Joy to the World

This page includes a lyric video, a brief history, sheet music, and other resources for the Christmas carol “Joy to the World.” Enjoy!

Enjoy this You Tube video with lyrics of “Joy to the World”:

History of “Joy to the World”

Words (1719) by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

Isaac Watts was the oldest of nine children born in England to a father, also named Isaac, who was imprisoned on more than one occasion for dissenting from the doctrine of the Anglican Church. It is said that Isaac’s mother Sarah used to nurse him while sitting on a stone outside the prison and talking with her husband through the bars.¹

Watts showed exceptional intellectual ability in his youth. By age 13, he had learned Latin, Greek, French and Hebrew. He also demonstrated his wit with rhyme at a young age. Once when asked to explain why he was disturbing the evening prayers, Watts described the mouse that was distracting him: “A mouse for want of better stairs, ran up a rope to say his prayers.”² On this occasion (or possibly another), when he was being punished for his irritating rhymes, he said, “O father, do some pity take, and I will no more verses make.”³

If Watts had been a member of the Church of England, he probably would have been sent to Oxford or Cambridge for college. Instead, he was enrolled at a school for “dissenters” in London. After leaving the Dissenting Academy at 19, Watts returned to his father’s parish, Above Bar Congregational Church, in Southampton.

Both Watts and his father found church music to be uninspiring and monotonous. The congregational singing in English-speaking churches was limited to metrical psalms. Many Christians believed that it would be offensive to God to sing anything other than the actual words of Scripture. It was Watts’ father who first challenged him to “write something better for us to sing.”⁴

After Watts presented his first song, the congregation at his father’s church responded with tremendous enthusiasm . . . so much so that they requested a new hymn every week. The next two years would become the richest hymn-writing period in Watts’ life. After these two years, Watts moved to London to work as a tutor.

In London, Watts joined the Mark Lane Independent Church. On his 24^thbirthday in 1698, he preached his first sermon, and by 1702, he became the senior pastor. He retained this position for the remainder of his life and would become one of the best-known preachers in England.

Interestingly, Watts was also a reputable author of educational books on geography, astronomy, grammar and philosophy.⁵ His books were widely used in universities in the 18^thcentury. However, Watts is now best known for his hymns, which were motivated by a “fervent concern about the dismal state of congregational singing.”⁶  He wrote, “While we sing the Praises of our God in his Church, we are employ’d in that part of worship which of all others is the nearest a-kin to Heaven; and ‘tis pity that this of all others should be perform’d the worst upon Earth.”⁷

Watts published a number of collections of songs and hymns. In  1719, he completed his work on the The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (in which the famous words for “Joy to the World!” can be found). Watts paraphrased most of the 150 Psalms of the Bible, and it was his meditation on Psalm 98 that inspired “Joy to the World!” The resemblance is evident in verse 4: “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music shout with joy before the LORD, the King” (Psalm 98:4). Though there is no explicit reference to Christmas, the words “the Lord is come” naturally came to be associated with the holiday.

Though Watts’ hymns rapidly spread across England, their popularity did not come without controversy. They were derogatorily referred to as “Watts’ Whims” or “songs of human composure.” One man complained, “Christian congregations shut out divinely inspired Psalms and take in Watts’ flights of fancy as if words of a poet were better than those of a prophet.”⁸

Fortunately, Watts’ hymns survived the controversies, and he rightly earned the title “father of English hymnody.” Many of Watts’ more than 600 hymns can still be heard in churches across the world; some of the most notable are: “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” and “We’re Marching to Zion.”

Music “Antioch” Arranged by Lowell Mason (1792-1872)

It took over a century for Watts’ lyrics to find their current tune. It should be noted that Watts’ Psalms of David did not include music. In 1836, Lowell Mason, an American hymn composer, published the words and music (called “Antioch”) together for the first time in a booklet entitled Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes in which he attributed the tune to George Handel.  The first reliable record of the tune is from an 1833 British publication called Collection of Tunes, in which the tune was titled “Comfort.”⁹ It was later attributed to Handel — probably because of its resemblance to parts of Messiah. However, according to The New Oxford Book of Carols, “any resemblance to Handel was probably coincidental or, at least, unconscious.”¹⁰ Regardless, Mason retained the attribution; as a student of classical composers, Mason obviously believed the piece was similar enough to Handel’s work to be authentic. Though Mason relied heavily on a British version of the tune, he created his own beautiful arrangement, and by combining it with Watt’s words for “Joy to the World,” he set the song on a path to be one of the most popular and cherished carols of Christmas.

Additional Resources for “Joy to the World”:

For more intriguing history on “Joy to the World” (and 19 other classic Christmas songs), you can purchase our Christmas Songs eBook (only $2.99; use code “celebrate20” for 20% off).

You can also download our free, complimentary Sheet Music for “Joy to the World.”

For additional resources, visit Hymns and Carols of Christmas or Net Hymnal.

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Sources:

¹ Fountain, David Guy. Isaac Watts Remembered. Gospel Standard Publications, 1978, p. 7.

² Ibid, p. 13.

³ Bailey, Albert Edward. The Gospel in Hymns: Backgrounds and Interpretations. Scribner, 1950, p. 46.

⁴ Osbeck, Kenneth W. Amazing Grace. Kregel Publications, 1990, p. 12.

⁵ Encyclopedia Britannica. “Isaac Watts.” Retrieved August 23, 2008 from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/637744/Isaac-Watts.

⁶ Osbeck, Kenneth, p. 333.

⁷ Music, David. Hymnology, A Collection of Source Readings. From Watts’ Preface to Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707. The Scarecrow Press, 1996, p.115).

⁸ Abbey, John Charles. Religious Thought in Old English Verse. Sampson Low, 1892, p. 344.

⁹ Keyte, Hugh and Parrott, Andrew, editors. The New Oxford Book of Carols. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 274.

¹⁰ Ibid, p. 274.