Category Archives: Music

Music, Uncategorized, Writing

Chronicling my decline

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Not having a book to review tonight, busy as I am with non-paying work, I post the video above. Sadly it’s not a live performance video (there doesn’t seem to be one), but I discovered it and thought it rather nice. This is a song I’ve posted before in its original Swedish version, but there seems to be this English version too. As an expert, I pronounce it a successful translation, since with songs, subjective impressions are more important than accuracy. I realize it’s the wrong time of year for a Christmas song, but who knows if I’ll need it at Christmas?

A day in the life of an obscure author:

In accordance with my recently adopted custom of getting up to write in the morning, instead of lying in bed trying to get back to sleep, I rose at 6:30 a.m. to work on The Baldur Game, my work in progress. What I’d done yesterday was to take a block of text I’d written, which I realized was out of historical sequence, and move it back into its proper year. So today I commenced a review of the whole text written thus far, to see if there were any anachronisms left that I need to fix. I think the work is good so far.

At lunch I went to The 50s Grill, one of my favorite local places, and tried something new — the grilled walleye. It was good, as expected, and I topped it off with a piece of their French Silk pie. They do pie extremely well.

This afternoon, I worked on my book narration. This is the cause of considerable fear and trembling for me right now. Friends have generously provided me equipment to begin doing narration on my own. My first project will be The Year of the Warrior. I am confident — nay, a little arrogant — about my ability to do narration with the best of ’em. But the technical aspects — the software and specifications, etc. — scare me to death. (Back in radio broadcast school, I was the best copy reader in my class and the worst engineer.) This delays my progress, but I press on heroically.

Tonight, after I post this, I propose to work on a PowerPoint presentation I’ll be doing later this month in Iowa for the Georg Sverdup Society. Not Vikings this time, but the background of the Lutheran Free Church movement in America.

These things matter in my world.

Oh yes. I’ve committed to attending the Midwest Viking Festival in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Oct. 6 and 7 (used to be in Moorhead, MN). An opportunity to sell books, and my experience is that venues where I have not yet flogged my wares are the most fruitful.

Music

Sunday Singing: God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand

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“God of Our Fathers” sung by the congregation of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church of New York City

Today’s hymn, “God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand,” was written by New York Episcopalian Daniel C. Roberts (1841-1907) to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. It was accepted by an Episcopal hymnal committee and given a fresh tune by organist George W. Warren for the commemoration of the United States Constitution.

1 God of our fathers, Whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor thro’ the skies,
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.

2 Thy love divine hath led us in the past;
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;
Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,
Thy word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

3 From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defence;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

4 Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never-ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud and praise be ever Thine.

Music, Uncategorized

‘The Sons of Liberty’

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Not being in the work force anymore, I’m not current on work schedules. Is this considered a long weekend? The Fourth isn’t till Tuesday, and this is one holiday we still celebrate on the proper date (don’t we?). Anyway, I’m going to do my patriotic music post today, and we’ll see what happens on the holiday itself.

The clip above comes from the miniseries “Johnny Tremain,” which Disney produced way back in the ’50s. A few minor differences may be noted between Disney’s consumer product back then and what they’re doing now. Disney back then produced stuff like this, which reinforced patriotism, social cohesion, and traditional values. All this is deplorable to today’s Disney.

I don’t think I look at the ’50s through rose-colored glasses. The worst period in my life began in that decade, and I developed a deep personal cynicism that makes me fit in pretty well with much of contemporary culture. I know enough history, too, to be aware that the American revolution had its dark side. (I’ll still put it up against the French one any day, though.)

But I learned to be a subversive (at least in secret) in those days too. And today I exercise my subversion by flouting the cherished values of the present establishment. By posting patriotic songs and calling on people to come together around the old verities. Warts and all.

Have a blessed Independence Day.

Music

Sunday Singing: Ancient of Days

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Today’s hymn was written by American William Croswell Doane (1832-1913), the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, New York. He wrote this hymn for the bicentenary of the City of Albany, 1886.

1 Ancient of Days, who sittest throned in glory;
To Thee all knees are bent, all voices pray;
Thy love hath blest the wide world’s wondrous story
With light and life since Eden’s dawning day.

2 O Holy Father, who hast led Thy children
In all the ages, with the fire and cloud,
Through seas dry-shod, through weary wastes bewildering;
To Thee, in reverent love, our hearts are bowed.

3 O Holy Jesus, Prince of Peace, and Savior,
To Thee we owe the peace that still prevails,
Stilling the rude wills of men’s wild behavior,
And calming passion’s wild and stormy gales.

4 O Holy Ghost, the Lord and the Life-giver,
Thine is the quickening power that gives increase;
From Thee have flowed, as from a pleasant river,
Our plenty, wealth, prosperity, and peace.

5 O Triune God, with heart and voice adoring,
Praise we the goodness that doth crown our days;
Pray we, that Thou wilt hear us, still imploring
Thy love and favor, kept to us always.

Music

Sunday Singing: Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim

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“Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim,” performed by Christelijk Residentie Mannenkoor of The Netherlands

It’s Father’s Day in the States, so I could have chosen a hymn with the word father in the first line, but I wanted to finish the month with songs of God the Father, and so we have today’s hymn. “Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim” is a paraphrase of Psalm 135:1-7, 21 written for the Trinity Psalter of 1912. The tune is from Hayden’s The Creation oratorio. It’s grand and noble music, but I had to speed up the video to 1.5x. Maybe I’m singing hymns at a faster pace lately.

1 Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim;
all ye his servants, praise his name,
who in the Lord’s house ever stand
and humbly serve at his command.
The Lord is good, his praise proclaim;
since it is pleasant, praise his name;
his people for his own he takes
and his peculiar treasure makes.

2 I know the Lord is high in state,
above all gods our Lord is great;
the Lord performs what he decrees,
in heav’n and earth, in depths and seas.
He makes the vapors to ascend
in clouds from earth’s remotest end;
the lightnings flash at his command;
he holds the tempest in his hand.

3 Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim;
all ye his servants, praise his name,
who in the Lord’s house ever stand
and humbly serve at his command.
Forever praise and bless his name,
and in the church his praise proclaim;
in Zion is his dwelling place;
praise ye the Lord, show forth his grace.

Music

Sunday Singing: Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness

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“Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness” performed by John Allen Bankson

We are continuing a Pentecost theme with hymns on the Holy Spirit. This one was written in 1648 by Paul Gerhardt of Saxony, Germany, a famous Lutheran hymnist. The tune shared in the video above is the one composed by John Calvin’s church musician Louis Bourgeois and could be a little faster, especially if you’re singing all five of the verses below, taken from the Lutheran Hymnary of 1913.

1 Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness,
Pierce the clouds of sinful night;
Come, Thou source of sweetest gladness,
Breathe Thy life, and spread Thy light!
Loving Spirit, God of peace!
Great distributor of grace!
Rest upon this congregation,
Hear, O hear our supplication!

2 From that height which knows no measure
As a gracious shower descend,
Bringing down the richest treasure
Man can wish, or God can send!
O Thou Glory, shining down
From the Father and the Son,
Grant us Thy illumination!
Rest upon this congregation!

3 Known to Thee are all recesses
Of the earth and spreading skies;
Every sand the shore possesses
Thy omniscient mind descries.
Holy Fountain! wash us clean
Both from error and from sin!
Make us fly what Thou refusest,
And delight in what Thou choosest!

4 Manifest Thy love for ever;
Fence us in on every side;
In distress be our reliever,
Guard and teach, support and guide!
Let Thy kind effectual grace
Turn our feet from evil ways;
Show Thyself our new creator,
And conform us to Thy nature!

5 Be our friend on each occasion,
God, omnipotent to save!
When we die, be our salvation,
When we’re buried, be our grave!
And, when from the grave we rise,
Take us up above the skies,
Seat us with Thy saints in glory,
There for ever to adore Thee!

Music

Sunday Singing: Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove

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“Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove” performed by Laude of First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

Continuing to remember the Holy Spirit on this Sunday after Pentecost, Isaac Watts 1707 hymn, “Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,” is a thoughtful prayer that can tune our hearts to sing his praise. I suspect the second verse below has fallen out of favor in many hymnals.

1 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

2 Look how we grovel here below,
Fond of these trifling toys;
Our souls can neither fly nor go,
To reach eternal joys.

3 In vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise;
Hosannas languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies.

4 Dear Lord, and shall we ever live
At this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to Thee,
And Thine to us so great!

5 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Come, shed abroad a Saviour’s love,
And that shall kindle ours.

Music

‘The Mansions of the Lord’

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As you may recall, I have a fondness for this “hymn” from Mel Gibson’s movie, “We Were Soldiers.” In spite of its faulty orthodoxy. So sue me.

Yesterday I drove down to Kenyon, my home town, for a memorial service at a country church. A motorcycle group in the area does an honor ride every year for local people killed in action. This one was at the grave of a young man I graduated high school with, who died in Vietnam at the age of 19.

Gordie and I moved in different social circles (he was popular). But my brothers and I spent an afternoon with him and some other guys one summer afternoon, it must be going on 60 years ago now. Just walking the railroad tracks, wandering the woods, messing around by the river. Nothing illegal or dangerous. Just an easy summer day for country boys. Could even have been Memorial Day, I suppose. The woods we wandered were “Monkey Valley,” as we called it, a small river valley I renamed “Troll Valley” for a couple of my novels.

Music

Pentecost Singing: O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping Through Us

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Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day on which the Lord Christ sent the Comforter to dwell among us. This hymn, “O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping Through Us,” comes to use from the Irish woman Bessie Porter Head (1850-1936).

1. O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and pow’r;
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
and fit your church to meet this hour.

2. O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
till humbly we confess our need;
then in your tenderness remake us,
revive, restore, for this we plead.

3. O Breath of love, come breathe within us,
renewing thought and will and heart;
come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us,
revive your church in ev’ry part.

4. O Heart of Christ, once broken for us,
’tis there we find our strength and rest;
our broken, contrite hearts now solace,
and let your waiting church be blest.

5. Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
equip your church to spread the light.

Fiction, Music, Poetry

How Do We Maintain the Jade Flame (and a few links)?

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Patriotism is not a uniquely American fruit. It can be grown anywhere. It’s a fondness for the qualities, hopefully just the admirable qualities, of one’s own home.

Some time ago, I noted the fierce patriotic theme in the Korean series Mr. Sunshine as something Americans could identify with. They faced threats we did not and still live under a cloud that hasn’t quite reached us, but their fight for sovereignty, to live by their own laws as Koreans and not vassals to another country, still resonates with many Americans.

I’m looking at a translation of a 1000-year-old poem by Korean poet Yo Inlŏ, “Meditating on the Start of a New Era.”

“My candle burns a flame of jade,” he says with pride and describes combing his hair in a traditional fashion.

Would that we so might comb the State 
Free of her follies and her greed!

That’s the perennial question. How do we guard our country against the natural self-aggrandizing of our leaders? Our solders didn’t die in battle and training for battle for the petty projects and personal wealth of our politicians. They died for that jade flame, for the well-being of their families and neighbors.

Have a restful Memorial Day weekend.

Remakes: Steven D. Greydanus talks about the magic of Disney’s original Little Mermaid and how the remake shows the company’s shallowness.

Slang: Another batch of interesting words from Cian McCarthy on Twitter:

Lallycodler: An old American sland word for anyone who is particularly good or successful at what they do.

Get more American slang from the 19th century here, including Shoddyocracy and Tell a thumper.

New Novels: Englewood’s introduction to a few new novels released this month.

America: Have you ever read or sung all the verses of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”? Here are two of the eight.

Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King.

Our glorious Land to-day,
‘Neath Education’s sway,
Soars upward still.
Its hills of learning fair,
Whose bounties all may share,
Behold them everywhere
On vale and hill!

Photo by Aditya Joshi on Unsplash