Lord of the Dance (and it ain't Michael Flatley)

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pprimeau1976

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I am going to nitpick this song for a moment. This song caused me alot of discomfort because the tune is a happy tune (almost like Gilbert and Sullivan) but it has lyrics which do not mesh well with the tune. This link will open a midi file that can play the tune. Keep in mind, the tempo was faster and played on the piano.

In case the title doesn’t jog your memory, here is the refrain:
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
The refrain I can live with. I find the verses though intolerable. In particular this one:
I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame!
They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high
And they left me there on a cross to die!
I get the symbolism behind dancing, although it is annoying. But isn’t it disrespectful almost to the point of sacriligeous to portray the passion and death of the Lord as a dance and to the music that almost sounds like an Irish jig? I understand Good Friday was good, but this is taking it to the extreme…

Am I a bit too sensitive or what?
 
pprimeau1976 said:
I am going to nitpick this song for a moment. This song caused me alot of discomfort because the tune is a happy tune (almost like Gilbert and Sullivan) but it has lyrics which do not mesh well with the tune. This link will open a midi file that can play the tune. Keep in mind, the tempo was faster and played on the piano.

In case the title doesn’t jog your memory, here is the refrain:
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
The refrain I can live with. I find the verses though intolerable. In particular this one:
I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame!
They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high
And they left me there on a cross to die!
I get the symbolism behind dancing, although it is annoying. But isn’t it disrespectful almost to the point of sacriligeous to portray the passion and death of the Lord as a dance and to the music that almost sounds like an Irish jig? I understand Good Friday was good, but this is taking it to the extreme…

Am I a bit too sensitive or what?
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Oh I don’t know about it being a sacrilege to compare the passion to a dance. Out Lord happily went to His death for me. I think it was St Teresa of Avila who said that we should not be ashamed of the cross (passion). Remember it is because of the passion that we may dance and like our Lord we should embrace it with love and joy.

By the way I love this song, it feels so uplifting.

I am sure I am not explaining myself well and will be hammered for this.
 
st_lucy said:
Oh I don’t know about it being a sacrilege to compare the passion to a dance. Out Lord happily went to His death for me. I think it was St Teresa of Avila who said that we should not be ashamed of the cross (passion). Remember it is because of the passion that we may dance and like our Lord we should embrace it with love and joy.

By the way I love this song, it feels so uplifting.

I am sure I am not explaining myself well and will be hammered for this.
Click to expand...
No, you are explaining yourself fine. I guess the the tempo of the way it was played was just too fast and when played *on the piano *it ends up sounding like some broadway tune.

Now, if the song was played on the organ and sounded more like Copeland’s Appalachian Spring then it could even be more fitting.
 
pprimeau1976 said:
I guess the the tempo of the way it was played was just too fast and when played *on the piano *it ends up sounding like some broadway tune.

Now, if the song was played on the organ and sounded more like Copeland’s Appalachian Spring then it could even be more fitting.
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I loathe this song when it’s sung in the average Catholic parish. So hokey and goofy.

However, I have a recording of it sung by the three Irish Tenors, and it’s really wonderful. 👍
 
The wiki cite just confirmed the “Simple Gifts” tune to me (" 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free…").

That said, it is not my favorite. This sort of ties in with the thread about singing all the verses of hymns, because “Lord of the Dance” is one of those where if you don’t sing every verse, the message of the hymn is not going to be there. There are worse ones though, in my opnion, such as “Gather Us In” and “I, Myself, Am The Bread Of Life.”

And little kids love it, but at least one will change the words. I’ve heard of “The Dancing Flea” and my youngest used to sing it, “And I’ll meet you all at the dance, Sara Lee.”
 
Out Lord happily went to His death for me

Jesus was so happy at it that He said, “My soul is exceeindgly sorrowful, even unto death.”

That’s how hoppy He was about it.
 
this is one of my favorite songs. 😃

I’m pretty sure that the final verses aren’t supposed to be the same tempo as the beginning and the refrain. but I guess maybe that’s just how the organists played it because they didn’t think it should be fast? hmm…
 
pprimeau1976 said:
I am going to nitpick this song for a moment. This song caused me alot of discomfort because the tune is a happy tune (almost like Gilbert and Sullivan) but it has lyrics which do not mesh well with the tune. This link will open a midi file that can play the tune. Keep in mind, the tempo was faster and played on the piano.

In case the title doesn’t jog your memory, here is the refrain:
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
The refrain I can live with. I find the verses though intolerable. In particular this one:
I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame!
They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high
And they left me there on a cross to die!
I get the symbolism behind dancing, although it is annoying. But isn’t it disrespectful almost to the point of sacriligeous to portray the passion and death of the Lord as a dance and to the music that almost sounds like an Irish jig? I understand Good Friday was good, but this is taking it to the extreme…

Am I a bit too sensitive or what?
Click to expand...
Not my favorite; it’s very mediocre music at best.

But I won’t call it innapropriate. This is really the same idea as the Christmas carol “My dancing day”, in which we, the Lord’s “true love” are called to join in the “dance” of his death and resurrection.
 
When I have (rarely) heard this song at Mass, the verses about the Passion were sung/played very slow, the rest was up tempo.
 
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