Clearly, we have too much time on our hands in the office. We put our heads together and came up with a list of what may be the ten worst hymns of all time. Here are the hymns with video links. Take a look and a listen, and let us know what you think!
[Note: The criticism applies only to the hymns themselves and not to the performances in the examples.]
10. “Pescador de los Hombres” (Lord, When You Stood by the Seashore)
According to some sources, this was the favorite hymn of Pope John Paul II.
9. “I Am the Bread of Life,” by Suzanne Toolan
8. “On Eagles’ Wings, ” by Michael Joncas
7. “Pan de Vida, cuerpo del Señor,” by Bob Hurd and Pia Moriarty
6. “Sing a New Song,” by Dan Schutte
5. “We Remember,” by Marty Haugen
4. “Here I Am, Lord,” by Dan Schutte
3. “City of God, ” by Dan Schutte
2. “Gather Us In,” by Marty Haugen
Oddly, “Gather Us In” reminds some of us of a much better secular song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” by Gordon Lightfoot
1. “Sons of God, Hear His Holy Word,” by James Thiem
Because this onetime favorite has disappeared (mercifully) from most modern hymnals, no video seems to be available. Here are the lyrics.
What hymns would you put on the list?
July 6th, 2010 | 10:49 am
You forgot the worst of all: “Sing a New Church”. Seriously, how does one “in splendid, varied ways, sing a new church into being” anyway?
July 6th, 2010 | 10:58 am
[...] Worst Hymns Firstthings has taken on a rather daunting task : Identifying the ten worst hymns of all time. Given the massive amount of tripe produced in the last fifty years, it would be hard for me to even [...]
July 6th, 2010 | 11:10 am
Just looking at this list gives one chills of terror and prayers that the Lord will cause us to have head colds at those masses where these ditties are foisted upon us. Add “Sing a New Church” and “All Are Welcome” to this list of elevator music.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:12 am
The one that has me jamming my fingers into my ears at Communion is “Whatsoever You Do…” wherein (as Thomas Day puts it) “the congregation repeatedly and crassly congratulates itself” for its virtue.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:12 am
“Anthem” by Tom Conry was a staple of the suburban Catholicism of my youth. I’m surprised its copyright hasn’t been purchased by Organizing for America.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:16 am
Rory Cooney’s “Walk In The Reign” is rather peignful. I wrote a parody of it, “Jesus In Reign Boots,” and was humbled by the original hymn’s power.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:23 am
A vocal performance of “Sons of God Hear His Holy Word” is available here:
http://tasbeha.org/mp3/Songs/English/Shepherd_of_My_Soul.html
Third from the bottom.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:30 am
What about Be Not Afraid???
Can you do a list of the 10 greatest catholic hymns?
July 6th, 2010 | 11:31 am
They’re the worst.
Except for all the others that are even worse than these.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:34 am
I can’t believe that you left out Marty Haugen’s All are Welcome.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:36 am
Seems to me the worst hymns would be:
1) As a Fire is Made for Burning
2) Sing a New Church
July 6th, 2010 | 11:38 am
Can you really say that this is in any way constructive? Arguments about taste are unresolvable. This serves only to add to division by so pointedly singling out the St. Louis Jesuits. This is neither clever nor helpful. It’s schoolyard stuff.
And, I HATE On Eagle’s Wings.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:44 am
We Are One in the Spirit and Let There Be Peace on Earth are just two more achingly bad ones. I don’t think you can limit this category to just 10, Joe; there are at least a hundred performed throughout the year.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:46 am
I neglected to say earlier: I think it’s overly generous to call any of these hymns; they are campfire songs, most of them, and particularly bad ones at that.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:54 am
Worse than all these, I think, is “Ashes,” which is actually heretical. A staple on Ash Wednesday’s in some parishes, it goes: “We rise again from ashes to create ourselves (!!!) anew…”
July 6th, 2010 | 11:54 am
Can’t believe you forgot “Peace is Flowing Like a River.” Forced to sing this many times in Catholic grade school in the 1980s. Not a song for 5th grade boys. We all dissolved into laughter at the line, “Peace is flowing out of you and me.”
July 6th, 2010 | 11:58 am
As a singer, sadly I gotta ask myself: can I in good conscience sing these words? I’m willing, in the spirit of Christian fellowship and personal mortification, to sing horrible music, as long as the lyrics aren’t out-and-out heresy.
With that in mind, I’m with Chris on “Sing a New Church” – the kindest thing one can say is that it’s incoherent – but not incoherent enough for a faithful Catholic to sing. It crosses the line between the style of modern hymn that is a mere hodge-podge of religiousy-sounding phrases with no overall sense or message to words that, if they mean anything at all, mean something I’m not willing to affirm.
There are many others that, even with a generous mind, one simply cannot seriously sing before our God and Savior.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:06 pm
The problem with these hymns is that they date very badly: they may have been passible in the 60′s or 70′s (though even as a kid in the 70′s, I remembered these hymns as sounding pretty “dorky”), but they sound even more pathetic today – sort of like the aging hippy trying to “get down” with the kids. Really good hymns, like those of Gregorian chant, are timeless. But if one were making a list of the best Catholic hymns, I’d probably put “Holy God We Praise Thy Name,” near the top of the list along with hymns I remember singing in my childhood during Benediction service, “O Saving Victim,” and “Tantum Ergo.” They still send shivers up my spine!
July 6th, 2010 | 12:22 pm
Hey folks- leave some room for Protestant atrocities. Herb Brokering and his loud boiling test tubes come to mind or the oeuvre of John Ylvisaker.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:26 pm
Sorry to disagree, but about half of these hymns are ones I very much enjoy at Mass, and the videos of these hymns, even with accoustical problems, sounded good to me. “On Eagles’ Wings” is one of my favorites.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:30 pm
I rise in defense of “Pescador de Hombres” . . . in Spanish. Its translation into English is another matter.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:31 pm
”Can you really say that this is in any way constructive?”
Maybe not, but it’s sure cathartic.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:31 pm
I’m working on a rule that any hymn that contains the contraction “fam’ly” is a bad hymn.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:31 pm
I’m afraid “Anthem” tops my list. I truly can’t make myself sing the line, “…who was rage against the night.”
I’m a little torn on the topic – seriously. I think in my college days I would have connected better with this song and others. The question then is was I growing closer to God through these songs – or was I being convinced of my own potential, my own goodness with God along for the ride as sort of a mascot?
July 6th, 2010 | 12:49 pm
Re the constructiveness of conversation about poor hymnody:
a. It’s not just a matter of taste. Hymnody is catechesis, in the way that the great altarpieces once were, and whatever you might think about the sing-y Celtic tune, a hymn which has Jesus asking, “Can you love the ‘you’ inside . . . ” is objectively cruddy catechesis and ought to be called out as such.
b. Many of these contemporary hymns are, for the average person in the congregation, much more difficult to sing than traditional hymns, because their intervals are weird and their time signatures keep changing. Often the melody changes from verse to verse, or the words don’t line up predictably with the notes, so when you think you’ve figured out how it goes, you haven’t. This is objectively a problem if you want people to sing. (a musician friend of mine notes that it’s a stroke of . . . some kind of genius . . . that the opening interval of “On Eagle’s Wings” is precisely the interval you use when you call, “Yoo-hoo!” And what are the first two words? “You who.” Genius.)
c. Conversation about these things is not just pointless grousing. Sometimes you need a reality check — it’s not just you who think this, and you’re not just an obsessive crank with too much spare brain space for thinking it.
In my own experience as a mediocre and nervous singer/cantor, Gregorian chant is far easier to sing than just about anything else. It more or less sings itself, and you can pitch it anywhere you like to suit your vocal range. This is good news for those of us who shouldn’t give up our day jobs to be soloists, but are what our parishes have to work with nonetheless.
July 6th, 2010 | 12:54 pm
I always cringe when I see a song is written by Dan Schutte or Marty Haugen. Also pretty much any song written by someone namd ‘Bob’ or ‘Dan’ or ‘Jim’ or ‘Steve.’ You’re publishing songs (and in a hymnal no less!) Use your full name!
July 6th, 2010 | 12:55 pm
[...] at First Thoughts, Joe Carter has listed his choices of The Ten Worst Hymns of All Time. For good measure, he includes music files, and you will easily discern why I completely concur [...]
July 6th, 2010 | 1:05 pm
Do not forget “We Are Called,” by David Haas.
Everytime I hear “commmme live innnn the liiggght,” I wonder why Styx has not sued for plagiarism; I wish they would. It would keep me from beginning mass wishing that I could fly in with a knife between my teeth and cut every guitar string in the house!
July 6th, 2010 | 1:10 pm
Eagles wings is a horrible distortion of the original source material. Read more.
July 6th, 2010 | 1:12 pm
Soooooooooooooooooooo glad I’m Orthodox. :P
July 6th, 2010 | 1:19 pm
I agree with Steve. Unless the theology is wrong, it’s a matter of preference. Music that inspires and moves one person might be auditory torture to someone else. That’s why my husband and I have our individual iPods.
July 6th, 2010 | 1:20 pm
I’m finding that all these songs sound pretty good if you play all the files simultaneously. Sounds like early industrial music, or something off the 2001 Space Odyssey soundtrack.
July 6th, 2010 | 1:20 pm
Thank you, Sally, for explaining the need for such threads as this!
my entries: “Sing to the Mountains,”
“Though the Mountains May Fall” (actually any song that mentions mountains!)
“One Bread, One Body”
“Come to the Feast”
“The Spirit is A-Movin’” (shudder!!!!)
July 6th, 2010 | 1:27 pm
The one that has the lyrics:
We have come to share our stories
We have come to break the bread
I refuse to open the hymnal to figure out the name of the song but that is the most naval gazing lyric that I have ever heard and our choir sings it all the time.
July 6th, 2010 | 1:31 pm
In a two month period, we sing at least 8 of these songs. “Sing” being a polite fiction since, as a baritone, I can’t sing any of them. I especially dislike all hymns that are striving to be Broadway Show Tunes or Caribbean dance numbers. I have come to accept some on this list since we often “try” new hymns that are barely music. I’m reminded of what Maestro Muti once said to the audience: you need to be educated about music, not enjoy it.
July 6th, 2010 | 1:31 pm
How about “But Then Comes the Morning,” a way-back hymn sung at many a Newman Center in the 1970s. “…robots have taken his job, confined to a home for the aged, forgive, Lord, forgive, it was night when we did what we did. But then comes the Morning….[!!!]
July 6th, 2010 | 1:31 pm
Hey! Does it mean I have no taste if “I am the bread of life” is my all time favorite hymn?
What didn’t make the list –
“Unless a Grain of Wheat Should Fall” – my least favorite
July 6th, 2010 | 1:32 pm
While not a hymn, I vote for “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I recently attended a mass where the celebrant called up a Protestant pastor who commenced to sing this song while playing a ukelale! Ugh!
July 6th, 2010 | 1:34 pm
I have to disagree. I like a lot of the hymns you have mentioned above.
As someone who grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, these hymns were part of my Church experience — which I think of very fondly. They were part of my youth and campus ministry days.
BTW, “City of God” was the recessional hymn of the Papal Mass in Central Park in October, 1995. It is forever tied to my memories of that wonderful morning and Pope John Paul II.
July 6th, 2010 | 1:40 pm
A couple of the commentators have missed that there are lyrics in some of these songs that are just flat out heretical:
“Not in the dark of buildings confining, Not in some heaven light-years away”.
That’s just heresy. It’s not taste, it’s error.
Rob
July 6th, 2010 | 1:41 pm
Consider this another vote for “Sing a New Church”. This is one of two songs I outright refuse to sing at Mass, the other being “Lord of the Dance”.
I don’t want to “sing a new church into being”. I like the old one pretty darn well!
July 6th, 2010 | 2:03 pm
I don’t know if it qualifies as a hymn, but at my church’s contemporary service we will occasionally sing “Heart of Worship.” It puzzles me how that song became a praise chorus since it’s about a CCM singer apologizing to God for making the music about him.
I doubt this is a situation many congregants find themselves in.
July 6th, 2010 | 2:10 pm
“Name unnamed, hidden and shown, knowing and known, Gloria!”
This refrain by Brian Wren is the recurrent theme of perhaps the worst hymn lyric ever conceived. I recently heard it at Atlanta’s Christ the King Cathedral.
Here’s the whole thing for those inclined toward self-flagellation.
Name unnamed, hidden and shown, knowing and known, Gloria!
Beautifully moving, ceaselessly forming,
growing, emerging with awesome delight,
Maker of Rainbows, glowing with color,
arching in wonder,
energy flowing in darkness and light:
Name unnamed…
Spinner of chaos, pulling and twisting,
freeing the fibers of pattern and form,
Weaver of Stories, famed or unspoken,
tangled or broken,
shaping a tapestry vivid and warm:
Name unnamed…
Nudging Discomfort, prodding and shaking,
waking our lives to creative unease,
Straight-talking Lover, checking and humbling
jargon and grumbling,
speaking the truth that refreshes and frees:
(was that last line written for us?)
Name unnamed…
Midwife of Changes, skillfully guiding,
drawing us out through the shock of the new,
Woman of Wisdom, deeply perceiving,
never deceiving,
freeing and leading in all that we do:
Name unnamed…
Daredevil Gambler, risking and loving,
giving us freedom to shatter your dreams,
Lifegiving Loser, wounded and weeping,
dancing and leaping,
sharing the caring that heals and redeems.
Name unnamed, hidden and shown, knowing and known, Gloria!
(Words: Brian Wren, 1936-, Copyright 1989 Hope Publishing Co.; Music: W. Frederick Wooden, 1953- , Copyright 1992 Unitarian Universalist Association; from “Singing the Living Tradition,” Beacon Press:Boston, 1993, #31.)
July 6th, 2010 | 2:11 pm
What, no Jack Hayford?
July 6th, 2010 | 2:13 pm
I dislike most of them, but especially “Sing a New Church,” and particularly when in the same Mass the priest urges those individuals seeking confirmation to make promises as “WE” rather than “I” and when the song is followed by the congregation applauding their own performance of it.
July 6th, 2010 | 2:13 pm
Marty Haugen, Dan Schutte, David Haas and all the rest should have been taken out and shot as soon as they raised their heads. That would have saved countless millions untold agony. In our church they play this garbage compulsively. It’s enough to make one an atheist.
I may be showing my own corruption, but I can live with “This Is the Bread of Life.” But I guess I shouldn’t give them an opening.
July 6th, 2010 | 2:15 pm
What about “All That We Have”?
“All that we have, and all that we offer, comes from a heart both frightened and free?” What does that mean, exactly?
The parish I grew up in (on a military base) sang these songs so exclusively that we were just handed the same printed song sheets week after week.
July 6th, 2010 | 2:16 pm
Correction: I can live with “I Am the Bread of Life.” I believe there is another more obnoxious tune “This Is the Bread of Life.”
July 6th, 2010 | 2:18 pm
I agree with several comments above: the most important issues should be – can I sing these words in the presence of God and His Church?
Because however musically lame many of these songs are (and I’m a musician and former choir director, I can appreciate the difference between bad and good music), they will have become part of somebody’s life through no fault of their own, and, provided they are not out-and-out heretical, they can be tolerated, in the same way that a valid Mass in an ugly church celebrated by a wannabe talk-show host is still something to be grateful for.
Personally? My mom, may she rest in peace, LOVED Eagles Wings. I Am the Bread of Life (especially in its pre-politcally-corrected version) is OK, if difficult for most people to sing – I wouldn’t schedule it, but I’ll jump right in and sing it. The ‘artists’ formerly known as the St. Louis Jesuits are uniformly maudlin, insipid and hard to sing – but often, not expressly heretical – so, I’ll grit my teeth and sing along to the congregation’s idiosyncratic interpretation (nobody sings the music as written, because it’s perversely unsingable!). And so on.
The real perversity, the one that killed my enthusiasm choir directing, is the almost universal (excluding Newman Centers and their spawn, which tend to exist in their own space-time continuum) fact that a good old solid hymn, with a catchy, consistent tune will ALWAYS get sung louder and more enthusiastically than any of these musically and textually random wannabe folk/pop/rock tunes. Yet Sister Peter Paul & Mary can’t let it go! We MUST sing these, even if, based on all the evidence available to the senses, the people don’t sing them much or well.
If we really cared about active participation, we’d sing Holy God, We Praise Thy Name and the like. Sigh.
July 6th, 2010 | 2:23 pm
At our ultra-liberal parish, we sing these songs regularly; we are ESPECIALLY good at anything that mentions ourselves, which runs the gamut between navel-gazing and patting ourselves on the back. On any given Sunday, perusing the “worship aid” (aka songsheet) will reveal the words “I” or “we” or “me” 100 more times than “God” or “Jesus” or “praise”. However, the worst is at our “Youth Mass” when the youth choir, during communion, sings the (secular) “just a slob like one of us” or “Lean On Me”…and no, I’m NOT kidding.
As to the parish having to ‘put up’ with cantors: in our parish, it’s all about performance and you are ‘fired’ if you don’t match up! So much for the service aspect…?
I could go on and on….sigh.
July 6th, 2010 | 2:28 pm
My family passionately hates:
We are a Pilgrim People (“Look for the union label when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse!”)
We are Companions on the Journey (Please, if the choir breaks out with this at Mass again, poke out my eardrums with a pointy stick!)
Change our Hearts (“Change our hearts this time, because Lord, last time it didn’t stick”)
Up from the Water! (It is so chirpy, repetative and gaggy “Up from the Water God has claimed you! Up from the water Child of Light!” Our music minister plays this every baptism and for weeks after Easter.)
Our music minister, God help us, found this hideous tune that begins with the very solemn and beautiful “Ave Maria” sung by the women, and then cuts in with “I believe that for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows!” sung by the men, accumulating with both songs being sung simultaneously. Oh, the agony of THAT sung right after Confirmations! UGH! It doesn’t help that our music guy advertises the choir by telling the congregation to please join, you don’t have to know how to sing or read music….so you can just imagine the agony we have to face.
There are more. Thankfully, we can’t remember any more of them.
Thank the mercy of God that our pastor now has two music-less Masses on Sunday….
July 6th, 2010 | 3:01 pm
I agree with the list.
Especially all the Schutte and Haugen contributions. Those two fellows probably meant no harm, so I suppose they themselves need not be shot.
But the songs themselves should be erased from memory, and replaced in every hymnal with new, good songs of the same name (if there isn’t an old, good hymn of the same name), so that their very titles no longer cause one to recall their treacly saccharine vomitousness.
In addition to the erasure of these horrifying ten, I would add this: Do not forbid the use of contemporary praise-and-worship tunes, but forbid their use in any parish where the parish musicians can’t play and sing them as well as they are done by the original artists.
You see, the problem with these is that one hears them on the Christian radio stations; one knows how they’re supposed to sound. And evangelical megachurches, whatever their other failings, have enough people to draw from that they can find within their community sufficiently skillful musicians to play these songs well. (Plus, they have the budgets to pay said musicians $100-$300 a Sunday, which goes a long way to keeping these skilled musicians.)
But at Catholic parishes, this is sadly not the case. The guitar-playing dissenter nun, the fourteen year old who just picked up bass, and the electronic drum kit where the sound of the sticks clicking against the plastic pads is louder than the amplified drum sounds themselves, just doesn’t cut it.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:02 pm
That dreadful, saccharine “Gentle Woman” (what congregation can count that rhythm?) and the new verse in the old “Faith of our Fathers”: “Our mothers, too, oppressed and wronged…” Meh.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:04 pm
Joseph’s comment at 2:28 prompted another thought in me. I’m in a parish that, based on my limited experience, seems to be a typical American post-Vatican II parish, so this kind of praise song — often done with a choir and a massive organ but once a month with the Four Guitars– is a staple.
I agree with Joseph that the older, well-known hymns typically are song with more enthusiasm, not to mention breath.
But one thing I find striking is how often there seems to be so little enthusiasm for these praise songs. People ‘sing’ very quietly, hardly moving their lips or their lungs; many men don’t even bother singing at all, from what I can see.
Most of the time, the lack of volume is cloaked by electronically amplified organ/choir or Four Guitars.
But it’s just…depressing.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:12 pm
Worst ever: Kumbaya! And I hate it when the ‘Our Father’ is sung. The one prayer everyone knows, the half the congregation refuses to sing it (including me).
July 6th, 2010 | 3:24 pm
“Give Me the Bible” (or any hymn written to the Bible, really).
July 6th, 2010 | 3:35 pm
What do you all think of singing “I can only imagine” as the Eucharistic hymn??? I can only find myself thinking do these people, none of them, believe Jesus is truly present? Here they are singing about what it will be like to finally meet Him when He is right there! Ugh!
July 6th, 2010 | 3:42 pm
There’s always “I Myself and the Bread of Life”, which hits the daily double — heretical and musically wretched, all in one package.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:44 pm
I don’t think these are “hymns”. The dictionary calls them “songs of praise to God”. Most of these praise something else–not sure what. I never sing any song that begins with the word “we”. Just for fun some Sunday, look in the listing in the back of the book (not to be called “hymnal”) and count how many songs are about “we”.
At a mass in our area, the cantor calls the processional and recessional hymns “entrance and exit tunes”. Accurate.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:47 pm
What about the Top Ten Best Hymns? Let’s be positive. What’s everyone’s favorite?
As much as everyone can’t stand these hymns, at least these folks tried. We seem to have a dearth of decent artists.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:48 pm
I can agree with the list, though I have heard renditions that are much better than those above. I couldn’t listen to all of them all the way through…it was too painful. Sadly, if a hymn is heretical than no matter how good it sounds, it ought not be in the hymn book.
I vote for “We can Build a Beautiful City, Yes We Can”. Ugh. As part of our Catholic High School Choir I was force to sing this over and over.Considering there is 2000 years or so of music I feel cheated…
July 6th, 2010 | 3:48 pm
About constructive criticism: if having this list on as prominent a weblog as First Thoughts means that at least a few music ministers somewhere happen upon it and sees what strong revulsion they raise in many of us, and so never inflict them upon us again… that alone would be sufficiently constructive for me.
July 6th, 2010 | 3:59 pm
Whatever the song is that goes “Leaping the Mountains….Bounding the hills….see how our God has come to Greet us…”
and Let us Build a City of God is absolutely awful.
July 6th, 2010 | 4:01 pm
Mark Steyn said it best, speaking of Pete Seeger: “The invention of the faux-childlike faux-folk song was one of the greatest forces in the infantilization of American culture.” I won’t say folky hymns can’t be affecting, but a steady diet of them is, indeed, infantilizing Catholic worship.
July 6th, 2010 | 4:03 pm
I am shocked that nobody mentioned “We are the Light of the World”! Shocked! I hate, hate, hate that song.
July 6th, 2010 | 4:26 pm
Bringing back a rush of audible memory. Another reminder of why I decided to attend Latin Mass.
Don’t forget The King of Glory – requires fortissimo tambourine for full impact.
July 6th, 2010 | 4:29 pm
As bad as the lyrics are, I would say that the chord structure of these hymns is far more deleterious. There is an inherent effeminacy to this tripe that repels young men and boys from the sanctuary and into the garage, wherein to concuss their souls with something more masculine.
Plato knew the dangers of emasculating schlock:
http://www.pianonoise.com/Article.Plato.htm
July 6th, 2010 | 4:31 pm
The ABSOLUTE WORST is LORD OF THE DANCE…the writer admits he was inspired by both Jesus and Shiva and is surprised it has become a hymn used in church.
July 6th, 2010 | 4:46 pm
In regards to all the hate for “Sing a New Church”: I recommend looking up that tune with the lyrics much longer associated with it, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Nomen est omen in regards to both of these settings. I’m not sure the Protestant theology of Come Thou Fount could be entirely reconciled in a Catholic context (being “prone to wander”, etc) but I defy you to find me any Christian not more moved by the older version than the claptrap of Sing a New Church.
The combined BYU choirs perform an absolutely stunning setting of Come Thou Fount, I would be much obliged if someone could find it.
July 6th, 2010 | 4:52 pm
Add my votes for “Sing a New Church,” “Anthem,” and “Ashes.” Heresy is worse than schlock.
As for the rest, I wish I were more skilled at ignoring lyrics: “Come dance in the forest [oops, another root!], come play in the fields [erk! what is that sticky stuff I stepped in?]”
. . . and “Lay with your face up in the rain [oh, my: in church?]“
July 6th, 2010 | 4:57 pm
I second that these are not hymns, just really dreadful SONGS. How about “Sing to the Mountains” … sing to the mountains, sing to the sea, raise your voices, lift your hearts …. blah blah blah …
July 6th, 2010 | 4:58 pm
They cannot be the 10 worst of all time as the list fails to contain River of Glory.
Also, Pescador de los Hombres is a good song!
July 6th, 2010 | 5:05 pm
I nominate “Let us break bread together on our knees” for its disrespect and apparent heresy, and “When I needed a neighbour where you there, were you there? When the creed and the colour and the name don’t matter, where you there?” for its inability to handle the English tense system, and both for their dowdy music.
July 6th, 2010 | 5:11 pm
Amazing Grace…..
July 6th, 2010 | 5:16 pm
I just listened to all ten in their entirety, and when I finished an Angel appeared and said no Purgatory for me! Jackpot!
I have a question though. For a Church that has existed for 2000 years, why does a typical parish utilize music almost exclusively from the past 50?
I mean, that would be as silly as after centuries of continuity throwing out the Mass and manufacturing a new one…
…oh, damn.
July 6th, 2010 | 5:18 pm
I agree that these are not really hymns.
Also, as another previous poster said they are a sweet part of my growing-up memories. I do not prefer them now; I would rather hear other, more traditional and easily joined melodies sung at Mass, but I do like singing those St. Louis Jesuits songs around the house, and “Peace is Flowing”, which I find very maudlin, is a bedtime favorite, as it is sleep-inducing as well.
July 6th, 2010 | 5:26 pm
Just posting to add my voice to those who are rightly pointing out that many of the songs American Catholics are singing during mass these days are un-Catholic, and in some cases heretical. The songs we sing should bolster catechism, not undo it.
To that end, if anyone reading this is from St. Benedict, please please please stop with the Contemporary Christian Music (Protestant all). I admire Twila Paris, Steven Curtis Chapman, Matt Redman, etc etc but when they write about “bread of life” they mean, literally, BREAD, not the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord.
I admit that I pray daily for the Lord to see fit to send our wonderful little parish a Catholic music minister so our current Protestant one can focus her CCM energies at her bible church.
July 6th, 2010 | 5:37 pm
I agree with Anne. “Lord of the Dance” has to be the worst. What on earth does it mean? Why are we singing it in church? Our new organist has not tried it yet. Perhaps he hates it too. (Fingers crossed)
July 6th, 2010 | 5:53 pm
*Sigh*
Trite and pathetic as some of these songs may be, nonetheless they were part of the music that brought me back to the Church two decades ago. Most of the traditional hymns from my younger days failed to move me, and to discover a parish that celebrated the Mass with music that lifted my heart ended up saving my soul and changing my life. Everything I am and everything I have — my faith, my wife, my children, even my career — are a direct result of that morning in 1992 when I wandered into Mass at Holy Cross in Atlanta. The contemporary music drew me in, and the Holy Spirit used that to renew my faith.
I eventually joined the music ministry and many years later at a different parish led the 9am mass each week from the piano, where the congregation of 700 “sang like Baptists” as our pastor would say. And not a Catholic-lite Mass, but one of tradition and faith and respect, with the Eucharist at the center. No alternative translations, no liturgical dance, no clowns, just a faithful priest and faithful congregation.
I’ve been conservative most of my life. As I’ve matured in my faith I have found inspiration in the traditional hymns as well. But I will be eternally grateful for the songs of the so-called “Saint Louis Jesuits” for leading me back to my faith.
The heresy points are well-taken; not long after I joined my first choir I was taken aback that we were to sing “From a Distance,” with the lyric “God is watching us from a distance.” So I definitely agree that we must be careful about content when choosing our hymns.
Nonetheless, sometimes it’s just a failure of the music director, not the music itself. My family is now members of a very traditional parish, complete with a beautiful organ and traditional choir. (Due to family obligations I don’t currently participate in the music ministry.) Our previous music director knew how to direct his organist/pianist and choir in such a way that the congregation joined in willingly and enthusiastically, regardless of whether it was “Faith of Our Fathers”, a mass part in chant, or “We Are Called” (sorry, Anchoress!). The new director sticks nearly exclusively to the traditional hymns, but somehow doesn’t know how to inspire the congregation to participate, and so they mumble along, for nearly every song. I know they want to sing, they like to sing, for I’ve heard them belt out certain songs, such as “America the Beautiful” last weekend.
Lastly, I have to say I’m really disturbed by the harshness of the comments here. I’m not surprised that in matters of taste strong opinions are certain to be found. But even putting aside the awful “taken out and shot” comment from Bob G., there’s a certain nastiness here that I don’t get. Perhaps it’s because there’s an assumption that these songs are part and parcel of a concerted effort by those with the larger agenda to dilute our faith. Fair enough. But keep in mind that there are some of us who are just as faithful to the Church as you are, who submit to her teachings without question, who seek to love and honor her, and who also find many of these songs proper accompaniment to the most holy Mass.
July 6th, 2010 | 6:08 pm
I can live with “I am the Bread of Life” (if sung by a solo male cantor with the original lyrics, as opposed to the “inclusive” lyrics.) Give its place to “Lord of the Dance.”
July 6th, 2010 | 6:11 pm
There were many excellent comments in this unusual thread. Here’s one more.
Most of the hymns under attack here are characterized by an extreme naturalism: they constantly invite us to “dance in the forest” or “play in the fields,” and they constantly invoke God as the Lord of wind and rain, or of the plains and sea. But who cares about any of that? 800 years ago it would have meant something. Today, we are almost as much “lords” of nature as God is. The real meaning of our faith today is spiritual and moral. But these hymns have trouble with that. They are all sacharine sentimentality.
The main perp of all this is that missal publishing outfit in Oregon. They have been spreading the garbage across the landscape at a prodigious pace. Maybe North Korea can aim its next missile there and save Western civilization–or at least the Church.
July 6th, 2010 | 6:50 pm
Perhaps the question should be whether these are the worst of our time. Each era has its own worst hymns. Arius and others have used hymns to catechize heresy–it’s a perennial issue.
I would agree with those who would like our hymns to have more vigor. Where is our Wesley? Where is our Faber?
July 6th, 2010 | 6:54 pm
I think the order is disordered: one must consider not only the tunes but the texts, and the texts of a few of them are texts that closely follow the psalms; by definition, that puts them above non-scriptural texts that are set to crappy music, which is a huge universe.
In alpha order, limiting myself to hymns that have been rather popular with American Catholics in the past century (it’s too easy to pick bad unpopular hymns):
Anthem
Ashes
Bring Flowers of the Fairest/Rarest (a Magnificat is a much finer musical offering for this purpose, please!)
How Great Thou Art
Let There Be Peace On Earth
Mother Rat (aka Mother At Your Feet Is Kneeling
O Holy Night (saccharine English paraphrase only; the French is glorious)
Silent Night (charming in the original Austrian folk guitar setting; bathos in most modern renditions)
Song of The Body of Christ
and P&W choruses generally (at least for Catholics).
July 6th, 2010 | 7:06 pm
Pelagius would be so proud!
July 6th, 2010 | 7:12 pm
I sing baritone in our Catholic Church choir, and I enjoy singing most of the songs on your list. What is your objection to these songs? Are you simply “an effete corps of impudent snobs”?
July 6th, 2010 | 7:15 pm
That is the year’s liturgy in my parish. I can count on two in the list as for sure choices for each Sunday in the year, Holy Week and Easter being exceptions.
If I allow myself to hate them, I won’t be going to Mass.
July 6th, 2010 | 7:25 pm
“My Peace”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls01XGV7oA0
While I’m subjected to most of your top 10 frequently, my parish has taken to playing this song during the exchange of the Sign of Peace AT EVERY MASS. On the bright side I hope this weekly mortification will somewhat lessen my time in Purgatory…
July 6th, 2010 | 7:29 pm
Here are two songs that are like nails on a chalkboard:
1. “Let there be peace on earth” ; and
2. “Go out and make a difference”…usually ended with a spang-ly piano flourish.
I ache to hear and sing “Godhead Here in Hiding” as a post-Communion.
July 6th, 2010 | 7:30 pm
[...] way participate in the singing of same.Over at First Thoughts, Joe Carter has listed his choices of The Ten Worst Hymns of All Time. For good measure, he includes music files, and you will easily discern why I completely concur [...]
July 6th, 2010 | 7:45 pm
Chester has it right that the unsingability and sentimentality of these songs repels the men and boys. I look around at church and the pastor and male choir members are the only males singing.
Another problem is the outright heresy in some of these songs. In “Gather Us In,” the last verse just plain SNEERS at heaven: “not in some heaven light-years away”–I appreciate what they’re saying, that the kingdom of heaven is HERE, as Jesus told us, but must we, in embracing that truth, simultaneously embrace a falsehood–namely, that our ultimate heavenly home doesn’t matter, or worse, doesn’t even exist? The vast majority of humanity, for the vast majority of history, has derived great comfort from the reality of our heavenly destiny. People who sneer at it are people who are very spoiled denizens of prosperous, western industrialized countries!
July 6th, 2010 | 7:47 pm
David, while I understand your concern about the harshness, I got the feeling that it was more about letting off steam in a safe setting than outright meanness. I may be wrong. It is always good to write with the thought in mind that the electronic word can be taken wrongly without the verbal emphases and facial features/gestures.
I think some of us have been subjected to so much in the arena of bad taste as far as masses, music, feast days, decor etc that we may feel a bit like venting. I know I do…yet I do remember liking certain songs at first, until I had to hear/sing them for the 50th time. Sigh.
July 6th, 2010 | 7:51 pm
I grew up loving Eagles Wings and Here I Am Lord. They helped me grow closer to God when I was a child and my parents didn’t even go to mass.
But, I do find most of the music played at my church now puts me to sleep. I think all they play is lullabies.
Is there any good new Catholic music?
What are good old catholic hymns. I wasn’t raised on them? Are they all in Latin?
July 6th, 2010 | 7:59 pm
Why is Toolan’s “I Am the Bread of Life” on this list? Is it the lyrics? They are right out of John 6. Is it the melody. Nothing wrong with the melody. It’s one of my favorites.
Well, it used to be. Now that it’s always sung, “you who come to me…” instead of her original “he who comes to me…” Sometimes in spite I sing it the original way. But then of course my spite makes it one of the worst.
OK, you win.
Where’s “Kumbaya”? The quintessential terrible “hymn” of the 70′s and 80′s.
July 6th, 2010 | 8:05 pm
“Here I Am” reminds me of a slower version of “The Brady Bunch” theme.
July 6th, 2010 | 8:07 pm
Hmm, I am oddly comforted that an Evangelical suffers from the same bad hymns us Catholics do. Misery loves company.
As for songs your list is a good start, but would have to add the heretical Ashes to the list. Or Shine, Jesus, Shine is another one that drives me crazy. “Let there be peace on earth” always bring me back to the 70′s Coke commercial that used that song.
July 6th, 2010 | 8:07 pm
Don’t forget – “Here I Am” resonates with echoes of the … well –
“Here I am, Lord, Is it I, Lord? Who was bringing up three very lovely girls…….” (Brady Bunch song).
July 6th, 2010 | 8:12 pm
@Will O’Hara – agreed on the beautiful BYU version of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” – it’s arranged by Mack Wilberg.
The music is published by Oxford University Press.
Both a CD and DVD are available at http://www.TantaraRecords.com, sung by the BYU Combined Choruses, on the album “A Thanksgiving of American Folk Hymns”
There are also a couple of video clips of it on YouTube.
July 6th, 2010 | 8:47 pm
Nearly 80% of or funerals use Eagles Wings as one of the songs requested by the family. I gag every time I hear it. The very worst song is Gather Us In, by a long shot. I get gas pains just thinking about it. Pecos and the Seashore(sic) is also one of the worst songs. There are some really good songs. but the old Glory And Praise songs that our parish started singing out of in the 70′s have spoiled their taste in good music. When we do sing the ‘Our Father’ in the old manner, most don’t know the setting and don’t sing. Only the old folks can sing it. Musicality and mode will change the way songs are written. The words are the most important and then comes the music. If the writers would stay with the biblical wording with a good chant like music arrangement.
July 6th, 2010 | 8:57 pm
Sufjan Stevens has recorded a very beautiful version of “Come O Fount Of Every Blessing” along with a bunch of other traditional hymns on his Christmas CD, which he streams for free at Christmas from his website. Stevens is a Protestant but I wish he was my parish’s music director. I think he could make any of these top 10 songs bearable because of his respect for tradition and originality in composition.
July 6th, 2010 | 9:00 pm
I was honored to be a member of St. Columba Cathedral Choir in Youngstown, Ohio, for almost 10 years before moving to Cleveland. If you want to be sure to attend a mass at which you will NEVER hear a single one of these songs, please stop by. The music and the choir are fantastic. If anyone can recommend an east side Cleveland parish with decent music, please, please help me out.
July 6th, 2010 | 9:15 pm
Good list, but while these have slain their thousands, Hosea (Gregory Norbit) has slain its ten thousands.
July 6th, 2010 | 9:37 pm
I don’t like hearing “popular” songs sung at Mass, as if there were hymns…for example,
“You Raise Me Up” used as a gathering/entrance
song.
July 6th, 2010 | 9:50 pm
Bob Dobie at 12:06:
“Really good hymns, like those of Gregorian chant, are timeless. But if one were making a list of the best Catholic hymns, I’d probably put ‘Holy God We Praise Thy Name,’ near the top of the list…”
I have noticed that when we sing these good old “classic” hymns at church, the congregational participation shoots up to close to 100 percent! As opposed to the Haugen-type tunes, where it’s mostly just the choir singing, and the people in the pews just listening or mumbling.
Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the Haugen tunes–they’re just not appropriate for congregational singing, and especially not for Mass. Not only are the lyrics sometimes inappropriate to the Mass, but the complex melodies, harmonies and rhythms that make them so beautiful to listen to, are precisely the things that make them impossible to sing for the average person without any musical training !
These songs are more appropriate for youth-group retreats, prayer meetings, small-group gatherings, campfires, etc., where you have a guitarist and maybe a couple of vocalists who would sing the verses, and then get the rest of the group to join in on the refrain. There is no way that “Shepherd Me, O God,” for instance (though it is one of my favorite songs), works for a large group!
July 6th, 2010 | 9:57 pm
“Lastly, I have to say I’m really disturbed by the harshness of the comments here”
I’m a convert and have been subjected to the 70′s style hymns for many, many years. All I can say is that if I had been offered an alternative, I wouldn’t be saying a word, but being subjected
to this music ad infinitum while having to listen to Gregorian Chant on iTunes and in the car on the way to Mass does tend to bend some of us out of shape.
July 6th, 2010 | 10:07 pm
OK, and while we’re on the subject of appropriate music for Mass, is there anyone out there besides me who is INTENSELY bothered when the priest’s part of the Great Amen (“Through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit….”) is sung in a traditional chant mode (which has a “minor key” sound to it), and then the congregation’s response (“Amen, amen, amen”) is in a MAJOR (“happy-sounding”) key? The clash between the traditional, reverential chant mode and the folky, Barney-sounding major-key mode sets my teeth on edge more than fingernails on a blackboard!!!
I don’t have a music degree or anything–and our parish music director has all of this “liturgical music” training, supposedly–and yet even I, a rank amateur, can hear how bad this sounds? You don’t mix major and minor modes! It just comes out sounding silly.
For those of you who HAVE had musical training, did you know that in the Middle Ages, what we now call a major key (the Ionian mode) was not even ALLOWED to be sung in churches? It was considered common/vulgar/profane.
You don’t even have to go all the way to a minor key (Aeolian mode, which takes the Ionian or major key and lowers the third, sixth and seventh notes of the scale) to get something that sounds a bit more reverential. Try the Mixolydian mode (only the seventh note flatted) or the Dorian mode (only the third and seventh notes flatted) and it’s a huge improvement over today’s major keys in terms of sounding more “mystical” and worshipful.
July 6th, 2010 | 10:08 pm
@Tommy 2:10 PM:
Holy cow.
Those aren’t Christian hymn lyrics.
Those are Yes lyrics. They have to be. They’re just like Jon Anderson’s later ramblings. Something off “Tales From Topographic Oceans,” perhaps?
July 6th, 2010 | 10:12 pm
I’ve gotten used to a lot of these, and I will give Marty Haugen credit for extreme ingenuity with lyrics — though often when ingenuity is not really called for. “I am the Bread of Life” is okay, although the politically-correct “you who” and “and I will raise you up” of the altered version rather grate on me — and the harmony in the chorus is fun to sing if one has the range, as I have. “But Then Comes the Morning” with its “robots have taken his job” and similar twaddle, probably takes the prize for the worst Catholic hymn or song ever. Anything by Carey Landry (former priest, quit to get married) is up there — though “Hail Mary: Gentle Woman” is the only song of his I see a lot these days. Another thing that grates on me is “alt.”: fine old hymns, usually Anglican or Lutheran, hacked for inclusive language or out of sheer perversity — but not necessarily for orthodoxy. I recall “See Us, Lord, About Your Altar” in the OCP Music Issue with no-transubstantiation lyrics for YEARS before it was finally tweaked to fix that. I used to think that there was a monastery somewhere where monks chosen for a complete lack of aesthetic sensibilities deliberately altered lyrics to sap them of anything beautiful… maybe it’s some tin-eared drudges at Oregon Catholic Press… look at “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” as an example.
July 6th, 2010 | 10:18 pm
“Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking themselves along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance.”
(Glory of the Lord, p. 18)
July 6th, 2010 | 10:38 pm
@Alex – I was just waiting for someone to mention “Hosea.” It’s a fabulous example, with mawkish sentimentality and a terrible setting of words to melody – the emPHAsis always goes on the wrong syLLAble. Exhibit A: “Integrity… and juh-uh-STICE.” Exhibit B: “Long have I waited for your cuuuuuh-MING/ home to me and liiiiiivING/ deeply our new love.” Strong in the force, this one is.
Another gem in that line, from another song: “We are called…to love tenderLEE”
As for heretical hymns, nobody has mentioned “I myself am the bread of life” – yes, those are the words, and they are not sung in persona Christi, as “I am the Bread of Life” is – I hope the lack of notice here that means it’s not widespread. Our parish seems, sadly, to hear it quite often. “I myself … am the Bread of Life/ you and I… are the Bread of Life…”. Ack.
In that vein, recall the immortal line, “Not to preach our creeds or customs, but to build a bridge of care…”. One hopes this is not intended as a paraphrase of Matthew 28. This is from “As the Fire is Meant for Burning,” a nonsensical and decidedly heterodox set of new lyrics for a good old tune.
As for the serious stuff about the purpose of this discussion and its charity (or lack thereof): I know that some are moved by some of these songs, and that it is snobbery to think that God can’t be honored by imperfect music. But we should do our best for Him, and that includes identifying flawed liturgical music and pointing out how it fails. Choosing congregational music is a pastoral task, and it requires pastoral care as much as, or more than, elevated musical taste. Nonetheless, the class of hymns we are talking about is objectively difficult to sing, in the main, and is hence not musically suited to congregational singing. Some have been so drummed into congregations that they can manage the polyrhythms, wide intervals in the melody, different numbers of notes in different verses, etc. As I said, pastoral care is needed, and keeping some of those in circulation is certainly called for, for that very reason. But take the long view – these hymns were cooked up with little or no reference to the history of Christian liturgy, and we shouldn’t defer to them as if they have the weight of long tradition in their favor. Quite the contrary. If congregations can be molded so that they know how to sing the verses of “On Eagles’ Wings,” they can sure as heck be introduced to some better music as well.
July 6th, 2010 | 10:55 pm
As a Yes fan from way back, I’d rather be singing any Yes song instead of these 10! Besides, didn’t you read this?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/yes-lyrics-to-be-added-to-new-testament,966/
July 6th, 2010 | 11:05 pm
We were subjected to a relentless barrage of Joe Wise “hymns” at my Catholic high school in the 1970′s. “Welcome In” stands out as one of the very worst. I’ll quote the last verse from memory and apologize for any inaccuracies; but lyrics this truly awful tend to burn themselves into the brain of the hapless listener.
Welcome in. Take my hand.
Say hello to who you know and who you don’t
and who you can.
Learn the dove’s song as she coos it.
We’ve come too far now to lose it
but not too far to re-choose it.
Welcome in.
……..Let me out!
July 6th, 2010 | 11:18 pm
This was a fun thread. As a (former) Quaker, I have a great appreciation for silence in worship and these “hymns’ would inspire me to purchase a good set of earplugs.
When it comes to ‘modern’ hymns, my taste runs to the music from the Taize community. For old style American Protestant hymnody, you just can’t beat the Sacred Harp.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:19 pm
God Bless our retired pastor who said Mass this past weekend and coerced the choir into singing Battle Hymn of the Republic, Amazing Grace and American the Beautiful. The usual fare is a compendium of the “10 worst.” The classics have such powerful and fond memories for me – and I can actually sing them instead of stumbling behind the choir.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:24 pm
@Edward: thank you, that’s just for what I was looking.
@Elmo- meant to mention Sufjan! I recommend all of his music. Were I wealthy I would love to commission a Sufjan Mass. I get goosebumps thinking about it.
July 6th, 2010 | 11:28 pm
Woe is me. A former Episcopalian, now long-time Lutheran and seriously considering conversion.
Only to find out I’m going to have to hear this same music on the the other side of the river?
Surely you jest!!! Arrrrrrrggggghhhh!!!
July 6th, 2010 | 11:42 pm
I Am the Resurrection
(clap clap)
and the Life
(clap clap clap clap)
He who believes in Me will never die
I am the Resurrection
(clap clap)
and the Life
(clap clap clap clap)
He who believes in Me will live a new life
July 7th, 2010 | 12:28 am
Mr. J. Please don’t let the worst 10 get you down! Somewhere in your area you will find decent music, perhaps even excellent Sacred music and hopefully Chant, the highest form of Liturgical music in the Roman Rite. The above 10 selections are just a sample of some of the sad misguided innovations that have plagued many parishes. But be of good cheer for Chant is making a comeback in areas where it has been missing for decades thanks to organizations dedicated to teaching it to Priests, Individuals, groups young and old. In the end, no matter what happens, Our Lord is still present in the Blessed Sacrament in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The spiritual good and graces you will receive if you continue your road to conversion the Catholic faith will be life transforming.
July 7th, 2010 | 12:46 am
Ignatius Press, in 1998, published Fr. George Rutler’s Brightest and Best: Stories of Hymns. Author and publisher thereby did a great service to all who want to be reminded of the richness and power of our heritage in Christian hymnody. Many of the hymns included were more likely to be heard in Episcopal churches but all breathe a Catholic theology and spirit.
Here’s a link to the St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book that was a typical parish resource before Vatican II. The mediocre and the saccharine are occasionally represented there but the general standard is high:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23673
Current usage isn’t immutable and there’s a general hunger for musical beauty and meaning. Talk to friends; attend the planning meetings; provide the music ministers with copies of the hymns that you
July 7th, 2010 | 12:47 am
Seriously? Most of these posts are pretentious self righteous ramblings. Fault finding Pharisees! Where is your love? To speak the truth without love is a great disservice to Him who is Truth. I agree that many of the songs listed in the rants above are heretical, and should never be sung in Mass, or anywhere else for that matter. And yet many are not. The internal battle over suitable music is an ancient battle. Poliphany was outlawed, now is considered sacred, and so on. One of the things that I find most comforting about our Church is that it is alive, and like you and like me is ever in need of renewal and purification, and we are not orphans set about to wander. We are led through the Church by God Himself. It seems to me that these gripe sessions profit little to the kingdom, and if one wants to point to the flaws, he had better bring solutions. For the record, many of those songs are shallow at best and heretical at the worst. It is important to seek the Lord, the typical reaction is a knee jerk, over steering that just puts in the other ditch. New does not= bad nor is everything old worth keeping.
July 7th, 2010 | 12:57 am
would like to form part of your worship at Mass and prayer services. I’ve been blessed in being spared many of the experiences recounted in this thread and know that there are alternatives to continue suffering them. Reclaim the heritage.
July 7th, 2010 | 1:18 am
Yes, some of these songs should be tossed into the abyss and expunged from our memories, but agree with an earlier commenter – some of them just aren’t meant to be performed by one guitar, a keyboard and an eight-member choir.
If you want to hear some REAL folk-hymns (sung at the top of the lungs, no-less), search for a Shape-Note (aka Sacred Harp) sing in your area. Yes, you’ll have to swallow some extremely 19th-century-American-Protestant theology, but boy can the music inspire some singing!!
July 7th, 2010 | 1:19 am
The “Gather” hymnal is a crime. It makes the NAM look like the KJV by comparison. That said, “I am the Bread of Life” actually sounds great when sung by an enthusiastic and reverential evangelical congregation, believe it or not. It inspires reverence for communion. “Angels We Have Heard on High,” conversely, is about the most depressing thing you have ever heard when sung by a dead or disoriented congregation in a downtown D.C. Catholic church on Christmas eve. Been there. All of which is to say, the tuned-in-ness of the people singing has a lot to do with what sounds pretty good and what does not. Heart does make a difference.
July 7th, 2010 | 1:25 am
If only the Vatican had to approve the hymns before they are sung in the church. Our church has turned it into a performance.