Least Favorite Songs at Mass

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dutch said:
“how can i keep from singing” and “lord of the dance” are terrible.
speaking of shaker—you all surely know (and forigve me if this has been posted before) lord of the dance is really new words to “tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free…” which, frankly are better words anyway. i hate when we take some nice traditional song (and no, i dont care if it’s traditional Catholic, that’s a good ol’ song) and then change the words up so it just sounds new age and goofy

for example “joyful joyful we adore thee God of glory Lord of love” has recently become in my missalette “alleluia alleluia hearts and voices heavenword raise”

Not that those arent nice words (but try saying “heavenward” in the same space you say Lord, its hard!!) Lets keep the songs the way they were written…

Anyway thats my beef on Lord of the Dance… Because i know you all care!!
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:hmmm: I had to laugh in reading this;

But I never saw sing to the mountains… which fits with alot of the others mentioned. I must agree on the Eagles wings and Be not afraid songs the text are very Biblical and both were played at my mothers funeral. There are many bible quotes in the bible about eagles. As far as the song Mary did you know even the daughters of St. Paul use that on the rosary cd and yes she did know but that does not stop it from being a beautiful song.

I must agree in saying he who sings prays twice…
 
How about “Heavenly Father We Appreciate You”?

Love? Adore? Prostrate ourselves before? Nah…appreciate.
 
I think I heard the absolute worst song ever at Mass last night… “Fly Like a Bird”. We sang “I want to fly like a bird… I want to soar like an eagle… to you, Lord!” during Communion. Is it really necessary to fantasize about flying to God while we are receiving His Body and Blood?
 
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Rach620:
I think I heard the absolute worst song ever at Mass last night… “Fly Like a Bird”. We sang “I want to fly like a bird… I want to soar like an eagle… to you, Lord!” during Communion. Is it really necessary to fantasize about flying to God while we are receiving His Body and Blood?
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The concept of “flying to God” seems wholly inappropriate for a Communion hymn. It is God who humbles Himself to come to us, not we who exhalt ourselves to get to Him.
 
Forgive me if I repeat anything already said, but there are just so many postings on this topic!

Firstly, Saint Augustine said: “he who sings WELL prays twice”

As regards “Sing a New Church” - in my diocese, music directors were instructed not to use it as it is heretical (a sign of hope!).

My vote for least favorite(s):
Gather Us In
Eagle’s Wings (way overdone)
We Come to tell His story

There are many more, but I draw a blank right now.

What I really don’t like is the hymns such as “O Sacred Head Surrounded” where the words have been changed. I much prefer “death’s pallid hue comes o’er Thee, the glow of life decays” to “no comeliness or beauty…”

I also really love “Let all Mortal Flesh”

Really the difference between many of the older songs is that they convey the Catholic Faith 👍 while too many (not all) of the newer ones tend to water it down.:tsktsk:
 
I don’t like the contemporary music. It sounds like elevator music to me. I wouldn’t listen to that kind of music if it was secular, though I would listen to the older stuff if it was.

The chord progressions and melodies are strange to me. And one of the reasons I’m coming to Catholicism is to flee the contemporary.

Anyway, our closing hymn yesterday–I forget what it was called—but it was jam-packed with words. I finished one line and I was winded. and doing the whole song? It was like singing “I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General!”
 
Anthem- that song focuses too much on the community for one thing, but also it is WAY too hard to sing at the proper tempo. I’m a music major, and I even have a hard time with that one.

A mighty Fortress is our God- that’s the battle hymn of the protestant reformation. “…ancient foe…” in the first verse refers to the Catholic Church.

The King of Glory- every phrase in the song has the same rhythm, and there are only two chords in the whole song.

Faith of our “mothers”.- GAG!

Mike Anderson’s “Gloria”- clapping…ugggh

For the Healing of the Nations- “Dogmas that obscure Your plan”??? if that’s not heresy I don’t know what is.

Becker’s “Litany of the Saints”- the tune is ok. It mentions Origen in the Litany though. Origen was NOT a saint- he was a heretic.

Traditional hymns that have been rewritten- emasculating God, and replacing every Thee and Thou with You- sometimes even going so far as to rewrite entire lines of a hymn, just to get rid of a single “Thee” or “Thou”.

Amazing Grace- too protestant for me. No one has a problem with that it seems, but do the Dies Irae at a funeral or on All Soul’s and things get ugly.

Michael
 
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dutch:
“how can i keep from singing” is a shaker song. nothing like using protestant-cult songs in a catholic mass. .
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Remember? Our good bishops all got together spoke with authority during Vatican II…the Holy Spirit does express himself in protestant religions - just not the fullness of truth–
I think you may dislike that song, but I hope not just because it came through protestant children of God.
 
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lacoloratura:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
… I can tell you that many, many people’s opinions of what is good music for the Catholic Mass has more to do with personal preference than with anything else. … One person’s experience may be enhanced only by traditional hymns; someone else may find that style meaningless, but be terrifically moved by a more “contemporary” style of music.

A few more observations based on the quote I included … I know SO many teens who are bored with Mass, and who would leave for a Protestant contemporary worship service if they could. It is irresponsible of any parish to ignore this desire on their part. The church has always endorsed the adaptation (within limits, of course) of the liturgy to meet the needs of the culture it functions within. Yes, there are things that should not change - many of them. But style of music is one of the adaptable things.

Also, I definitely agree with the comment about singability…

My last comment, I promise - what’s wrong with including Protestant hymns, as long as they do not contradict Catholic doctrine? Sounds like a prejudice to me…

… this is a topic which touches me deeply! Thanks for listening to my rant!
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Thank you for your kind words! And looking back on my post, I’ve also realized that it’s not just youth who are lacking something when it comes to music. There are so many adults who attend mass and are not filled. We find that our “youth mass” has many adults in it, the majority of them don’t have youth-aged children. (And it’s a jam-packed mass!) We find that it’s not only youth who are moved to tears, but adults too! Songs like Shout to the Lord and Sanctuary and I Can Only Imagine (yes, that song that you hear on the radio sometimes!) have moved the entire congregation to tears.

Of course, I believe that the mass is large enough to hold those who love modern christian worship-style drums & guitar music as well as those who love the traditional hymn mass, and those who love the gregorian chant!

Just because I really love these two songs (and because I’m listening to a CD of them right now… hehe.), I posted the lyrics. We sing the second song, Sanctuary, every Sunday right before communion (after the Lamb of God). It’s the song that every member of the 5:00pm mass knows extremely well. The first song here, Shout to the Lord, is a favorite too.

Shout to the Lord
My Jesus, My Savior,
Lord there is none like you,
All of my days
I want to praise
The wonders of your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength!
Let every breath; all that I am (!!)
Never cease worship you!!!

Oh, Shout to the Lord,
All the earth let us sing!
Power and Majesty,
Praise to the King!
Mountains bow down
And the seas will roar
At the sound of your name!

I sing for joy at the work of your hands!
Forever I’ll love you,
For ever I’ll stand.
Nothing compares to the promise I have
in you…

Sanctuary
Lord prepare me
to be a sanctuary
Pure and Holy
Tried and True
In thanksgiving
I’ll be a living
Sanctuary
For you.

Make my life
A living sacrifice
Holy and acceptable
to you, Oh Lord
Make my life
A living sacrifice
Knowing it’s the least
that I can do.
 
PASCENDI said:
“He’s got the whole world in His hands”
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I hate that song! I also don’t like some newer songs…like El Corpo de Cristo…It’s a spanish song…😦
 
Here I am Lord
Amazing Grace
And yes… most of the OCP hymnal… 😛 YUKKO.

I do however like: All Creatures of Our God and King!!
 
Here’s my nomination: It’s the “follow-up” to that old Catholic favorite, “Come to the Mountains, Sing To The Trees.” (Sing To The Mountains) and infamous The Vampire Song: “Eat His Body, Drink Hos Blood. And We’ll Sing This Song Of Love. Allelu! Allelu! Allelu! Alleluia.” Some of my personal favorites are: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lift High The Cross, and To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King.

No kidding! I once saw a hymnal in a Catholic retreat house chapel that included that John Denver classic, “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The retreat just wasn’t the same after that

Bread for the Squirrels (after Bernadette Farrell’s Bread for the World)

REFRAIN:

Bread for the squirrels,
The squirrels are hungry.
Whining for dinner,
They want some nuts.
May we who feed
These furry rodents
Hold out our hands
And give them lunch.

The squirrels live in parks and fields and trees,
What they can’t finish, they store inside their bulging cheeks,
So let us feed them bread and fries and hot dog buns,
Or just a tiny piece to make them fight for fun.

REFRAIN

Now squirrels come in grey, and brown, and black,
And sometimes rabid ones will jump upon your back,
But we appease them when we give them chunks of bread,
Lest they attack and skeletonize you from foot to head.

REFRAIN
 
ragazza:
speaking of shaker—you all surely know (and forigve me if this has been posted before) lord of the dance is really new words to “tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free…” which, frankly are better words anyway. i hate when we take some nice traditional song (and no, i dont care if it’s traditional Catholic, that’s a good ol’ song) and then change the words up so it just sounds new age and goofy

for example “joyful joyful we adore thee God of glory Lord of love” has recently become in my missalette “alleluia alleluia hearts and voices heavenword raise”

Not that those arent nice words (but try saying “heavenward” in the same space you say Lord, its hard!!) Lets keep the songs the way they were written…
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Ever notice in your hymnals that some of the old hymns will say something like “Love Divine 8.7.8.7.D” - it basically is there so if you have some other song that has verses of four lines with 8, 7, 8, and 7 syllables you can set those words to that music. Actually that particular one…

“Love Divine, all loves excelling…”

is the same as

“Come, thou long expected Jesus…”

and

“Alleluia, sing to Jesus…”

and some others are all the same tune, actually called “Hyfrydol”.

Similarly, you would find that

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…”

is sung to the tune of “John Brown’s Body”:

“John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave…”

and our national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” are new words by Francis Key set to an English drinking song “To Anacreon in Heaven”.

So the general idea of taking a hymn tune or melody and writing new words for it is an old and time-honored tradition.

The one that you cite, “Joyful, joyful we adore thee” are actually lyrics written in 1907 that fit the melody to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, from his 9th symphony, completed in 1824.
 
The “Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes, yes, Lord” song sung at lifeteen masses. I need techno, not this!
 
I don’t know the name of the song but we were not at our regular parish. In some parts Jesus was referred to as he and some parts as SHE! The people around us were exchanging confused looks. Obviously we didn’t sing.
 
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RedDeathsMask:
The “Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes, yes, Lord” song sung at lifeteen masses. I need techno, not this!
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gag I’m not sure there is a song I loathe more then that one. I grew up in an evangelical church, and the particular church that did me in for that brand of Christianity (and any kind of Christianity, all through high school) used that song ALL THE TIME. If I ever heard that song in Mass, I would get up and leave. I couldn’t receive the Eucharist- I’d probably throw it up if I did- and after the thoughts that ran through my head, I wouldn’t be in a proper state to receive.

I would be ashamed to attach my name as the composer of such repulsive music.
 
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RedDeathsMask:
The “Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes, yes, Lord” song sung at lifeteen masses. I need techno, not this!
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EEeewwwwww…I can’t stand that song. That’s “Trading My Sorrows” by Darrell Evans.

The thoughts that come to my head are those that make my want to go “Drownin’ my Sorrows” when I hear that stuff.
 
my least favourite is the prayer the gloria the choir recently changed the way it was sung, it is now so hard to sing to that the choir sings it and the congregation sing the chorus, we have asked for it to be said rather than sung but no luck so far,
 
The reason why many of these more “popular” are sung at Mass is for the youth. They are the future of the Church. Why do people have to be so pompous about how we sing. If we praise the Lord does it really matter?
 
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