Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, Come Ye Disconsolate | Music Lifts

In the 16^th edition of Music Lifts (2026), we’re uplifted by Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway performing the hymn “Come Ye Disconsolate.”

Welcome to Music Lifts, featuring songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs that exude fortitude, positivity, and resolve, even in the face of adversity.  Featured songs aren’t genre-specific; songs may or may not be faith-based. The goal is for these songs to make you feel better – be LIFTED to new heights!  So, for the 16^th edition of Music Lifts (2026), we highlight “Come Ye Disconsolate” as performed by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway.

Those poetically penned lyrics appear in the first verse of the hymn, “Come Ye Disconsolate”.  In the 21^st century, some of those words aren’t used regularly.  Disconsolate means cheerless, dejected, or downcast according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Languish is another word with a negative connotation: feeble, weak, to be depressed, to assume an expression of grief or emotion appealing for sympathy. If something is fervent, it means exhibiting or marked by great intensity of feeling: zealous.  Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852) composed some thoughtful lyrics in the first two stanzas of “Come Ye Disconsolate.” Thomas Hastings (1784 – 1872) composed the third stanza.  Their incredibly rich and meaningful words have stood the test of time.  Many choirs and musicians have performed this great hymn.  Two deceased, Grammy-winning soul legends, Roberta Flack (1937 – 2025) and Donny Hathaway (1945 – 1979), performed “Come Ye Disconsolate” as a duet. It is the ninth track from their 1972 self-titled, gold-certified album.

In their moving rendition of “Come Ye Disconsolate,” Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway perform the first two verses of the hymn – sorry, Thomas Hastings. A churchy piano and organ-led introduction set the tone.  Bass enters, providing a firm foundation. There are no drums in this arrangement. Flack sings the famous first line (“Come, you disconsolate…”), with Hathaway following with half of the second line (“Come to the mercy seat”), before they join forces on “fervently kneel.” For the remainder of the powerful verse, they duet, singing in chilling harmony: “Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish…” As always, the synergy between the two is awe-inspiring. Hathaway and Flack trade roles in the second verse. Hathaway draws first blood on (“Joy of the desolate…”), compelling with his pure, soulful pipes.  Flack sings the second line (“Hope, hope of the penitent”) before they both sing, “fadeless and pure, here.”  Like the first verse, they duet the remainder of the song, bringing those strong lyrics to life.  The outro, a repeat of the final line of the second verse, caps off “Come Ye Disconsolate marvelously: “I said, ‘Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure.” Powerful to the utmost, “Come Ye Disconsolate”, in the hands of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway is truly exceptional.

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Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway » Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway » Atlantic Recording Corporation » 1972

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, Come Ye Disconsolate: Music Lifts No. 16 (2026) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Atlantic Recording Corporation; Emma Bauso, foad shariyati, nappy, Niko Twisty, Victoria Strelka_ph, Wolrider YURTSEVEN from Pexels; Gordon Johnson from Pixabay]

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