Are these the 10 worst songs of all time?

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Here are some that should have been on the list (maybe Frst Things can expand it):

Lord of the Dance
Ven al Banquete/Come to the Feast
O Love of God/O Amor de Dios
Though the Mountains May Fall
Sing to the Mountains
They’ll Know We are Christians
Christ, Be Our Light
Here I Am (Spirit and Song version)
Bread of Life (Spirit and Song version)
One Bread, One Body
I, Myself, am the Bread of Life
I am the Bread of Life (John Michael Talbot)
Song of the Body of Christ
We are Many Parts
Rain Down
Celebrate Youth
 
Mattapoisett64 said:
Strange. When this “horizontal” (“rest of the people”) argument is put forth to defend the much-reviled (around here) Sign of Peace, the rebuttal is always that the “vertical element” is being overlooked. So someone puts forth the “vertical argument” (“Here I am Lord, I come to do your will”), and the retort is that it isn’t horizontal enough or that somehow speaking about “me and God” isn’t focused enough on God. Proving that when someone is determined to impose their taste in liturgy and music on someone else, and to denigrate musical works that might actually be meaningful to someone in the context of Mass, inconsistency is no barrier to the argument.

The phrase “wallowing in Watergate” was popular in the early 70’s as Mr. Nixon was going through that episode. The purposes of “wallowing” threads like these (“Isn’t this song / diocese / scripture translation / religious order, etc.) just the worst. . .”) are always a puzzle to me.
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But, your post, with all due respect, seems to ignore what both the Venerable Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI wrote.

These songs named by First Things are just not fitting for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The focus on not a few of them is more towards the horinzontal and they are tantamount to “a celebration of our magnificent selves”, as the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus put it.
 
Some of these songs listed in here are not necessarily the worst, some I just don’t like due to personal taste, some are just bleh:

Your Words are Spirit and Life Farrell
Let Us Go to the Altar Schutte
Our Hope is in the Lord Schutte
The Whole Word is Waiting for Love Misetich
Emmanuel Angrisano
Come, Lord Jesus Ridge
Leave the Past in Ashes Consiglio
Ashes Conry
Save Your People Farrell
Now is the Acceptable Time Bridge
Gather Us In Haugen
Gather the People Schutte
Now As We Gather Castillo
Taste and See Hurd
Take the Word of God With You Walker
God, Beyond All Names Farrell
For You Are My God Foley
One Spirit, One Church Keil
Glory and Praise to Our God Schutte
Sing Out, Earth and Skies Haugen
Laudate, Laudate, Dominum Walker
Praise to You, O Christ Our Savior Farrell
Thanks Be to God Dean
All My Days Schutte
Save Us, O Lord Dufford
 
Here are some other songs:

Seek Ye First
Earth and All Stars
We are the Light of the World
Pueblos (Hombres) Nuevos
I am the Light of the World
We Will Rise Again
Resucito
The awful rewrite of O Come, O Come Emmanuel in Spanish by OCP rendering it unsingable
Ashes
Whatosever You Do
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace
Morning Has Broken
Go to the World/Vayan al Mundo
 
Don’t forget “In These Days of Lenten Journey,” the words to which make no sense, and the revolutionary Gospel acclamation by Bernadette Farrell. I forget the title. (When I was in the choir, and the director introduced it, I asked at rehearsal whether we ought to sing it with upraised fists. He was not amused.)

Come to that, I’d like to see a moratorium on anything by Bernadette Farrell.
 
Victorious said:
Don’t forget “In These Days of Lenten Journey,” the words to which make no sense, and the revolutionary Gospel acclamation by Bernadette Farrell. I forget the title. (When I was in the choir, and the director introduced it, I asked at rehearsal whether we ought to sing it with upraised fists. He was not amused.)

Come to that, I’d like to see a moratorium on anything by Bernadette Farrell.
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I’m iffy on “In These Days of Lenten Journey”. I remember one year my parish used it the five Sundays of Lent and I actually really liked it. Now, I kind of don’t and I kind of do. I’m leaning towards not liking it, and that song can be played realllllllly slow for no reason.
 
Victorious said:
Don’t forget “In These Days of Lenten Journey,” the words to which make no sense, and the revolutionary Gospel acclamation by Bernadette Farrell. I forget the title. (When I was in the choir, and the director introduced it, I asked at rehearsal whether we ought to sing it with upraised fists. He was not amused.)

Come to that, I’d like to see a moratorium on anything by Bernadette Farrell.
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Would it happen to be her Alleluia from her “Mass of Hope” collection? I think it’s called “Alleluia, Word of God”.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Would it happen to be her Alleluia from her “Mass of Hope” collection? I think it’s called “Alleluia, Word of God”.
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Her stuff is really bad and the Mass of Hope does not even match the official texts. Of course, I would also add Bob Hurd, Ken Canebo, Marty Haugen, David Haas, Dan Schutte, Carey Landry, Rory and Roc O’ Connor to the moratorium.
 
benedictgal said:
Her stuff is really bad and the Mass of Hope does not even match the official texts. Of course, I would also add Bob Hurd, Ken Canebo, Marty Haugen, David Haas, Dan Schutte, Carey Landry, Rory and Roc O’ Connor to the moratorium.
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Benedictgal, have you ever heard “O Beauty, Ever Ancient” by Roc O’Connor?

If you have, I just wanted to know what you thought about it.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Benedictgal, have you ever heard “O Beauty, Ever Ancient” by Roc O’Connor?

If you have, I just wanted to know what you thought about it.
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No, I haven’t. But, if it sounds as bad as the bongo drum Exultet paraphrase, I would not be too thrilled.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Let’s test the waters, shall we? 😃

welcomingspirit.blogspot.com/2009/01/o-beauty-ever-ancient-video-from-new.html
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It’s kind of sappy. The text seems to come from St. Augustine of Hippo, but, it’s not exactly something that I would sing at Mass. It sounds like some sort of Irish secular song. I have to admit, though, the sound quality on my little netbook is not very good. The music kept fading in and out. The pictures did not really help much. The whole thing was not the best medium for listening to the song. The images were too much of a Hallmark Card.
 
Peace is flowing like a ri-i-verrrrr
Flowing down into the sea - ea -ea
Flowing out into the deserrrrrrt
Setting all the captives freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
 
@Benedictgal: You are a wonderful liturgist, and I would probably go to you on any liturgical issue I would have… but you wouldn’t make a good theologian.
If I told my fiancee “I’m here for you, just let me know what me to do and I’ll do it” the focus is not on me, but on her. It is on how strong the love is between us, and how I am willing to do anything she asks. Same could be said for Here I Am. Who cares if the main word used is “I and me”? What is the message? It’s a question to G-d that I am here, what do you want me to do. This is very fitting and proper at the beginning of Mass (as an Enterance Hymn) as we come before the Lord and offer ourselves as sacrifices for him (as we do in the Universal Priesthood).
Eagles Wings, I can see and agree, would be hard to sing as a congregation. However I Am the Bread of Life is a lot easier to sing. I’ve heard it sung by a congregation of amatuer singers, and it came out fine.
Going back to theology, We Remember is perfectly fine as long as you think the Credo is fine. We Remember isn’t about us remembering, but about What (rather Who) we remember. As in the Credo, it is not the fact that we (better translation is I) believe, but what it is that I believe.
Your quotes don’t really help because the discussion is still “Are these songs appropriate for Mass”. And, used at the correct time in the Mass some of them are.

@Victorious: When we sing songs about Mary, it isn’t actually about Mary. Really, they are songs that Glorify G-d, what he can and has done to and for us. When we sing Gather Us In, we are singing about our Catholicity, our Universality. However, we aren’t really singing about ourselves, but we’re really singing about how G-d’s love is expansive to us all, how he accepts us no matter our clothing or status in life.

To be honest, it appears that many songs could be argued for or against. I gurantee you that I could take some of the songs that Benedictgal thinks are okay and tear them apart theologically and why they aren’t good for Mass. And then in the next paragraph argue for why they’re okay and acceptable for Mass.
 
bmadamsberry said:
@Benedictgal: You are a wonderful liturgist, and I would probably go to you on any liturgical issue I would have… but you wouldn’t make a good theologian.
If I told my fiancee “I’m here for you, just let me know what me to do and I’ll do it” the focus is not on me, but on her. It is on how strong the love is between us, and how I am willing to do anything she asks. Same could be said for Here I Am. Who cares if the main word used is “I and me”? What is the message? It’s a question to G-d that I am here, what do you want me to do. This is very fitting and proper at the beginning of Mass (as an Enterance Hymn) as we come before the Lord and offer ourselves as sacrifices for him (as we do in the Universal Priesthood).
Eagles Wings, I can see and agree, would be hard to sing as a congregation. However I Am the Bread of Life is a lot easier to sing. I’ve heard it sung by a congregation of amatuer singers, and it came out fine.
Going back to theology, We Remember is perfectly fine as long as you think the Credo is fine. We Remember isn’t about us remembering, but about What (rather Who) we remember. As in the Credo, it is not the fact that we (better translation is I) believe, but what it is that I believe.
Your quotes don’t really help because the discussion is still “Are these songs appropriate for Mass”. And, used at the correct time in the Mass some of them are.

@Victorious: When we sing songs about Mary, it isn’t actually about Mary. Really, they are songs that Glorify G-d, what he can and has done to and for us. When we sing Gather Us In, we are singing about our Catholicity, our Universality. However, we aren’t really singing about ourselves, but we’re really singing about how G-d’s love is expansive to us all, how he accepts us no matter our clothing or status in life.

To be honest, it appears that many songs could be argued for or against. I gurantee you that I could take some of the songs that Benedictgal thinks are okay and tear them apart theologically and why they aren’t good for Mass. And then in the next paragraph argue for why they’re okay and acceptable for Mass.
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Actually, Here I Am is bad theologically as well. The focus on Here I Am is not about God. It’s about my response. It’s about what I am doing. Most of the refrain is in the first person. The focus needs to be on God, not on what I am doing. It’s not about me/we. It’s about Him.

What you seem to not understand is that we pray as we believe. The Mass is a prayer. If we put all the focus on ourselves, even in our singing, then, we have missed the point.

Eagles Wings, aside from the sappy music, is not really that great of a song. Whenever I hear it, I think of the exchange that Satan had with Jesus where the devil quotes a section of the very passage on which Eagles Wings is based. When I was haggling with the organist at my grandmother’s former parish for the funeral Mass music, she suggested that song and I told her that under no circumstances would that be played at the Masss. It is a tawdry song that sounds more like it belongs in a Hallmark card commercial than in the Holy Sacrifice.

We Remember is very bad because it waters down the Catholic Faith significantlly. Inasmuch as Marty Haugen is Protestant and does not have a real clue about the Faith, this is a song that should not be used at Mass. The theology is horrible. It reduces the Mass to a simple meal and, again, puts the focus on us and on what we are doing. This song, especially, should not be used in any Catholic setting. To equate it to the Creed is to not have a true sense of the Faith of the Church. Gather Us In is just as bad, if not worse, because it is a glorification of ourselves than anything else. It also has a very poor understanding of the Faith. If you notice, there is not even one mention of God in that song.

As far as the Creed is concerned, it is a statement of Faith. We proclaim what we believe at that point in the Mass. We are stating that we believe in every part of the Creed. For you to equate that with music is, with all due respect, a misunderstanding of why we do what we do at certain points in the Mass.

The law of prayer equals to the law of belief. The hymns used for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass need to reflect that. None of the songs on that list reflect that.
 
puzzleannie said:
any votes for Lord of the Dance–great tune, has no place in Catholic liturgy
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Both of my hands are up. 👍 Someone who believes in conspiracy theories might speculate that such a song validates liturgical dancing. :rotfl:

Separately, no matter what the lyrics, I will not sing along to any song where the melody is just awful – never mind range, just if it is musically an embarrassment. Who ever approves some of this stuff?

Is it just I? Or do other people feel juvenile if the combo of lyrics and tune is unbelievably bad? It’s especially hard when you’ve been trained in music.

It is God Himself who is the author and source of the beauty, symmetry, harmony in music. And you’re going to dishonor Him by singing tripe? Unbelievable.
 
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