Favorite Hymns & A New Version of an Old Mormon Standard

[barrelomonkeys]

KA, this morning I was thinking about starting a thread on favorite hymns!

How freaky.

[Who Knows]

...listening to Smashing Pumpkins...

What do you think of their new one Zeitgeist? I still can't really decide. Some of the songs are great (the first 3 songs), and others are just plain bad (starz, for god and country). Overall, not bad i guess. My problem, is that i can't help but compare it to one of the all-time best albums - siamese dream.

[Gazelam]

Nice thread Kim, thanks for starting it. Our ward will bring in guitars, flutes, and violins. So its not always piano and organ. I think the key thing is to maintain a reverent spirit, which is why you'll never see a drum kit in sacrament meeting like you do in other churchs.

Kolob has also always ben a favorite of mine. Also "Oh my Father", "Know this that every soul is free", "Joseph Smiths First Prayer", "Praise to the Man" ( A Scotish Tune).

But I'd have to say my favorite is "How Firm a Foundation". It challenges you when you hear it to get up and do something with your belief.

[KimberlyAnn]

Here's a nice version of Abide With Me. The video isn't very good, but the music is. :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cxqylxfYyQM

There is a verse at the end of this rendition that is not in the LDS version.

KA

[Blixa]

But I'd have to say my favorite is "How Firm a Foundation".

"Yoo hoo! unto Jesus!"

[Runtu]

But I'd have to say my favorite is "How Firm a Foundation".

"Yoo hoo! unto Jesus!"

Yeah, apparently the hymnbook compilers felt the same way you and I did, as they changed that line to "Who Unto the Savior." No more "Yoo Hoos!"

[KimberlyAnn]

KA, this morning I was thinking about starting a thread on favorite hymns!

How freaky.

I would say great minds and all, but I don't have a great mind. So, I could say mediocre minds think alike, but that would be an insult to you...

Would freaky minds work? :P

KA

[KimberlyAnn]

And do you or did you make up new funny lyrics to the hymns to make them more entertaining, like I used to do, lol?

Always happy to oblige this sort of request...

Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

Oh, come, all ye faithful, Come and have more children!
Oh, come ye, oh, come ye and have many kids.
Come and then raise them, it’s your job to make them;
Oh, come, and have more children; Oh, come have lots of children;
Don’t come if not for children, even if you’re bored!

Look at all my children, I have too many children
But I will be so blessed, yes, in the heavens up above
Run for your lives, cause I’ve been looking at your wives
Oh, come, and have more children; Oh, come have lots of children;
Don’t come if not for children, even if you’re bored!

Hi, kids, it’s me, I've wasted not one seed
Hello kids, hello kids, you can thank me
We don’t have enough, but who needs lots of stuff?
Oh, come, and have more children; Oh, come have lots of children;
Don’t come if not for children, even if you’re bored!

Schmo, you're so clever! You really should have been a stand-up comedian!

KA

[Yoda]

"If You Could Hei to Kolob" is one of my favorite hymns as well...not so much for the words, but the music.

The music for the piece was "borrowed" from Ralph Vaughn Williams, one of my favorite composers.

The Catholic hymnal actually has a different arrangement of the same piece with different words.

Some of my favorite Primary pieces are:

"Love is Spoken Here"...I love the 2 part harmony

"A Child's Prayer"....another favorite of the kids with 2 part harmony

"I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus"

"Search, Ponder, and Pray"

"I Am A Child of God"

"Scripture Power"...This isn't in the Primary book. It is actually in the leaflet for last year's primary program. It's a great little upbeat piece. The kids sang it in Sacrament Meeting last week. It's really fun to play.

"When Someone Cares"....Not a hymn...but out of the book, "Songs of the Heart", which came out when I was in Young Women. I use it for prelude music almost every Sunday. I've played it for so long I can just go on auto-pilot and don't have to think about it. It's a beautiful piece.

Edited to add---I'm also a nerd when it comes to the Church musicals. I really enjoy most of the "Saturday's Warrior", "My Turn on Earth", and "Star Child" scores.

OK, shoot me! I played the role of Gloria in "My Turn on Earth" while I was at BYU. LOL

No comments from the peanut gallery about my liking and actually having a lead role IN several Church musicals?

I'm disappointed. Where's PP?

LOL

[Blixa]

No comments from the peanut gallery about my liking and actually having a lead role IN several Church musicals?

I'm disappointed. Where's PP?

LOL

I was being polite. : )

[KimberlyAnn]

No comments from the peanut gallery about my liking and actually having a lead role IN several Church musicals?

I'm disappointed. Where's PP?

LOL

I was being polite. : )

Yeah, me, too! I didn't like church musicals even when I was a Mormon. ;) But I do appreciate a good voice, Liz. I'd love to hear you sing, and I guess I'd even listen to you sing something from Saturday's Warrior if that's what you insisted upon singing!

KA

[harmony]

My favorite hymns are the ones I brought with me when I joined the church: The Lord is My Shepherd, How Great Thou Art, Be Still, My Soul, Battle Hymn of the Republic. I've requested that The Lord is My Shepherd be sung at my funeral. I want my grandchildren to remember it as my favorite hymn.

My favorite LDS hymns are ones that have absolutely nothing to do with pioneers or prophets: God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand, I Believe in Christ, O My Father, Because I Have Been Given Much, Firm as the Mountains Around Us.

Hymns I detest: Love At Home, We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet, Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words to Each Other, I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go.

Hymns that always make me cry: Ye Elders of Isreal, God Be With You, Amazing Grace.

[Gazelam]

If they brign back the church musical, I want to see Nehor singing this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyrYBXuz5YY

[William Schryver]

As I've continued to think about favorite hymns this evening, I wanted to mention that my current favorite hymn is one that is not in the LDS hymnbook, but I hope it will eventually find its way in there. I have sung in both a ward and a stake choir that has performed it in the past few years. I was first exposed to it when Mack Wilberg (the associate director of the Tabernacle Choir) was still at BYU directing the Concert Choir. They did a version of an old Isaac Watt's text (written in Shakespeares' day) set to music that I believe dates to the antebellum south. It is called My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. The Tabernacle Choir performed it in general conference in 2003, accompanied by harp, flute and oboe. I have .mp3 files of both the BYU concert choir and the MTC version from general conference. If anyone is interested in receiving either or both of them, PM me with an e-mail address and I will gladly forward them to you.

Here are the words:

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

My shepherd will supply my need
Jehovah is his name
In pastures fresh he makes me feed
Beside the living stream
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake his ways
And leads me for his mercy’s sake
In paths of truth and grace

When I walk through the shades of death
Thy presence is my stay
One word of thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away
Thy hand in sight of all my foes
Doth still my table spread
My cup with blessings overflows
Thine oil anoints my head

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days
Oh may thy house be mine abode
And all my work be praise
There would I find a settled rest
While others go and come
No more a stranger nor a guest
But like a child at home

[KimberlyAnn]

If they brign back the church musical, I want to see Nehor singing this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyrYBXuz5YY

Well, then I want to hear Liz sing this Rogers and Hammerstein song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbVLNFXXZwo

KA

[Yoda]

If they brign back the church musical, I want to see Nehor singing this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyrYBXuz5YY

Well, then I want to hear Liz sing this Rogers and Hammerstein song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbVLNFXXZwo

KA

LOL!

I've actually performed that one.

I actually have a recording of "Funny Honey" from Chicago that I did for a voice student. Is there anyway to upload it to the site?

If not, send me a PM and I'll email it to you.

[barrelomonkeys]

KA, this morning I was thinking about starting a thread on favorite hymns!

How freaky.

I would say great minds and all, but I don't have a great mind. So, I could say mediocre minds think alike, but that would be an insult to you...

Would freaky minds work? :P

KA

That works for me. :)

[Blixa]

Ok, here's a weird one. I like the melody of one line in "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." That's it. I don't like the rest of the melody and I find the lyrics awkward (.."my ever living head" is suggestive of Star Trek big brains...to me at least).

What's the part I like? The melody that accompanies this line:

"He lives who once was dead."

I suspect its reminiscent of some other piece of music I can't put my finger on.

[Blixa]

Oh yeah, my most hated hymn, LDS song, most hated song ever is "Love At Home." Both sappy lyrics and execrable melody.

Honorable mentions would be (for disliked Mormon songs, not all songs):

"We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet"

"Oh How Lovely Was The Morning"

"Choose the Right"

"The Primary Colors" (argh! now its in my head!)

"Come Follow Me" (As a kid I was bothered by the "solon" mentioned, you know? "for the solon may be we led?" Didn't wanna go anywhere I didn't know what it was...I'd be led to a salon willingly, but the solon was a puzzler)

[gramps]

The primary colors are one, two, three. Red, yellow and blue...

Sorry Blixa!


Shout out to Will---

Thank you very much for both of those mp3s. Very good.

I was sitting there this morning with my morning coffee and a cigarette. I still had those great tingly feelings.

The spirit is quite strong isn't it? to cut through all that caffeine and nicotine and still be able to do its wonders?

Really, thank you. My dad will love it. He is on a mission with his new wife in England. I will send it to him, if that's o.k.?

[AmazingDisgrace]

While we're on the topic of music, has anyone else ever noticed the similarity between the score for the newer temple video (blonde Eve) and Albinoni's Adagio?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp480Y4

The part I'm thinking of is at 1:20.