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Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Not at all relevant ... but

11 comments:

Andrew Martin said...

Well at least they ditched it after only six years with the 1950 (green) songbook.

To be replaced by: ... ... ...

THE TAUNT-SONG AGAINST SATAN

(Nyah-Nyah-Nyah!)

... which I don't remember ever hearing sung between 1960 and 1966, when the flaming pink songbook replaced it. Which doesn't mean it wasn't - maybe it was just very forgettable.

Really bad songs have a way of being winnowed out - I remember every time a totally un-singable song was programmed while we were using the 1984 (brown) songbook, I put an "X" above each such number - and when the yellow songbook replaced it, I checked and saw that someone must have agreed with me - because all those songs were GONE.

One might have picked up by now that many of us remember the various songbooks, not by year or name (again, totally forgettable) but by cover colour ...

jerome said...

According to Miquel's thesis, this started life in the 1928 songbook, where it was Song 285. (I recently sold a 1928 songbook on eBay and didn't make a copy. All of a sudden that seems a "bad move".) The tune in the video sounds vaguely familiar - I wonder if it was adapted with new words for the green songbook? My earliest memory in this field was song practice with a professional musician in the local company/congregation as everyone tried to get to grips with all the new songs that appeared in the first edition green songbook.

Unknown said...

Reminds me a bit of "hail Jehovah's firstborn" - does anyone else bear it?

Andrew Martin said...

I don't hear it myself - several familiar snippets, though - including a very short one from "O Little Town of Bethlehem" :)

Not a bad example of typical Protestant-style hymn music, as I hear it (although I am in NO way musical).

Creepy video, by the way - is it from WT, or is it a pastiche?

roberto said...

I don't like it.

Andrew Martin said...

Roberto - the music or the video?

roberto said...

Hi Andrew, I think there were other songs much better.

Andrew Martin said...

Oh, indeed. Some of them we saved. By the way, did you ever notice the song "The New Song" was actually an old song, removed in 1966 and restored later?

Tom Harley said...

From the e-book 'Tom Irregardless and Me:'

The meeting began with song 64, ‘Make the Truth Your Own,’ the very song Bethel had to change because Pearl Pearlsnswine kept butchering it. The final note of each verse was once a high-pitched blast that nobody except Pearl could hit, so all voices petered out just as hers was gathering strength. She couldn’t hit it either, but just try telling her that! She attacked that note, held it captive for so long, and mangled it so spectacularly off-key, that echoes of her braying lingered ten minutes into the talk. Worse, you knew the note was coming - you knew it! The snickering began well before the moment arrived. So Bethel changed the note to some bland thing that any water buffalo can master. What choice did they have?

Tom Irregardless and Me is available at www.smashwords.com Search: Tom Harley

Tom Harley said...

In recent times, there is a search to weed out lyrics that sound even remotely 'churchy.' This began a few years ago, but apparently they have sniffed out a few more, since there is yet another songbook for 2017. Also, not all songs are 'dead white men.' See the chorus sing 'How Does It Make You Feel?' and you expect them to file down and duck beneath the limbo bar.

Tom Harley said...

'We Must Have the Faith'

Our son was speaking by his first birthday. “Ball” was his favorite word, as I recall, and anything circular was a “ball.” Pulling out the MasterCharge card would excite him to no end, just like it does now for Mrs. Harley, though for a different reason. But my daughter was not yet talking by her second birthday, and we began to worry. One day, however, Mrs. Harley called me, all thrilled, to say she was singing the song.... “dah da da da dah”...the melody is very distinctive. I didn't believe her at first, but later on.....yes, I too heard it. Sure enough, she sang before she spoke (and when she began speaking, she quickly made up for all lost time). For the next few years, whenever that song played, she'd turn to us, eyes aglow, and exclaim: “It's Dah da da da DAH!” So we're not terribly pleased that they've messed with the song, but....such is the nature of progress.