The Lord of The Dance – A ‘Perichoretic’ Song

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Lord of the Dance

Words & Music by Sydney Carter

I danced in the morning
When the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem
I had my birth.

Chorus:
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I’ll lead you all,
wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all
in the Dance, said he

I danced for the scribe
And the pharisee,
But they would not dance
And they wouldn’t follow me.
I danced for the fishermen,
For James and John –
They came with me
And the dance went on.

I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.

I danced on a Friday
When the sky turned black –
It’s hard to dance
With the devil on your back.
They buried my body
And they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance,
And I still go on.

They cut me down
And I leapt up high;
I am the life
That’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you
If you’ll live in me –
I am the Lord
Of the Dance, said he.

Copyright 1963 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
London, England

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Perichoresis – a Patristic theological concept describing the mutual indwelling (or ‘inter-penetration’) of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. A (wrong, but stil inspiring) etymology derives it from the Greek verb choreo = to dance, hence the much quoted ‘dance of the Trinity’, possibly an inspiration for the beautiful lyrics of this great Celtic tune.

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Here is another version of this much sang song.

The Lord of The Dance