Favorite Songs and Hymns

[ursen]

I know we have done this before, but this time we are going to add a twist to it. Only hymns or songs older than 50 years old. I was going with 100 yrs, but for the younger CGA members and new Christians attending churches that are heavy on praise and worship, and contemporary songs it would be too difficult. A little research is necessary here, year written if available, author, and favorite tune it is to. For churches like The Salvation Army that is necessary, some hymns have 3 or 4 tunes to them. Hopefully this will expose us to some forgotten, or "new" hymns and songs that are really good. Also my curiosity bump is wondering about certain hymns and their relative popularity. I'll put most of mine up later. Which reminds me some songs and hymns may not have a date and author, that's ok those are sometimes some of the best. Just try tracking down the roots of "Baptism of Jesse Taylor". Yes the pure fun ones are eligible.

 

[Patriot]

Amazing Grace - 1779 - John Newton
It is Well with my Soul - 1873 - Horatio Spafford
Blessed Assurance - 1873 - Fanny Crosby
To God be the Glory - 1875 - Fanny Crosby
The Old Rugged Cross - 1912 - George Bennard

I'm sure there are more, those are just the songs that come to mind at the moment. There are always songs I will hear and go, "I really like that song," and then forget it a day later. But the next time I hear the song I do the same thing.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

Be thou my Vision -- 1905.

 

[ursen]

Actually depending on how you look at it Be Thou My Vision is much much older than that. Agreed the versification for English hymn was 1905, but the hymn itself dates much further back than that.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

Yup. That was the only verifiable date that I had access to.

 

[Abba San]

Yeah - we researched that because we were doing an update for our contemporary service - taking out the Thee's and Thou's and a few other things. It actually originated in Ireland, back before it was Ireland - in the 7th or 8th century. It has had a number of iterations and translations. The hymn version most of us learned and love is from the early 20th century, like Neirai said.

If anyone is interested in the updated wording we ended up with I can post them.

 

[ursen]

This is as a good a thread as any for that. And whatter yer old favorites Abba? And btw there, that age and origin is the reason it is sometimes known as St. Patrick's Breastplate.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

Yeah - we researched that because we were doing an update for our contemporary service - taking out the Thee's and Thou's and a few other things.

Argh, what would this do to the scansion?

My poor rhythms!

 

[Flamethrøwer]

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing 1757

Some of the old hymnwriters had such a way with words, and this song is one of them for me.

My favorite part of it:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

 

[Ember]

Some previously mentioned:
It is Well with My Soul
The Old Rugged Cross
Come Thou Fount (for the same lyrics Marinus mentioned)

Will also add:
His Eye is on the Sparrow (1905)
I heard the Bells on Christmas Day - has a pretty interesting history. Sorry I'm too lazy to type it on my phone. Words 1864, music 1845/1872 depending which tune.

I'm sure there are others I can't think of right now. The lyrics of the old hymns were/are so much more powerful than a lot of the more recent stuff.

 

[Patriot]

The lyrics of the old hymns were/are so much more powerful than a lot of the more recent stuff.

There are occasional nuggets in the more recent stuff. But there are some that are just incomprehensible - and are sung far too often (Yeah, I'm looking at you David Crowder). Must be the upbeat tempo that draws people to them. . .Or in the case of the song I am thinking of at the moment - the ability to declare ourselves glorious. . .

 

[Ember]

Haha, I should have said the old hymns *on average* are more powerful lyrically than the newer ones *on average*. Perhaps that is a fairer statement.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

Actually, it's a phenomenon that you see in rock music with "Classic Rock." Everyone tells you that Classic Rock is better, but that's because we really only listen to Classic Rock's Greatest Hits, not the 95% of 50s-90s rock that was terrible tepid schlock.

Same thing with hymns. We don't just randomly pick songs from the 1200s-1850s, we only sing the fantastic ones.

P.s., according to Jesus, we (his followers) are one of the forms that the glory of God takes on the Earth. So we are glorious -- although obviously it's not anything we did.

 

[Patriot]

Actually, it's a phenomenon that you see in rock music with "Classic Rock." Everyone tells you that Classic Rock is better, but that's because we really only listen to Classic Rock's Greatest Hits, not the 95% of 50s-90s rock that was terrible tepid schlock.

Same thing with hymns. We don't just randomly pick songs from the 1200s-1850s, we only sing the fantastic ones.

Same applies to movies. That being said, I prefer the fantastic hymns to most songs made in the last 50 years.

P.s., according to Jesus, we (his followers) are one of the forms that the glory of God takes on the Earth. So we are glorious -- although obviously it's not anything we did.

I'm trying very hard to refrain from going more in depth on that song. I've typed out several responses and deleted them. Let's just say that I have multiple issues with that particular song.

 

[Ember]

I did consider that (that it's not quite fairtocompare *my phone won't let me put spaces there* the "best of" the old stuff and all of the current stuff) after my last post. I think I could make a case for either stance, but I don't know. I like most all of it, I just have a preference for incorporating a few old hymns in modern worship services rather than moving to 100% new(er) stuff.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

Realistically, though, it's really about the heart of the people to worship God, and to respond to his love and the moving of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Ember]

(Not sure if that was directed at me or just in general, but I totally agree. It's just my preference, not necessary for genuine worship *insert thumbs up smiley*)

 

[Patriot]

Realistically, though, it's really about the heart of the people to worship God, and to respond to his love and the moving of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the heart is vital, but the method and medium is important as well. Let's consider an extreme example. . .can one properly worship God while singing the praises of satan? How about while singing a song that is merely crude and offensive? How about a song that one knows is theologically flawed?

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

Not really directed at you per se, Mrs. Tek7 -- I'm not trying to be conflicty

Personally I enjoy worship in a lot of forms (I'd say any but I know I'll find out I'm wrong if I do) having been in and enjoyed all modern, stuck-in-the-50s-70s, all hymns, blended hymns, modern with modernized (read: butchered) hymns, etc.

I just find (and in no ways am I insinuating that anyone in this thread feels this way) that some Christians bash 100% modern music as being an inferior form of worship because it's an inferior form of music. And I think that's wrong.

It's like bashing evangelicals because they don't put much time into liturgy.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

I believe that the heart is vital, but the method and medium is important as well. Let's consider an extreme example. . .can one properly worship God while singing the praises of satan? How about while singing a song that is merely crude and offensive? How about a song that one knows is theologically flawed?

God knows.