St Margaret's Church Prestwich

This article was written for the November 2025 issue of our parish magazine.

We began learning this 8-part song in Manchester Chorale rehearsals back in the summer of 2019. For very obvious reasons, we didn’t get to perform it until June 2022. The Chorale was on a concert tour to Kilkenny in Ireland, and I had spent the previous week with my husband in Kerry. By the time I got to Kilkenny to join in with rehearsals in St Canice’s cathedral there, I had received the devastating news that our friend and sister Rev Deborah had lost her battle with cancer.

Although singing is known to improve both mental and physical health and wellbeing, singing when in the earliest stages of grieving is enormously difficult. Emotions are raw, the voice cracks, and tears are never far away.

That said, after the funeral, singing can be a powerful tool for navigating grief, as it helps to release emotions, provides a sense of community and connection, and offers a distraction to pain. Singing songs related to the deceased can be a way to keep their memory alive and feel connected to them.

During rehearsals and performances in Kilkenny’s beautiful cathedral, I never managed to get through this song dry-eyed. In my heart, I dedicated it to Deborah. The lyrics are:

Chorus	Listen to the lambs; Listen to the lambs; Listen to the lambs, all a-cryin’, I want to get to Heaven when I die.
Verse 1	Come on sister with your ups an’ downs, Want to go to Heaven when I die; Angels waiting for to give you a gown, Want to go to Heaven when I die, Oh Listen to the…
Verse 2	Come on sister an’ don’t be a-shame, Want to go to Heaven when I die; Angels waiting for to write your name, Want to go to Heaven when I die, Oh, Listen to the…
Verse 3	Mind out brother how you walk de cross, Want to go to Heaven when I die; Foot might slip an’ you should get lost, Want to go to Heaven when I die, Oh, Listen to the…

Dett was a successful Canadian concert pianist and composer, born to freed slaves who had travelled north, and this informed and influenced his musicality. He wrote this song in 1923, and there have been many interpretations and recordings over the years, but none by Dett himself.

In this month of remembering – All Souls, All Saints, Remembrance Day, and Bonfire Night – take a moment to listen to our own lambs who have passed ahead of us. Have a listen to some of these recordings, which incorporate “He Shall Feed His Flock”:

Carol P