"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race." 2 Timothy 4:7
Words: John Samuel Bewley Monsell, Hymns of Love and Praise for the Church's Year, 1863. This hymn was sung in the 1981 Academy Award winning movie, "Chariots of Fire."
Music: "Pentecost," William Boyd, 1864
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Baring-Gould asked me to compose a tune to Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire, to be sung at a large meeting of Yorkshire colliers. I walked, talked, slept and ate with the words, and at last evolved the tune which I naturally named Pentecost…One day, as I was walking along Regent Street I felt a slap on my back, and turning around saw my dear old friend Arthur Sullivan. "My dear Billy," he said, "I've seen a tune of yours which I must have." (He was then editing Church Hymns) "All right," I said, "Send me a cheque and I agree." No copy of the book, much less a proof was sent to me, and when I saw the tune I was horrified to find that Sullivan had assigned it to "Fight the good fight!" We had a regular fisticuffs about it, but judging from the favour with which the tune has been received, I feel that Sullivan was right in so mating words and music.
Musical Times (XLIX, 1908)
Alternate tunes:
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"Duke Street," attributed to John Hatton, 1793
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"Shepton-Beauchamp," English traditional melody