Least favorite hymns

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rlg94086 said:
We sang Were You There? during the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday. It brought tears to my eyes. The fact that it is an African American spiritual doesn’t have any bearing whatsoever on the appropriateness of its use. It was the perfect hymn.

In a similar fashion, I’m sure African American Catholics don’t find it inappropriate to sing moving hymns written by “white folks.” 🤷
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Several years ago, I attended Tenebrae on either Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, and a lovely soprano soloist sang “Were You There” as part of the Liturgy. It caused me to weep, too, and I could have cared less whether it were a Negro spiritual. It was beautifully worded and sung, and perfectly fit the somber mood of this service.
 
Cecil84 said:
Does anyone else have a hymn that they cannot stand? I do not like the following for one reason or another:

Amazing Grace - too protestant
How Great Thou Art - ditto
Lord of the Dance - like a bad hoe down
Sing a New Church - the melody is nice, the words are horrible
The heavens are telling the glory of God - i forget the title, it might be Canticle of Creation
Almost anything by Marty Haugen - too light and fluffy for Mass
Negro Spirituals - they seem ill fitted for a Mass full of middle to upper class white people.
Any hymn that focuses on us rather than God
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I disagree with you on How Great thou Art. Amazing Grace yes and no. I heard this version done by some artist name Chris Tomlin. It isn’t amazing grace. The traditional hymn sends chills up and down my spine. I have never heard the others that are mentioned. I however prefer Panis Angelicus and Te Deum
 
Either I’m really off base or my conversion (circa 2000) didn’t really “take”, because I like “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art” is my absolute favorite hymn! I’m not a fan of most of the newer hymns, and I’d say my least favorite is “One Bread, One Body” - we tend to overplay it (like every week for a few months), to the point where I actually made up a parody that went, “One song, the same song; we sing each week. Can we receive without this song?” There’s a few others I can’t stand - “Let There Be Peace On Earth” sounds like it should be played as ice skating music (I read that somewhere and can’t get that image out of my mind when I hear it now), and “Hosea” makes me think of soap operas in both words and music.
 
Oh, dear . . .

I converted to the Church 39 years ago, and I consider myself a traditionalist. I’ve taught myself the Pater Noster and Ave Maria in Latin. I’m working on Adoro Te Devote . . . but I love the St. Louis Jesuits, the Damians, and Bob Hurd, too. “One Bread, One Body” and “Earthen Vessels” still make me cry after all these years. But the one that always gets me, and I don’t know who wrote it, is “Gifts of Finest Wheat” . . . at least I think that’s the title. Maybe I just have no taste . . .

Still Panis Angelicus makes me cry, too. Nobody can hear the music in Church because all anybody can hear is me crying!!! 😦 Just joking. Still, it would be wonderful to hear more Latin and more chant.

Does anybody remember an abomination that went something like “Let us praise God together on our knees . . .” It was really, truly horrible. “Kum By Ah,” anyone??? 😃
 
Old_Convert said:
Oh, dear . . .

I converted to the Church 39 years ago, and I consider myself a traditionalist. I’ve taught myself the Pater Noster and Ave Maria in Latin. I’m working on Adoro Te Devote . . . but I love the St. Louis Jesuits, the Damians, and Bob Hurd, too. “One Bread, One Body” and “Earthen Vessels” still make me cry after all these years. But the one that always gets me, and I don’t know who wrote it, is “Gifts of Finest Wheat” . . . at least I think that’s the title. Maybe I just have no taste . . .

Still Panis Angelicus makes me cry, too. Nobody can hear the music in Church because all anybody can hear is me crying!!! 😦 Just joking. Still, it would be wonderful to hear more Latin and more chant.

Does anybody remember an abomination that went something like “Let us praise God together on our knees . . .” It was really, truly horrible. “Kum By Ah,” anyone??? 😃
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I too have taught myself the Pater Noster and the Ave Maria in Latin. One Bread, One Body is a popular hymn at my parish as well is Gifts of Finest wheat. I so agree with you about Panis Angelicus. I have grown up entirely Post Vatican II, but I still love the Latin. I do also as well wish more Latin and Gregorian Chant was part of our mass than what it is. My parish does have Gregorian Chant in every mass, but not as much as I would like. We also do the Agnus Dei in Latin. I seem to be deeply affected every time I hear the Agnus Dei.
 
Don’t know if it is Catholic or not (but I don’t think so) but I can’t stand “Shall we gather by the River.” I also dislike any of the other “washed in the blood of Jesus” songs that our organist/music director chooses. :eek:

Okay, I might as well turn this into a full fledged rant… I don’t like when he chooses songs that only the choir can sing because they are not in our books. No one else can participate.

Okay. Got that out of my system! 👍
 
Let me say right off that our choir director gets us to do great things. However, when we sing songs that are too upbeat during communion, such as “Mountain of God” it sets my teeth on edge. Not that I don’t like the song, but I feel it’s inappropriate during a time that should be reverent and quiet. I also don’t like “On Eagle’s Wing’s.” I don’t know why, but I’ve never liked that song. I do however love “Were You There?” I don’t particularly care for drums during Mass either.
 
My least favorite hymns are the ones which weren’t composed by Palestrina.

😛

Pax.
 
Anything by Marty Haugen, Bob Hurd, Dan Schutte, St. Louis Jesuits, etc…

So much of it sounds like lame, 1970’s music that you could hear on AM radio. Yuck.
 
Old_Convert said:
Oh, dear . . .

I converted to the Church 39 years ago, and I consider myself a traditionalist. I’ve taught myself the Pater Noster and Ave Maria in Latin. I’m working on Adoro Te Devote . . . but I love the St. Louis Jesuits, the Damians, and Bob Hurd, too. “One Bread, One Body” and “Earthen Vessels” still make me cry after all these years. But the one that always gets me, and I don’t know who wrote it, is “Gifts of Finest Wheat” . . . at least I think that’s the title. Maybe I just have no taste . . .

Still Panis Angelicus makes me cry, too. Nobody can hear the music in Church because all anybody can hear is me crying!!! 😦 Just joking. Still, it would be wonderful to hear more Latin and more chant.

Does anybody remember an abomination that went something like “Let us praise God together on our knees . . .” It was really, truly horrible. “Kum By Ah,” anyone??? 😃
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I 'm very much like you in that I love most of the songs we sing in Church. But my favorites are the Latin ones too. I have a CD of Catholic Latin Classics and I can sing along to most of them now: Panis Angelicus, Tantum Ergo, Ave Maria, Adoramus Te Christe, etc. In fact, this CD inspired me to start learning Latin.

But I love all sorts of music, especially sacred music. (And I also like Here I Am Lord!)
 
tobinatorstark said:
I too have taught myself the Pater Noster and the Ave Maria in Latin. One Bread, One Body is a popular hymn at my parish as well is Gifts of Finest wheat. I so agree with you about Panis Angelicus. I have grown up entirely Post Vatican II, but I still love the Latin. I do also as well wish more Latin and Gregorian Chant was part of our mass than what it is. My parish does have Gregorian Chant in every mass, but not as much as I would like. We also do the Agnus Dei in Latin. I seem to be deeply affected every time I hear the Agnus Dei.
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Dude. I’ve sung “Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees” ad nauseum when going for communion at the Episcopal church, and always kinda liked it. Couldn’t articulate why, though, moving song, simple to learn, know it from childhood so it’s probably a nostalgia trigger.

For a beautiful version of the Agnus Dei, go to:

www.boysoprano.org

And click on the name Paul Phoenix.
 
Thanks for giving me the right title . . . Dude! It’s the idea that we are breaking bread on our knees that has always gotten to me. I picture this big, very hard, loaf of bread and a bunch of people smashing the large loaves of bread on their knees in order to pass out the unchewable chunks to everybody else!😃 A Missplaced modiefier of the worst sort! Sorry, old English Prof here! Too funny, no?😉
 
budgie2 said:
The only version of Amazing Grace that I really like is by Grimethorpe Colliery Band and a brass band version. This is from lastfm. They don’t always work these type of players. But you might have to like brass band music. I think it was in Brassed Off.

last.fm/music/Grimethorpe+Colliery+Band/_/Amazing+Grace?autostart
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Wow, a brass band fan! Actually, Grimethorpe did not play it in Brassed Off, but rather, a stunning version of Danny Boy. This version is indeed beautiful.
 
JPUSC said:
I don’t really like Amazing Grace.

As for the Spirituals, I like them. I used to not like Soon and Very Soon done on the piano which almost every parish in the area does because it is in the OCP Planning Guide, but when I heard one parish do it on organ with a special touch, it sounded very fitting and regal. It would probably sound great in a Tridentine Mass. 😃

I also like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Uyai Mose.

You’ve got to hear this “classically-styled” rendition of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot:

youtube.com/watch?v=zVBphgf7vHA
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Yee-Gaaads…uh…uh…wow:confused:. And we wonder why the Church is in the predicament it is?
 
I dislike anything written by Marty Haugen. Haven’t sung a thing of his that didn’t make me cringe in some way.
 
Old_Convert said:
Thanks for giving me the right title . . . Dude! It’s the idea that we are breaking bread on our knees that has always gotten to me. I picture this big, very hard, loaf of bread and a bunch of people smashing the large loaves of bread on their knees in order to pass out the unchewable chunks to everybody else!😃 A Missplaced modiefier of the worst sort! Sorry, old English Prof here! Too funny, no?😉
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Oh my goodness, that is hysterical. Thank you! I needed that bit of mirth today, so my grateful appreciation is yours eternally, Doctor. grin.
I will never be able to sing, or hear “Let us Break Bread Together” again without giggling, or attempting to suppress the urge, at any rate. Former English major here.
 
I’m the really annoying choir member who thinks that half the hymnal should be used to fuel campfires :p. My least-favorite hymns of all time would have to be
3 - *Terra Tremuit *(luckily we only sing that once a year)
2- How Great Thou Art

…

…

And taking the cake as the worst collection of notes arranged in redundant order EVER in Catholic music has to be… Taste and See! I can’t **stand **that song; I think it sould be mortal sin to play it!

(Please no one take offence if you happen to like these songs, I’m just having fun :)).
 
The one that really bugs me is “For the Healing of the Nations.” It has a beautiful melody(Tantum Ergo) but atrocious lyrics. The most offensive being:
"dogmas that obscure your plan".
Just which infallibly defined dogmas of the Catholic Church obscure the plan of God? Rather, they clarify.
 
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