Hymns & Lyrics

[MarthaMartha]

Stairway to Heaven is probably both more appropriate and more inspiring for Mass than some of the dross I hear. Bring it on, I say

Yeah, but “she’s BUYING a stairway to Heaven!” Isn’t that simony?

 

[MarthaMartha]

sigh I miss the old days (I’m almost 40) when our music director (a nun in short skirts and permed hair) used to pick such inspiring songs, such as “If I Had A Hammer”, “The Rose”, “Do You Know (Theme from Mahogany)” and “Stairway to Heaven”.

Those are all good songs, but in church . . . hmmmmm . . .

I graduated from a Catholic women’s college in the mid-70s, and our Sister Short Skirts and Perm let us sing “Let It Be” (the Beatles), “Bridge over Troubled Water” and “El Condor Pasa” (from the same Simon & Garfunkel album), and “The Great Mandela” (antiwar song by Peter Paul & Mary). Led Zeppelin was still considered too risque in those days.

Oh, yeah, I forgot – “You’ve Got a Friend” by Carole King.

 

[Elzee]

It’s all I can do to constrain my husband when these songs are thrown at us. I try to jolly him out of his annoyance (“Those who don’t sing don’t eat”)…doesn’t usually work!

My own most-hated song is “singing a new Church into being.” I like the old Church.

Ditto. I just flat out refuse to sing ‘Sing a New Church’.
I’m getting there with ‘Gather Us In’. Both are favorites of our choir director.

 

[pnewton]

Ditto. I just flat out refuse to sing ‘Sing a New Church’.

When I first heard this years ago, I was sickened by the strange lyrics, since I know the tune that they imposed these words upon, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
[cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm](http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm)

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

They don’t write them like they used to.

 

[Unfinished]

An idea dawned upon me while I was ponding this thread at school today.

Lets all say a prayer to Saint Cecilia, that the music at Mass may become Heavenly - like the kind she heard in her heart.

Saint Cecilia - save the music of the Church!

 

[SeekerJen]

An idea dawned upon me while I was ponding this thread at school today.

Lets all say a prayer to Saint Cecilia, that the music at Mass may become Heavenly - like the kind she heard in her heart.

Saint Cecilia - save the music of the Church!

Good idea. She is a very powerful intercessor.

 

[patches]

I am a parish music director, and like many of the posters here, am troubled by the prevalent trends in music for the mass. Though I don’t mind an occasional first person perspective, I’m uncomfortable with the regularity with which we, at the behest of the song writer, presume to speak for God. (I expect a voice like thunder any moment booming “Get out of my chair!”) When hymns are in first person, I prefer they be direct quotes from our Lord, which avoids the pop poetry silliness we’re sometimes subjected to.

I am sympathetic to the posters who make the case for the use of imagery and poetic license. But nowadays too often, even perhaps most of the time, there is license taken with the theology as well, --not a good thing. Still, one only needs to go through an old book of hymns to know that this isn’t the first golden age of bad verse. When we sing we should never be compromising the truths we embrace or muddying doctrinal waters with ambiguity in an attempt to be culturally relevant.

As is well demonstrated in this thread, there’s plenty of darkness to curse. But in the interest of lighting a candle, can we post some hymns which we think ARE lyrically sound? (I’m always lookin’ for good material, and I promise you’ll get honorable mention on my parish music schedule)

Here’s a couple I find pretty good, as well as orthodox in theology:

“Where Love Is Found”

sample lyric:
Where charity and love are found
there will the face of God be seen
The love of Christ will bind our hearts,
as one body we will be (goes on in verses with
"love is patient, love is kind…etc)

“In Every Age”

sample lyric:
Long before the mountains came to be
and the land and sea and stars of the night
through the endless seasons of all time
You have always been, You will always be.

                   In every age, O God, you have been our refuge
                   In every age, O God, you have been our hope...

Please comment on my choices (I’m putting my crash helmet on and curling into a fetal position), and suggest songs that you think are lyrically good.

Pax Christi,

 

[Ace86]

I like singing the psalms at Mass. Because they’re so prayerful. And they’re from the Bible. And I agree there’s too much “voice of God” singing nowadays.

The bishops are the ones who are going to have to start really looking closely at the hymns and the lyrics in them to make sure that they are orthodox (of course!) and to make sure that they are appropriate and unambiguous.

 

[baltobetsy]

When I first heard this years ago, I was sickened by the strange lyrics, since I know the tune that they imposed these words upon, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
[cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm](http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm)

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

They don’t write them like they used to.

One of my all-time favorite hymns, especially the last four lines. I hope they sing it at my funeral.

FYI, the name of the tune is “Nettleton.”

Betsy

 

[bluerose]

I
And something I hope to never hear at Mass, but it is in my hymn book and I like the song…

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Is there a military base chapel nearby? I guarantee, you’ll hear “Battle Hymn” along with “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” on almost every national holiday as the closing hymn!

My sister reminded me of another one of Sister Music Director’s choicest picks for Sunday Mass–“You Needed Me” by Anne Murray. Personally, I love the song, but for Mass… I don’t know, wouldn’t you call this blasphemous?

“…I sold my soul, you bought it back for me/ and held me up and gave me dignity/ somehow you needed me…”

We were doing okay until we got to the part where we’re basically telling God that HE needed US. Does anyone else have a problem with that? I remember I couldn’t sing anymore once that line got stuck in my head (it was our eighth grade graduation Mass, as I recall.)

 

[MikeDunphy]

It’s all I can do to constrain my husband when these songs are thrown at us. I try to jolly him out of his annoyance (“Those who don’t sing don’t eat”)…doesn’t usually work!

My own most-hated song is “singing a new Church into being.” I like the old Church.

I prefer to stick with Christ’s Church, too, thank you very much. That one is definitely on my list. My own least favorite song is the one where I hear the cantor telling us that she herself is the bread of life; we and she are the bread of life. It turns out that it is Someone Else altogether Who is the Bread of Life.

 

[MikeDunphy]

As is well demonstrated in this thread, there’s plenty of darkness to curse. But in the interest of lighting a candle, can we post some hymns which we think ARE lyrically sound? … Here’s a couple I find pretty good

Your “Where Love Is Found” seems like it might be just a little bit squishy doctrinally, but not bad, maybe even pretty good, IMO.

“In Every Age” seems quite good. I’d be happy if they played that one in our parish.

Here are some hymns I like:
To Jesus Christ our Sovereign King
Joyful, Joyful we adore Thee
Immaculate Mary, thy praises we sing
Hail Holy Queen enthroned aboved
Faith of our Fathers

I also like the words and music to “Crown Him With Many Crowns”, but find the hymn too difficult for my (extremely) untrained voice to even attempt.

Have you looked at the offerings from Cantica Nova? A musician friend of mine says the music is good. The words that I see on the website (e.g. here) also look good.

Here is one I have never heard, but with good words:
chantcd.com/lyrics/jesus_lord_all.htm

Finally, here is a top ten hymns list that might interest you:
adoremus.org/0905Hymns.html

 

[pnewton]

FYI, the name of the tune is “Nettleton.”

Betsy

You and I may be the only two that notice stuff like that. I remember they always had that information at the bottom of my Baptist Hymnal when I was growing up and I learned most of the common ones.

 

[THutch04]

You and I may be the only two that notice stuff like that. I remember they always had that information at the bottom of my Baptist Hymnal when I was growing up and I learned most of the common ones.

Hehehe count me in as a hymn loser who figures out everything by the name of the tune AND the meter number.

 

[HollyRose]

I have a question about hymns that I was wondering. I was raised Protestant (mostly in the Methodist church) and I’m in RCIA right now. Does the Catholic Church mainly use its own hymns? I was raised with a lot of traditional Wesleyan/Protestant hymns, and have noticed that Catholic hymns are different ones. I’d be interested in learning the history of that. I’m just coming to understand the differences in what Protestants and Catholics believe now, so I can understand if the hymns are different, too–I think it was just something I hadn’t thought about until I realized they were different.
Thanks!

 

[Ace86]

I have a question about hymns that I was wondering. I was raised Protestant (mostly in the Methodist church) and I’m in RCIA right now. Does the Catholic Church mainly use its own hymns? I was raised with a lot of traditional Wesleyan/Protestant hymns, and have noticed that Catholic hymns are different ones. I’d be interested in learning the history of that. I’m just coming to understand the differences in what Protestants and Catholics believe now, so I can understand if the hymns are different, too–I think it was just something I hadn’t thought about until I realized they were different.
Thanks!

Yes the Catholic Church mainly uses its own hymns. But the proper music throughout the ages for Mass is of course Gregorian chant. I’m sure if you search on the internet, you can find plenty of great examples of chant. Palestrina is considered the best Catholic composer by most Catholics and traditional musicians.

For example, Te Deum is a chant. It was written by St. Ambrose waaaaay back in the 4th century. It is literally over a thousand years old. The most common translation (not exactly literal) of Te Deum is “Holy God We Praise Thy Name”. The music from “Grosser Gott” is the tune that is actually derived from the basic melody of the chant if I’m not mistaken.

The Church’s musical tradition is far older, ancient, and sublime than the Protestant one.

 

[ChemicalBean]

No poo-pooing here. I don’t poo-poo Be Not Afraid. That’s another good one.

I also like Gift of Finest Wheat. Theological dubiousness notwithstanding.

Ugh. I’ll be holding hands during the Our Father before I know it. What’s wrong with me???

Welcome to the dark side, Doc!

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Pax vobiscum!

I have the opportunity to help out with the music and singing at one of the parishes I go to Mass at (I usually go to daily Mass at this one and Sunday at another more traditional parish). I don’t know if I really will, because yesterday when we discussed it a little, I was quite strongly opposed when I mentioned that we could throw in a traditional hymn every once in a while. I just don’t understand it. These people think that those who like contemporary praise and worship music (which makes me want to throw up hearing it in Mass, though I actually like it outside of Mass) should get to have it all Mass every Mass don’t make sense to me. Why should they get everything their way and those of us who like REAL liturgical music are looked down upon when we ask for traditional music?

And also, why in the world would you EVER choose a Protestant praise and worship song over a Catholic song for a Catholic liturgy??? These people, if faced with the choice between having “Awesome God” or “Ave Verum Corpus” on Corpus Christi would most likely choose “Awesome God”. Blah.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[HollyRose]

Pax vobiscum!

I have the opportunity to help out with the music and singing at one of the parishes I go to Mass at (I usually go to daily Mass at this one and Sunday at another more traditional parish). I don’t know if I really will, because yesterday when we discussed it a little, I was quite strongly opposed when I mentioned that we could throw in a traditional hymn every once in a while. I just don’t understand it. These people think that those who like contemporary praise and worship music (which makes me want to throw up hearing it in Mass, though I actually like it outside of Mass) should get to have it all Mass every Mass don’t make sense to me. Why should they get everything their way and those of us who like REAL liturgical music are looked down upon when we ask for traditional music?

And also, why in the world would you EVER choose a Protestant praise and worship song over a Catholic song for a Catholic liturgy??? These people, if faced with the choice between having “Awesome God” or “Ave Verum Corpus” on Corpus Christi would most likely choose “Awesome God”. Blah.

In Christ,
Rand

Hey Rand,
Thanks for your answer. The thing is, I don’t really know any Catholic hymns yet aside from maybe 3 or 4. I just wondered since the Protestant hymns are really all I know, and not so much the contemporary ones, but the traditional ones. Although I do love “Awesome God,” and it was the theme song at the first ever Mass I went to when I was 16 (it was a Youth Mass.) I always remembered that. I will pay special attention and see if I can hear the “Ave Verum Corpus.” I look forward to experiencing Catholic music.
Holly

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Hey Rand,
Thanks for your answer. The thing is, I don’t really know any Catholic hymns yet aside from maybe 3 or 4. I just wondered since the Protestant hymns are really all I know, and not so much the contemporary ones, but the traditional ones. Although I do love “Awesome God,” and it was the theme song at the first ever Mass I went to when I was 16 (it was a Youth Mass.) I always remembered that. I will pay special attention and see if I can hear the “Ave Verum Corpus.” I look forward to experiencing Catholic music.
Holly

Pax tecum!

lol, I’m sorry, Holly, I didn’t even see your post before I posted mine! I hope you don’t think I was yelling at you with all those “???” I had in there!

There are some Protestant hymns (the more traditional ones; certainly the Anglican Church has some good music) that I don’t have a big problem with, but I still don’t see why those would be given preference over Catholic hymns. To hear “Ave Verum Corpus” (Hail, True Body), you’ll have to get to a church that has a choir that does polyphony…and that’s a little hard to find these days. Perhaps at the cathedral where you live? What state are you in, if you don’t mind my asking (someone might know of a church that does this kind of music close to where you are)?

In Christ,
Rand