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Why turn a hymn into a rock-n-roll song? Rant
First, let me say that I don't have a problem with a rock beat in music. "Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music" right? It seems to be a big rage in most progressive churches to tweak classic hymns to have a rock beat. My family has visited many non denominational churches. The top 40 praise and worship songs dominate and are all played to sound exactly the same. When a worship leader wants to do a classic hymn they must feel like they have to update the beat. Let me give you an example that I heard at a church. Think of the old rock song (female singer, cant remember her name) "I want candy, sweet sweet candy" with the beat that goes something like "bop-a-bop-a-bop-a-bop-bop" Now mix that beat with the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul". To me that totally ruins the spirit of the hymn. If you lost some of your dearest family members, as the hymn writer did, and the Lord inspired you to put your feelings in a song, would you chose "bop-a-bop-a-bop-a-bop-bop" for the rhythm?
I'm not much of a Beatles fan. Once during a phone call when I was stuck on hold, I was treated to the tune "Let It Be". It had been reduced to a series of electronic beeps in two part harmony. Whoever did that arrangement was probably a computer programmer that used a mathmatical formula of tones and timing to come up with their version of the song. It had about as much character and feeling as a bucket of toxic waste. I cant stand it when I hear a classic rock song that has been turned into Muzak. I feel it is even worse when somebody tries to turn a hymn into a rock-n-roll song.
Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" is the most demon inspired song I can think of. What would happen if someone like Hanna Montana recorded it? "There"s a lady who knows..... Boom Boom Clap, Boom De Clap, De Clap". Satan would spend the next thousand years puking his guts out all over the halls of hell. Why do this same thing to a song inspired by God?
Hey, If you only love modern praise and worship that's cool. If you don't like hymns that's OK too. If you like songs with a "bop-a-bop-a-bop-a-bop-bop" rhythm, find some that were written that way. I'm not saying hymns should only be played on an organ. Be respectful to hymn writers. Play their music the way they wrote it and tell their story's. In doing so you can treat your congregations to some of the best music ever written.
I'm not much of a Beatles fan. Once during a phone call when I was stuck on hold, I was treated to the tune "Let It Be". It had been reduced to a series of electronic beeps in two part harmony. Whoever did that arrangement was probably a computer programmer that used a mathmatical formula of tones and timing to come up with their version of the song. It had about as much character and feeling as a bucket of toxic waste. I cant stand it when I hear a classic rock song that has been turned into Muzak. I feel it is even worse when somebody tries to turn a hymn into a rock-n-roll song.
Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" is the most demon inspired song I can think of. What would happen if someone like Hanna Montana recorded it? "There"s a lady who knows..... Boom Boom Clap, Boom De Clap, De Clap". Satan would spend the next thousand years puking his guts out all over the halls of hell. Why do this same thing to a song inspired by God?
Hey, If you only love modern praise and worship that's cool. If you don't like hymns that's OK too. If you like songs with a "bop-a-bop-a-bop-a-bop-bop" rhythm, find some that were written that way. I'm not saying hymns should only be played on an organ. Be respectful to hymn writers. Play their music the way they wrote it and tell their story's. In doing so you can treat your congregations to some of the best music ever written.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on -
Perhaps the best hymns to "modernize" are the ones that have been sung so many times that we've kind of worn them out. Modernizing them is a good way to bring them back into the rotation. But if they sound like everything else, we'll get tired of them sooner rather than later.
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Permalink Reply by Lee Gunter on -
Danny, I'm glad you've followed up on your first post. God bless you and I think I know your heart means well, but it kinda riled me up a bit.
i'm 45, did Cornerstone, did air time at the radio station at the Bible school I went to, and wept like a baby when I heard Keith Green died. We are not so different, are we? :)
I like a lot of the remakes of old songs. Some just stink. There are a couple things to bear in mind about rendering an old hymn in a modern way:
(1) it's been being done for forever. As one person said, there are frequently alternate tunes. Why? Because recorded medium did not exist back then, and song lyrics tended to get out and about a bit faster than the music. Bach wrote on harpsichords and organs and for string ensembles. We are modernizing his music even when we throw the music in fromt of the piano player!
(2) the other reason old songs tend to have more than one tune is because it was not written to a tune, it was written to a meter. If you look in your old hymnals, many will have a meter index or a tune index in the back. The LYRICS were written to fit an already existing MUSIC, and might even use a different tune from one town to the other based on which tunes were best known to the congregants. The point of it was very pragmatic - they wanted the congregation to be able to sing. Known tunes made the new words familiar on at least that one level.
(3) Good lyrics are good lyrics. I don't know abou the "good music" argument. What I call good music you might hate, and vice versa. But theologically sound, biblically based lyrics are good, I don't care what your musical tastes are. sometimes there are really good lyrics and the music is .... i'm trying to think of a nice word. Dated? Passe? Actually, the word "horrid" won't leave my head. The honest truth is, some of the old church tunes will chase away every unbeliever who walks into your church and most of the Christians as well. But if the tune can be reshaped and made a bit more palatable to the contemporary ear, why would we NOT do that? If I need a good song with a strong message, what is so horrible about using the strong message wrttien 350 years ago and giving it a tune that my guitar band can play?
FYI, I do all of the following: (1) write completely new songs in hymn style (2) put new music to old hymns (3) perform others new music to old hymns (4) perform old hymns as true to the original as I can. In fact, as a guitar playing worship leader, I have on occasion refrained from playing completely and let the piano lead out and sing only. There are even songs I have done both modern AND traditional.
My peeve, and this is my feeling not a conviction, is people who seem to think one music style is somehow annointed and another is evil. Yeah. Right. Find me the place in the Bible that supports that idea.
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Permalink Reply by Danny D on -
Lee, Thanks for getting back to the heart of this post. I have heard hymn lyrics put to new original music and that can be very creative and make a good song. One Saturday night at the Coffeehouse, The Three Guys Band played a really rocking song, "A Shelter In The Time Of Storm". I asked Joey if he wrote it. He said the lyrics were an old hymn. They wrote new music for it. It sounded nothing like the hymnal version. It had a bridge, solos, and a killer bass part. You would never know the words were very old. I feel if a worship group only sticks a rock beat into a hymn, it lacks creativity and sounds annoying. Kind of like sticking a set of Mag wheels on a 'Model T' as the ONLY update. How ridiculous! Turn it into a street rod. Use your creativity. Make it your own work of art. But if it is in good shape, it may be better to leave it original. (PLEASE, dont anybody turn this thread into a car debate!)
To answer your pet peeve; I dont think any music style in itself is anointed or evil. Here is my take, Keith Green was anointed by God, Led Zep was anointed, but not by God. AC-DC is just annoying. I do however feel music with a driving rock beat is better played on a Saturday night, not a Sunday morning.
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on
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That made me laugh - "AC/DC is just annoying". But I'd be careful claiming that anyone was especially anointed by God.
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Permalink Reply by Junjie on -
Any suggestions of well modernised hymns? Let's post some youtube videos, maybe we can have a more specific discussion focused on someone's take on a hymn. Any takers? :D
And in the meantime, I'll try to clean my mind of Hanna Montana's take on Stairway to Heaven! My wife already thinks I am weird, it'll be much worse if she keeps hearing me laughing for no apparent reason... :)
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on
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Now you have me laughing because I know what you're talking about.
The most recent one I like is Chris Tomlin's Amazing Grace. Just when you thought it couldn't take another change, this comes along. Very tasteful addition of a chorus, very heartfelt verses.
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Permalink Reply by Junjie on
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I like Chris' chorus, but I don't think it fits into Amazing Grace key-wise. His chorus is ideal in the keys of C-D, Amazing Grace is ideal in the range of F-G. *sigh* such a waste! :)
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Permalink Reply by Russ Hutto on -
We sing this song at church all the time in the key of G, works just fine.
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