Robert Lowry: How Can I Keep from Singing SSA

I first heard How Can I Keep From Singing in the early 1980s. Pete Seeger performed the song in a church in Hartford, Connecticut. By the time he began the last verse, the audience was singing with him. We were captivated by the performer, the music, and the text.

How Can I Keep From Singing was written by Rev. Robert Lowery, the composer of the well known gospel hymn, Shall We Gather at the River. The text was written in the 1850's by Anne Warner, and in the 1950's Doris Plenn added the third verse. The simple pentatonic melody is a perfect companion to the text. Arranged here for treble voices in three parts (SSA) a cappella.