Nominees for worst hymn

[bluerose]

I don’t know about that one, but we can do this one:

Come and listen to my story ‘bout a man named Jed,
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed
Awake from your slumber! Arise from your sleep!
A new day is dawning for all those who weep
And then one day he was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude
The people in darkness have seen a great light.
The Lord of our longing has conquered the night.

(Dan Schutte, that is. Set a spell. Twang your git-tar. Y’all come back now, hear?)

 

[He_Man]

It’s not a hymn, but the one that absolutely sends me up a wall is that dreadful alleluia that they use at Mass. The one that goes like,

Holly, holly, holly,
LOO-ooo-yah!

Holly, holly, holly,
LOO-ooo-yah!

Holly, holly, holly,
LOO-ooo-yah!

Holly-LOO-yah!

Hah-LAY-loo-YAH!

Every time I hear that thing, it nearly makes me want to run out and join the SSPX.

Oh my, that one does make me want to wretch.

At my old Church, half the congegration does the sign language for it as well.

I half expect a nun with a mini skirt playing the washboard and jug to break into song when I hear it.

 

[SeekerJen]

Probably my least-favoreite Advent hymn is “O come, o come, EE-maa-AAA-aaan-yoo-ellllll…”

Depressing tune. Makes me want to open up a vein every time I hear it.

Again with the personal tastes. That’s my absolute favorite Advent hymn. If it’s chanted a capella, all the better. In Latin? Better still.

 

[benedictgal]

Oh my, that one does make me want to wretch.

At my old Church, half the congegration does the sign language for it as well.

I half expect a nun with a mini skirt playing the washboard and jug to break into song when I hear it.

I know which song that is, but, I can’t remember the name. It’s one of those horrid pieces that OCP makes parishes sing. I stand by my statements: OCP is the chief culprit because it constantly shoves horridly bad liturgical music down our throats. We need to organize a campaign to inform OCP that they can’t torture us like this. I think even the Geneva Convention should be invoked.

 

[mercygate]

Funny, though, because the Church has been singing this hymn for over 10 centuries. It’s the oldest Advent Hymn and the versus speak to the millenia of waiting that Ancient Israel endured (and the waiting that we, as the new Israel are in). Remember, Advent is still a penitential season. There is some joy, but it is sober.

We onlly get to sing it after December 17th, because it’s based on the Great O Antiphons, and they begin on the 17th. Never mind that the Liturgy of the Hours includes it as appropriate for either before or after the 17th. It is my FAVORITE Advent Hymn – actually jostling for first/second place with “Lo, He Comes, with Couds Descending.”

 

[lak611]

“Lo, He Comes, with Couds Descending.”

Which version: Wesley’s or Cennick’s?

 

[hilde_the_dog]

Ride on Jesus, Ride. I could not get myself to lok at the words. All I could picture is Jesus on a Harley

 

[lak611]

Ride on Jesus, Ride. I could not get myself to lok at the words. All I could picture is Jesus on a Harley

 

[mercygate]

Which version: Wesley’s or Cennick’s?

Not sure.

Lo, He comes, with clouds descending,
Once for our salvation slain,
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ, the Lord, returns to reign.

 

[lak611]

Not sure.

Lo, He comes, with clouds descending,
Once for our salvation slain,
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ, the Lord, returns to reign.

That’s Wesley’s version. That’s the one we sing in my parish. It’s one of my favourite Advent hymns too.

 

[baltobetsy]

Not sure.

Lo, He comes, with clouds descending,
Once for our salvation slain,
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ, the Lord, returns to reign.

My all time favorite hymn. The tune we use is Helmsley. Our organist plays an alternate harmonization on the last verse that brings me to tears every year. And it’s coming soon…

Betsy

 

[mercygate]

My all time favorite hymn. The tune we use is Helmsley. Our organist plays an alternate harmonization on the last verse that brings me to tears every year. And it’s coming soon…

Betsy

Right: Helmsley. Nothin’ else!

 

[lak611]

Right: Helmsley. Nothin’ else!

That’s the one we have too!

 

[daeve]

Ride on Jesus, Ride. I could not get myself to lok at the words. All I could picture is Jesus on a Harley

We don’t have the Gather hymnal at my parish, but I went to a different parish this week, and was looking through it there. I saw that one for the first time. There’s a song by the Gaither Vocal Band that I really like (it’s NOT a Mass song) that has a chorus of Ride on Ride on, King Jesus. It wasn’t the same thing.

There were a lot of songs in the hynmal I’ve never heard, or at least don’t recognize just looking at them. After reading this thread, I think I’m glad I don’t know them.

 

[East_and_West]

The gloria one where everyone claps in the chorus takes the biscuit for me.

JD

Oh, i hate that one. So absurd. I give our choir director a hard time about it all the time. But of course, I only tease him in fun.

 

[benedictgal]

Oh, i hate that one. So absurd. I give our choir director a hard time about it all the time. But of course, I only tease him in fun.

OCP has been taken to the woodshed for that Gloria:thumbsup: Someone finally had the guts to report them. Now, they have to move that “song” from the service music section to the regular hymns. The sad thing is that the person who did the music for our diocesan Red Mass used it for the lawyers.

 

[lak611]

We don’t have the Gather hymnal at my parish, but I went to a different parish this week, and was looking through it there. I saw that one for the first time. There’s a song by the Gaither Vocal Band that I really like (it’s NOT a Mass song) that has a chorus of Ride on Ride on, King Jesus. It wasn’t the same thing.

There were a lot of songs in the hynmal I’ve never heard, or at least don’t recognize just looking at them. After reading this thread, I think I’m glad I don’t know them.

I think it’s this one.

Ride on, Jesus, ride. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on Jesus, ride.
King Jesus rides on a milk white colt. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
The River Jordon He did cross. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.
My Jesus lifted His throne above. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
See His mercy and His love. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.
The children of Jerusalem. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Strewed their branches on His way. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.
Blessings on the Holy One! Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Blessings on the Saving One! Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride to set Your people free. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride the road to Calvary. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride obedient unto death. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride to break the chains of death. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride again in the hearts of us. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Ride again in the hands of us. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on Jesus, ride.
Now beyond all time and space. Ride on, Jesus, ride.
Now in every land and race. Ride on, Jesus, conquering King, ride on, Jesus, ride.

 

[lak611]

OCP has been taken to the woodshed for that Gloria:thumbsup: Someone finally had the guts to report them. Now, they have to move that “song” from the service music section to the regular hymns. The sad thing is that the person who did the music for our diocesan Red Mass used it for the lawyers.

The problem is that some music directors substitute the regular hymns for the service music. That “Gloria” is still used in Masses in some parishes.

 

[benedictgal]

The problem is that some music directors substitute the regular hymns for the service music. That “Gloria” is still used in Masses in some parishes.

I fell into that trap at the urging of a cantor who is married to our bishop’s executive assistant. She convinced us that we should sing “Angels, We Have Heard on High”, in lieu of the Gloria for midnight Mass. Because of her unique relationship to the bishop, I couldn’t say much. Oddly enough, the bishop thought it was wonderful, and this is a bishop, mind you, the same ordinary who is supposed to be chief liturgical steward of the diocese


Our previous director of liturgy (a priest with an STD in liturgy) opted to replace the penitential rite with Amazing Grace for a funeral and then he did made the same substitution during Lent using the Attende Domine. I love Attende Domine, but, we need to respect and adhere to the texts that the Church gives us. We can’t cobble up a liturgy for ourselves, like Pope Benedict notes in his books.

Oh, another really bad hymn is Venimos/We Come, a really horrid piece of music for children’s liturgies. The aforementioned former liturgy director likes to use it for his Sunday children’s masses. He walks up and down the aisle with his portable microphone and shoves it in front of some poor kid’s mouth, trying to get the little tyke to sing along.

He also substitutes the psalm for the Mass with “Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord” By the way, he is proud to show off pictures of himself and JPII. Go figure.

 

[RosalieM]

I think it’s this one.

Not a mass song? Our choir director had us singing it at Palm Sunday mass and it had an additional line: “Ride on, King Jesus, no man can hinder me…”:bigyikes: