Lord of the Dance

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dprewett

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I just got home from easter Mass. Every year our choir makes a huge ordeal out of Lord of The Dance. Am I the only one who cannot stand this song durring Mass let alone at Easter. Maby I am missing the point but not only does it sound terrible the words are none inspirring tosay the least. Out of the 3,000,000 songs available could they not find something more apealing. I noticed after the choir finished that most of the people that clapped were not there on normal Sundays. Is my Parish the only one that does this. After a little research it seems this is an adaptaion of a shaker song. :confused:
 
I agree. I don’t think that particular song is a great choice, for Easter. Although we had no choir (we attended the very, very, VERY early 6:00 a.m. Mass :o ) our organist played… “Christ, the Lord is Risen Today”. And even though it was just the organ, and a few voices raised in song… in my humble opinion, it was more of an Easter hymn.

cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/t/ctlrisen.htm

Well, HAPPY EASTER anyway! God bless.
 
dprewett said:
I just got home from easter Mass. Every year our choir makes a huge ordeal out of Lord of The Dance. Am I the only one who cannot stand this song durring Mass let alone at Easter. Maby I am missing the point but not only does it sound terrible the words are none inspirring tosay the least. Out of the 3,000,000 songs available could they not find something more apealing. I noticed after the choir finished that most of the people that clapped were not there on normal Sundays. Is my Parish the only one that does this. After a little research it seems this is an adaptaion of a shaker song. :confused:
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Nope, you are not alone. This song is completely inappropriate for the liturgy. Oftentimes I find myself thinking the same way about songs often sung at Mass. There are long threads dedicated to discussing this topic! I, like you, think “of all the wonderful hymns in our Catholic tradition, this is the best we have to offer to God?”
Plus “Lord of the Dance” reduces the the glory of Our Lord’s passion and resurrection to a cute little sing-songy aw shucks sort of affair with the whole “it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back thing…” what scriptural passage was that adopted from again???
 
There are so many associations that dumb song brings to mind, none of them having anything to do with the Resurrection of the Lord.

Unfortunately the first association that comes to mind is that silly Riverdance guy, leaping and lurching in a leotard like a lepruchan on ‘ludes. If I wanted that, I could skip Mass and turn on the PBS fundraiser. If the Riverdance is not airing for the 10,00th time, I could probably catch that Peter Paul and Mary Turn 75 and Sing Offkey As Always concert, too, which always puts me of a mind to attend a knee-slappin’ Saturday evening Kumbaya Mass. Yee haw.

Of course, not all Liturgy Comittee Chairpersons and Directors of Worship Music are folkies. More likely the reason that “hymn” is chosen is the same reason we so often hear “Amazing Grace.” It is a misguided sense of building Christian unity through the adoption of Protestant theology. The tune is first and always a Shaker anthem.
 
Based on what I read on the forum, there must just be little pockets of craziness across the country where they do liturgical dance and sing songs like this with a straight face.

I haven’t seen (or heard) it since the 1970s . . . for which I am most grateful.
 
I think that this song is akin to some sort of virus (typhoid comes to mind). The children’s choir sang it this morning. This has got to be one of the most insipid, nonsensical songs that has come out of the OCP arsenal. The problem is that this little ditty pops up in the children’s hymnals and is a suggested by OCP for use during Easter.

To reduce the salviffic mysteries of the Paschal Triduum to a nappy, sappy song about dancing (dancing on the way to Calvary?) shows a very poor understanding of Christ’s redemptive work. While there are those who may be visibly moved by the song, the “hymn” (if you can even call it that) is American Catholic music at its worst. At least the children’s choir sang “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” as the recessional.
 
We had to sing I don’t know how many verses of “God is here”.

“God is here, God is here, one thing I know, God is here.” over and over :eek: .

I just stared at the tabernacle and prayed.
 
I agree. I like the MUSIC to the song (I guess because I’m a big Michael Flatley fan–they Riverdance guy:D and his first project after he left Riverdance was called Lord of the Dance and used that music) but I cannot stand to sing it during Mass. I don’t like the words at all. Just the music and I think the only time I like the music is during Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance
 
I haven’t heard Lord of the Dance at mass for a while…but every time I hear it I equate it as being an Irish pub song! 😃

Back in the 70’s I loved listening to a band called the Irish Rovers who sang that as part of their repertoire - along with The Unicorn Song, et al. I was so surprised to come across Lord of the Dance in the “Catholic Book of Worship” (official Canadian Catholic hymnal) when I was thumbing through it one day - and even more surprised to hear it at mass on a number of occasions over the years. But then, that’s the hymnal that also has one of my favourite Cat Stevens songs as well - “Morning Has Broken”. 🤷

Jen
 
Lord of the dance. . . thats the drinking song by the Dubliners during sessions?

Michael Flatly?

I actually found it in the pew and it was a shaker (or quaker hymn). We have a 2,000 year old rich tradition of music and we borrow nonsense . . . makes me shudder.
 
FWIW:
  1. Lord of the Dance was composed in 1963 by the radical English poet, composer and folk singer, Sydney Carter.
  2. The tune is adaption of the American Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts”
  3. The composer himself described his own religious views in the following words:
    “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.”
  4. Carter said that inspiration for the song came, in part, from a statue of the dancing Shiva (a hindu god) that he kept on his desk and that he was astonished by its success:
    “I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian…Anyway, it’s the sort of Christianity I believe in”
  5. The lyrics may perhaps be connected to the second century heretical Apocryphal Acts of John in which before his Passion, Christ stands in the midst of his disciples and bids them join hands and dance with him, whilst he sings a hymn to the Father.
 
dprewett said:
I just got home from easter Mass. Every year our choir makes a huge ordeal out of Lord of The Dance. Am I the only one who cannot stand this song durring Mass let alone at Easter. Maby I am missing the point but not only does it sound terrible the words are none inspirring tosay the least. Out of the 3,000,000 songs available could they not find something more apealing. I noticed after the choir finished that most of the people that clapped were not there on normal Sundays. Is my Parish the only one that does this. After a little research it seems this is an adaptaion of a shaker song. :confused:
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Whilst I like this song, Lord of the Dance,
It is absolutely not a song for Easter.
The Lord Is Risen, Hallelujah.
GraceAngel
Happy Easter to all boardies.
 
driver9 said:
FWIW:
  1. Lord of the Dance was composed in 1963 by the radical English poet, composer and folk singer, Sydney Carter.
  2. The tune is adaption of the American Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts”
  3. The composer himself described his own religious views in the following words:
    “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.”
  4. Carter said that inspiration for the song came, in part, from a statue of the dancing Shiva (a hindu god) that he kept on his desk and that he was astonished by its success:
    “I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian…Anyway, it’s the sort of Christianity I believe in”
  5. The lyrics may perhaps be connected to the second century heretical Apocryphal Acts of John in which before his Passion, Christ stands in the midst of his disciples and bids them join hands and dance with him, whilst he sings a hymn to the Father.
Click to expand...
That should be enough to ban that song from all Catholic Hymnals. The explanation is just as troubling as the song. I hate to say this, but I think that my 12-year-old dachshund has more of a sense of the faith than the composer of this dreadful song.

The problem is that OCP and even GIA (which should have had more sense than to include it in its Worship III hymnal) fell for this gnostic hymn. That any Catholic church should have this song in their repertoire is most disturbing.
 
But then, that’s the hymnal that also has one of my favourite Cat Stevens songs as well - “Morning Has Broken”.

**Actually, it was an Irish song before Cat Stevens got hold of it.

I might add that this person williingly did what his ancestors joyfully chose death rather than do–apostasize from Orthodoxy to Mahometism.**
 
benedictgal said:
I hate to say this, but I think that my 12-year-old dachshund has more of a sense of the faith than the composer of this dreadful song.
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Minor correction - composer of these lyrics. This is a new set of lyrics replacing the original set that “belong” to the tune.

The Shaker original is about the concept of simplicity, on which topic I have a few thoroughly orthodox Catholic books. I wouldn’t use it for Mass either, but please let’s be accurate in the discussion. The original lyrics + tune is not the same beast as Carter’s lyrics + tune. A song is made up of its lyrics and its melody and changing either can radically change the quality of the resulting song.
 
I love the song and always have. The Shaker melody is one of the most beautiful ever composed (Copland used it in his Appalachian Suite). And I think the imagery in the poem is wondrous and touching. It really communicates to me personally how Jesus established His Kingdom, suffered His Passion, and rose from the dead while He was here with us on earth.

I can understand why people don’t “get it,” but I don’t understand how people can criticize a hymn just because they don’t understand it.

As for the questionable background of the hymn, I agree with the Redemptorist philosophy–we need to “redeem” the things of this earth and use them to glorify the Lord. There are many things that we enjoy that were created by sinners. I think that if you did some digging, you would discover that many of our hymns are very murky in their origins.

In another thread on this Board, I told this story. My daughter (25) was received into the Catholic Church this Saturday at the Easter Vigil. My husband and I and her sister drove almost 400 miles to be there.

The church is Redemptorist, and music was amazing. Not only did they do the “rock” type songs that so many people on this forum despise, but they also did several excellent classical pieces as well as Latin chant. The priest sang much of the Mass. It was a very musical Mass.

The next morning, we attended Mass again at that church, and it was the same setup–very musical, with many different pieces including classical, Latin, and St. Louis Jesuit! Because there were so many people, several hymns were sung during the Offeratory and the Communion.

One of the many, many hymns was Lord of the Dance.

By the end of the hymn, my older daughter–the new Catholic–was crying. You see, she is the production stage manager of a professional ballet company, and to her, the hymn is REAL. Dance is what she does for a living, and she understood all the imagery in the hymn.

I think we all need to realize and accept that as long as the song is in our Catholic hymnals, it has been approved by someone in authority over us laity, and even if we don’t like it personally, we should try to tolerate it because somewhere in the congregation, a person like my daughter is singing the hymn with all her heart because it means something wonderful to her. Our personal preferences are not an adequate reason to discredit something.

One more thing–do you believe that the liturgical director ignores the Holy Spirit when selecting hymns for Mass, and just chooses what he/she likes? Personally, I don’t think this is a very charitable thought. In fact, I think it’s rather bad–to think that a servant of the Lord is deliberately going against the leading of the Holy Spirit and selecting “blasphemous” or “inappropriate songs.” This certainly isn’t very respectful of the power of the Holy Spirit or to the priests who have hired their liturgical director. I think that most liturgical directors rely heavily on the Holy Spirit to help them plan the “nuts and bolts” of the Mass. Of course they refer to the G.I.R.M. and other liturgical documents. These documents do not exclude as much as some of you seem to think they exclude. I suggest giving the liturgical director the benefit of the doubt and accepting that he/she is making the choices that the Holy Spirit would have him/her to make. If you disagree with their choices, perhaps it would be best to take it up with the Holy Spirit.
 
I can understand why people don’t “get it,” but I don’t understand how people can criticize a hymn just because they don’t understand it.
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I get it. I understand it just fine. I just don’t like it musically, theologically, or ecclesiastically.

You do.

If you don’t underestimate my intelligence, I promise not to underestimate your taste.
 
crm114 said:
More likely the reason that “hymn” is chosen is the same reason we so often hear “Amazing Grace.” It is a misguided sense of building Christian unity through the adoption of Protestant theology. The tune is first and always a Shaker anthem.
Click to expand...
My introduction to that hymn was hearing my United Church choir member father-in-law complaining bitterly about his parish having to sing that “piece of c**p from the red hymnal”. Many years later I finally heard it sung in one of my own parishes and understood why he was upset.
 
I don’t find the song so offensive particularly when sung by children. Is it not part of our history to take the culture around us and infuse it with a deeper meaning? Doesn’t the Christmas tree have a pagan root? Yet we can have a tree and see how it represents life and the “evergreen” reminds us of our everloving God, and so on. The Lord is Lord of all including dance which represents life in the song and the verses reflect the gospel. I’m not saying that this song is the best choice for Mass, but I wouldn’t let it upset me either.
 
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