I look forward to finding a melody to a verse that I love.