Category Archives: Music

Music

Sunday Singing: Under His Wings

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Today’s hymn comes from the Massachusetts-born minister William Orcutt Cushing (1823-1902). It expresses a theme common to popular hymns, that of trusting the Lord through difficulties.

“The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” (Ruth 2:12 ESV)

1 Under His wings I am safely abiding.
Tho’ the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me.
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.

Refrain:
Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.

2 Under His wings, what a refuge in sorrow!
How the heart yearningly turns to His rest!
Often when earth has no balm for my healing,
There I find comfort, and there I am blest. [Refrain]

3 Under His wings, oh, what precious enjoyment!
There will I hide till life’s trials are o’er;
Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me.
Resting in Jesus, I’m safe evermore. [Refrain]

Music

Sunday Singing: I’ll Fly Away

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A gospel song that has captured the imagination of many Americans is the 1932 piece written by Oklahoma native Albert E. Brumley called, “I’ll Fly Away.” Brumley wrote over 800 songs and is honored in the Country Song Writers Hall of Fame. The lyric is still under copyright, so I won’t copy it here, but maybe you know half of the words already.

“The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Ps 90:10 ESV).

Music, Religion

‘O Love That Will Not Let Me Go’

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I’m not much good tonight, I fear. Got into a spot of pother over on Basefook, and it’s interfering with my concentration. I’ll tell you more later … or maybe not.

Anyway, here’s one of my favorite hymns — “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” by the blind pastor George Matheson, who has to be my favorite hymn writer (terrible admission for a Lutheran), because he has only 2 famous hymns, and both are at or near the top of my list.

Have a good evening, and pray for me if it crosses your mind.

Music

The Limeliters

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I understand the old folk music craze is the subject of some current interest, on account of the new Bob Dylan movie. I hear it’s good, and have no plans to see it (despite Dylan/Zimmerman’s Minnesota roots), because Dylan has never done anything for me, personally. (I speak of entertainment, not failed attempts to borrow money. So don’t believe the rumors.)

The focus of the film, I understand, is Dylan’s break from the folk movement when he insisted on using electric guitars, to the horror of Pete Seeger, who operated as a sort of surrogate father and commissar for the Folkies. He was (as the movie does not make clear, I’m told) a fervent Communist and Stalinist. Many conservatives see Dylan’s adoption of electric music as some kind of affirmation of capitalism. Perhaps there’s something in it, though I never quite understood the rationale – you can be sure Dylan will never explain it.

I have always hoped – perhaps naively – that the really big, commercial folk groups of the day operated to some degree outside Seeger’s sphere of influence. Such groups as the Chad Mitchell Trio, the New Christy Minstrels, and the Limeliters.

The Limeliters were my favorite.

What set them apart was the vibrant edge Glenn Yarbrough’s tenor voice brought. After he left the group he had quite a successful solo career, and I was always a fan, though he was never a top seller.

Anyway, I remember the period well, and still like the music better than I like Dylan’s. Above, the Limeliters, in an uncharacteristically Christian moment, do “What Wondrous Love Is This?” and “Old Time Religion.”

Music

Sunday Singing: Keep Your Lamps!

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Today’s hymn continues our trend of traditional songs. “Keep Your Lamps!” is attributed to Blind Willie Johnson (1897–1945), an American gospel blues singer and guitarist, who was the first to record it in 1928. The performance above is by the choirs of Florida State University conducted by the composition’s arranger, André Thomas (1952- )

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Mt 25:13 ESV)

1 Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, (3x)
the day is drawing nigh.

Refrain:
Children, don’t get weary, (3x)
till your work is done.

2 Darker midnight lies before us, (3x)
the day is drawing nigh. [Refrain]

3 For the morning soon is breaking, (3x)
the day is drawing nigh. [Refrain]

4 Christian journey soon be over, (3x)
the day is drawing nigh. [Refrain]

Music

Sunday Singing: Deep River

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Today’s hymn is of traditional origin. Deep River is a song about longing for heaven, written over 150 years ago. The earliest printed evidence is from 1867. It’s performed above by Wilford Kelly.

” Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24 ESV)

Deep river, my home is over Jordan,
Deep river, Lord,
I want to cross over into campground.
Oh, don’t you want to go to that gospel feast,
That promised land where all is peace?
Oh, deep river, Lord,
I want to cross over into campground.

Music

Sunday Singing: There Is a Balm in Gilead

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We return to our Sunday Singing hymn selections with this moving African spiritual, “There Is a Balm in Gilead.” Kathleen Battle & Jessye Norman sing with The New York Philharmonic in the recording above.

It’s a song that provokes you to ask often we should tell people of the living hope that’s been given to us. How often should we echo the words of the prophet in Jeremiah 46:11 (ESV)?

“Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.”

Other medicines don’t actually work, but the balm in Gilead will heal us completely.

Refrain
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.

  1. Sometimes I feel discouraged
    and think my work’s in vain,
    but then the Holy Spirit
    revives my soul again.
  2. If you cannot preach like Peter,
    if you cannot pray like Paul,
    you can tell the love of Jesus
    and say, “He died for all.”
Music

‘Soria Moria’

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Happy Friday.

Tonight, another Sissel video. I knew the song well, but had not seen the video before — and it’s quite lovely.

“Soria Moria” comes from “Soria Moria Castle,” a Norwegian fairy tale in Asbjørnsen’s and Moe’s famous collection. I think it’s included in Dasent’s East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon, but I’m not entirely sure and too lazy to consult my copy (which is in the basement).

This particular song was, according to the liner notes on the original album (which were easier to find), written by Svein Gundersen and Stig Nielsen, and the music was first composed for a musical play called ‘Isfront.’

There’s a couple of pretty amazing high notes in this number, along with some cool scenery.

Music, Religion

‘Det Lyser i Stille Grender,’ with Sissel

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It’s Christmas Eve. Very likely Christmas Day (or later) by the time you see it. Consider this your Christmas greeting from me.

I’m sure I’ve posted this song before (though perhaps not this performance), but I consider it one of the most beautiful Scandinavian Christmas songs out there. If I post it enough, maybe Americans will catch on to it. If not, you’ll have the satisfaction of being among the few, the proud, the Initiated.

God became man. Without in any way questioning the primacy of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I have long noted that the great heresies almost always began by getting the Incarnation wrong. So it’s perfectly all right to make a big day of this one.

God jul, as we Norwegians say.

Music

Best Christmas Carols Ever

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You can find lists of great and favorite Christmas songs everywhere, and whose list is definitive will depend on who you trust. This morning, I looked up Parade’s list of 50 best and compared it to a list of 30 from ClassicFM. You might think Parade’s list leans toward pop songs, but I found a 46% overlap between the lists out of a possible 60%. I wish these songs were what you could expect on the radio or while shopping.

Parade’s first 10 (with ClassicFM’s number in parentheses), not intended ranking priority:

  1. Silent night (2) 
  1. O Come All Ye Faithful (6) 
  1. 12 Days of Christmas  
  1. Do You Hear What I Hear 
  1. The Little Drummer Boy 
  1. Joy to The World (13) 
  1. The First Noel (29) 
  1. Jingle Bells 
  1. Deck the Halls 
  1. O Christmas Tree (this one also made it on the list at #43 as “O Tannenbaum”)

That leans toward popular fare, and it’s a good, fun list. “O Come All Ye Faithful” is one of the best carols of all time. You could sing it year round in English or Latin. On “Silent Night,” ClassicFM notes, “During the Christmas truce of 1914 during World War I, the carol was sung simultaneously by English and German troops.”

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