Are these the 10 worst songs of all time?

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Dunno, maybe you can enlighten me, but what is wrong with “I Am the Bread of Life” (aside from the fact that it is in the first person); “On Eagles’ Wings”; “We Remember”; “Here I Am, Lord”; and “Gather Us In”. While I have an ear for good music (which some of these are), I don’t have a working knowledge of what is o.k.ed by the Church.
 
Can’t believe that the list didn’t have “Sing a New Church” on it.

I hate that song. Is there something wrong with the Catholic Church, so why should we need to sing a new church into being?
 
bmadamsberry said:
Dunno, maybe you can enlighten me, but what is wrong with “I Am the Bread of Life” (aside from the fact that it is in the first person); “On Eagles’ Wings”; “We Remember”; “Here I Am, Lord”; and “Gather Us In”. While I have an ear for good music (which some of these are), I don’t have a working knowledge of what is o.k.ed by the Church.
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We Remember and Gather Us In are severely watered down, Protestantized intepretations of the Mass. In fact, Gather Us In (aside from the fact that you could merge that song with Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald) and Here I Am, Lord, place undue emphasis on the people and make God an after-thought. It focuses on what “we” are doing, rather than on God.

A lot of these songs sound like bad pop music from the 1970s and could very well fit into the genre of TV theme show songs, not at all suitable for the sacredness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Musically, “I am the Bread of Life” and “Eagles’ Wings” are not really fit for the Mass. “Eagles’ Wings” is especially bad and not good for congregational singing.
 
I actually like Toolan’s “I Am the Bread of Life” and Haugen’s “We Remember”.

Toolan’s song can be taken directly from scripture:

John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
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John 6:44
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
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John 6:51
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
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John 6:53 - 54
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
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John 11:25-27
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
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“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
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benedictgal said:
We Remember and Gather Us In are severely watered down, Protestantized intepretations of the Mass. In fact, Gather Us In (aside from the fact that you could merge that song with Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald) and Here I Am, Lord, place undue emphasis on the people and make God an after-thought. It focuses on what “we” are doing, rather than on God.

A lot of these songs sound like bad pop music from the 1970s and could very well fit into the genre of TV theme show songs, not at all suitable for the sacredness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Musically, “I am the Bread of Life” and “Eagles’ Wings” are not really fit for the Mass. “Eagles’ Wings” is especially bad and not good for congregational singing.
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Not trying to argue, but rather to fully understand:
Gather Us In is about us and our universality. It is about our Catholicity, if you will, which seems appropriate especially at the beginning of the Mass and people of all types come before the Lord.

Here I Am, Lord seems to be all about G-d and what he does. It seems that, like Samuel in the Old Testament, we are asking G-d to do with us as he will.

I Am the Bread of Life sounds beautiful on the organ. As for sacredness, it’s made me cry more than once while receiving Communion.

I can agree that Eagles’ Wings is a higher pitched song, and is harder to sing in a congregation, but what about a choir before or after a Mass?

Again, not trying to argue, but rather to better understand.
 
I can understand the music being difficult with “I Am the Bread of Life” and “On Eagle’s Wings” for congregational singing. “On Eagle’s Wings” has too many high D’s. 😉

However, “I Am the Bread of Life” is actually one of the better ones out there because it’s verses and refrain are derived from Sacred Scripture.

I never liked “On Eagle’s Wings”, however it is not something made up, rather a rendition of Psalm 91. I just never liked it, but that is personal taste.
 
LRThunder said:
Can’t believe that the list didn’t have “Sing a New Church” on it.

I ?
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bingo

I love Pescadore des hombres, there are several English translations some better than others, the one most commonly sung is dreadful and not even faithful to the Spanish words

I love the song, but my problem with a lot of modern praise and worship music in general as used in Mass is any lyric with an “I” focus on the singer’s peronsal experience. Since Mass is supposed to be about our communal worship, you would thing the Sing a New Church Gather us In folks would be the first to insist on that vibe

Sons of God brings back in a rush all my emotions when attending the first folk-rock masses of my youth and if you heard it you would understand why so many of my generation left the church in those years over the issue of music alone and went looking for good solid Episcopal and Methodist choirs

any votes for Lord of the Dance–great tune, has no place in Catholic liturgy

I don’t mind listening to On Eagles Wings, but to my mind, unsingable tunes, or tunes that change with every stanza, have no place in congregational singing. so put City of God (no two music groups ever put the rests and trills in the same place on that one) on the list for the same reason

We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe is also reminiscent of a 70s TV theme, which one is it?
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I actually like Toolan’s “I Am the Bread of Life” and Haugen’s “We Remember”.

Toolan’s song can be taken directly from scripture:

John 6:35

John 6:44

John 6:51

John 6:53 - 54

John 11:25-27
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Inasmuch as the song is taken from the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, stylistically, the song is problematic because it is reminiscent of the pop genre of the time. Furthermore, when the lyrics were revised to conform to the politically correct standard, it did water down the text. This particular song is my song of last resort to use. It’s certainly not my first choice because there are hymns that are far superior to this song, both in content and in musical setting.
 
I never liked “Lord of the Dance”. I think we used it once at my parish and then that was it. I always picture Jesus dancing and it doesn’t seem right. :o
 
benedictgal said:
Inasmuch as the song is taken from the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, stylistically, the song is problematic because it is reminiscent of the pop genre of the time. Furthermore, when the lyrics were revised to conform to the politically correct standard, it did water down the text. This particular song is my song of last resort to use. It’s certainly not my first choice because there are hymns that are far superior to this song, both in content and in musical setting.
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So it’s really more personal than the lyrics being contrary to Church rules, right?
 
bmadamsberry said:
Not trying to argue, but rather to fully understand:
Gather Us In is about us and our universality. It is about our Catholicity, if you will, which seems appropriate especially at the beginning of the Mass and people of all types come before the Lord.

Here I Am, Lord seems to be all about G-d and what he does. It seems that, like Samuel in the Old Testament, we are asking G-d to do with us as he will.

I Am the Bread of Life sounds beautiful on the organ. As for sacredness, it’s made me cry more than once while receiving Communion.

I can agree that Eagles’ Wings is a higher pitched song, and is harder to sing in a congregation, but what about a choir before or after a Mass?

Again, not trying to argue, but rather to better understand.
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But, we are not the focus of the Mass; God is. The Mass is not about us; it’s about God. “Here I Am” puts the focus more on us than on God. It focuses on what we are doing and it’s not really focused completely on the Samuel scriptural account. The refrain is more like, “look at me and my willingness to serve”. It makes for bad theology.

Regarding the notion that these songs are scripturally based, while that is true, remember, too, that Satan can also quote Scripture.
 
Good explainations, Benedictgal. I was trying to formulate a charitable response but couldn’t seem to do it. So as they say “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” ( from Thumper, Bambi movie)
 
I think they forgot one song that deserves to be on this list:

Carey Landry’s “The Spirit is A-Movin’”. Just the language and tune make my hair curl.
Refrain: The Spirit is a-movin’ all over, all over this land.
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  1. People are gatherin’, the church is born; the
    Spirit is a-blowin’ on a world reborn. Refrain
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  1. Old ones are dreaming dreams, and
    young men and women see the light. Refrain
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  1. Old walls are falling down, and
    people all over are speaking with each other. Refrain
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  1. Fill with the Spirit, we are sent to serve. We are
    called out together, we are called to work. Refrain
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  1. The Spirit fills us all with pow’r, to
    be God’s witnesses to all we meet. Refrain
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Don’t really mean to be harsh, but I would feel stupid saying “a-movin’” and “a-blowin’”.
 
bmadamsberry said:
So it’s really more personal than the lyrics being contrary to Church rules, right?
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Not necessarily, bmadamsberry. Please note what the Venerable Pope John Paul II noted in his Chirograph on Sacred Music:
  1. In continuity with the teachings of St Pius X and the Second Vatican Council, it is necessary first of all to emphasize that music destined for sacred rites must have holiness as its reference point: indeed, “sacred music increases in holiness to the degree that it is intimately linked with liturgical action”[11]. For this very reason, “not all without distinction that is outside the temple (profanum) is fit to cross its threshold”, my venerable Predecessor Paul VI wisely said, commenting on a Decree of the Council of Trent[12]. And he explained that “if music - instrumental and vocal - does not possess at the same time the sense of prayer, dignity and beauty, it precludes the entry into the sphere of the sacred and the religious”[13]. Today, moreover, the meaning of the category “sacred music” has been broadened to include repertoires that cannot be part of the celebration without violating the spirit and norms of the Liturgy itself.
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St Pius X’s reform aimed specifically at purifying Church music from the contamination of profane theatrical music that in many countries had polluted the repertoire and musical praxis of the Liturgy. In our day too, careful thought, as I emphasized in the Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, should be given to the fact that not all the expressions of figurative art or of music are able “to express adequately the mystery grasped in the fullness of the Church’s faith”[14]. Consequently, not all forms of music can be considered suitable for liturgical celebrations.
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Pope Benedict XVI makes this point even clearer in Sacramentum Caritatis:
  1. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. (126) Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that “the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love” (127). The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons (129). Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed (130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).
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So, it’s not just the text, but the musical setting that is also involved. If something is inferior, it should not be used in the Mass. In the case of both Eagles’ Wings and I am the Bread of Life, the music is a musical genre that “fails to respect the meaning of the liturgy.”
 
Oh wait…I can’t believe I forgot…Kevin Keil’s “One Spirit, One Church”. :eek:
 
bmadamsberry said:
Gather Us In is about us and our universality. It is about our Catholicity, if you will, which seems appropriate especially at the beginning of the Mass and people of all types come before the Lord.
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The fact that it is about US is precisely what’s wrong with it (besides being just plain lousy).
benedictgal said:
Inasmuch as the song is taken from the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, stylistically, the song is problematic because it is reminiscent of the pop genre of the time.
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Yes. Secular music or secular-sounding music is inappropriate for Mass precisely because it is a distraction from worship. When the music reminds us of Top 40 hits or Broadway showtunes, that’s what we start thinking about; then, the next thing we know, we’ve long since quit praying. Music at Mass should not form an impregnable wall around the worship.
CatholicZ09 said:
I think they forgot one song that deserves to be on this list: Carey Landry’s “The Spirit is A-Movin’”. Just the language and tune make my hair curl.
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Sigh…and I had so blissfully forgotten that one! Blech! Here’s another one that needs to be on the list: the heretical “Women of the Church.” Gag me with a snow shovel.
 
Victorious said:
Sigh…and I had so blissfully forgotten that one! Blech! Here’s another one that needs to be on the list: the heretical “Women of the Church.” Gag me with a snow shovel.
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Yes, “Women of the Church” is really bad. I don’t even think it has anything in it singing praise to God, rather, the women of the Church. I read somewhere that a lot of people do not like Carey Landry’s line of music. I think I like one of his songs, but I can’t remember. I think it might be “Abba, Father”. Meh, I don’t know if I like that one anymore.
 
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