Hawkgrrrl recently discussed her 10 most Hated Hymns that she would like removed from the LDS Hymns. Let’s go in a different direction. What are some songs that you would like added to the hymnbook?
I’ve often wondered why Amazing Grace isn’t in the LDS hymnbook, and I remember a movie (Memphis Belle) that had a beautiful rendition of both Amazing Grace, as well as O Danny Boy (as they land the plane miraculously.) I attended a ward where someone played Tears from Heaven by Eric Clapton. It was truly a moving experience, and someone has added President George Bush’s statements following the Sept 11 attacks to the song.
I also think of a few songs by Sarah McLaughlin, I Will Remember You, and In the Arms of the Angels sometimes bring me to tears. Enter your favorite songs below, and feel free to include personal favorites from the hymnbook as well.
Wheat & Tares 
A. Currently in the hymnbook:
I love:
Be Still My Soul
Change the tune:
The Lord is my Shepherd (to Brother James’s Air)
O how lovely was the Morning (set to Salley Gardens please – a lovely tune and goes so well, as performed in a recent musical item)
B. What I’d like to add:
Praise Ye the Lord (to Laudate Dominum – we need some Parry in our hymnbook)
Christ is Our Light (to Highland Cathedral)
He Who would Valiant be (to Monks Gate)
Christ is made the Sure Foundation (to Westminster Abbey)
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (to Repton)
Praise my Soul the King of Heaven (to Praise My Soul)
The Day Thou gavest (to St Clement)
The King of Love my Shepherd is (to St Columba)
Be Thou my Vision (to Slane)
Lord wilt Thou fill my Soul with Peace (from The Lamb of God, Rob Gardner)
At the Name of Jesus (to Camberwell)
I heard the Voice of Jesus say (to The Rowan Tree or Kingsfold)
Were You there (African American Spiritual)
You hear the Lambs (African American Spiritual)
It’s me, it’s me, it’s me o Lord
I’ve got Peace like a River
As the Deer Pants
How can I keep from singing
Jubilate everybody (to Jubilate Deo)
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
And a lot more Christmas carols:
Come o come Emmanuel
We three Kings
…
Oh and add pretty much any and all hymns by John Rutter.
Amen to John Rutter hymns!
Personal Jesus, Depeche Mode. (j/k)
I hope “In the Garden of Eden” stays out. 🙂
I’m sure others will say this too, but “Come Thou Fount” is sorely missed. And “This is the Christ” is lovely.
Rob Gardner has some lovely hymns- My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee is a standout.
I would like to add:
Be Thou My Vision
Come Thou Font of Every Blessing
Amazing Grace
I would also like the fifth verse of “If You Could Hi to Kolob” to be added to the first four in being located between the music staves (since typically those are the only ones we sing in all the wards I have attended) as I think this would go a long way to ending the awkwardness and thus dislike I have of the song.
I also think it would be nice to do a survey of LDS composers to see if there are any new hymns from them that could be added. Iin the stake where I went to grad school there was a strong music program that resulted in new music being composed for stake conference from time to time, I can’t remember exact hymns but I do remember that there were some very nice ones based off of LDS scriptures.
Come Thou Font has always been a favorite of mine.
I want Amazing Grace sung at my funeral.
And Take Me to the King.
John Rutter only if transposed into more playable keys, please!
Restore “Though in the Outward Church Below,” a quirky fire and brimstone hymn. It was included in previous hymnals, but removed in the current edition.
Patty Griffith’s “Up To The Mountain,” on the modern end.
A few older hymns from my Catholic youth, with lyrics modified as necessary. “Crown Him With Many Crowns” comes to mind.
I’ll second the votes for Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Be Thou My Vision, and O Come O Come Emmanuel.
I would add the following:
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Holy, Holy, Holy (possibly slightly altered to comply with LDS sensibilities, though I love it just as it is)
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
Shall We Gather at the River?
I will third Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Amazing Grace and Danny Boy.
I would add- I walked today where Jesus Walked.
Edelweiss from Sound of Music
The Old Rugged Cross
No Man is an Island
Fare Thee Well – end song from Fly Away Home
Angels From the Realms of Glory (to Regent Square)
Wait, Come Thou Fount is gone?? Yeah, that’s a mistake.
I’m going to express an unpopular opinion….
I hate “Amazing Grace”.
I’m offended as the first-line reference to “saved a wretch like me” …. I think its incompatible with our understanding of people’s divine nature and too emblematic of the kind of self-hatred you see from certain forms of Protestantism.
…but maybe if we used the Catholic version … “saved and set me free”
I would love to add “In the Garden” ….”and he walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own….”
Also, “You Raise Me Up”…..”to more than I can be…”
And “I Heard Him Come”……
And “Let Him In” — Michael McClean
And “I Can Only Imagine” — I think by Mercy Me.
And “Lord I Lift Your Name On High”
There are quite a few modern day songs that could be hymns if one sings them to the Savior. Like Rod Stewart’s “Have I told you lately that I love you”…..those lyrics can be quite reverent when sung to God.
Or, “I Will Follow Him” from the movie Sister Act.
There is a great deal of music that can be a prayer unto Him if we expanded our hymnbook to be so inclusive. It could be three times the size it is now, or more. It could breathe fresh air into our worship. I’m sad to say that my sweet Ward where I live now is of a mind to sing morose, derge-like hymns that just seem dark to me. I look around and none of the youth I can see bother singing, nor do a lot of grown ups. And I admit, I’m one of ’em. I sit quietly and think of a good tonic for the Hymn Picker. When I go to church I want to lift my voice — even my whole soul — unto our God in joyful and uplifting song and worship!
The author of Amazing Grace was a slave trader who became an abolitionist. He had been a terrible wretch.
Yet God saved even him.
Ok. I am going to keep saying this.
“Though in the outward church below” is a beautiful Mozart tune, but the lyrics are horrible. (Not everyone is going to make it and we have to put up with weeds in the church for a while until Christ comes and they are burned. Sheesh… Love you too.) Mozart’s original lyrics are about eternal marriage… which would be perfect.
I veto amazing grace. Yuck. Worst song. ever. Has anyone paid attention to the way the words don’t fit the melody? The song is about grace and being saved, but the longest and most frequently ornamented notes at the peak of phrases are “a”, “that”, “but” and “was”. Epic lyric failure. (e.g. Thaaaaaaaat saved aaaaaaaaa wretchlikeme. I once waaaaaaaaas lost buuuuuuuuuut nowamfound, waaaaaas blind buuuuuuuuut nowIsee.)
Drives me crazy. Awful word painting. Textbook terrible.
I love the words to “In the Garden”, but the tune sounds like something stolen from a calliope. I can’t imagine that a pensive walk with God will turn into a goofy waltz. (Oom-pa-pa, oom-pa-pa, and he walks with me and he talks with me-pa-pa). Yeah it would be cool to waltz with god or ride a carousel horse next to him so we can share cotton candy. But, I doubt that’s the lyricists intent.
Stephen,
I’m quite familiar with the history of the song. No doubt he felt like a wretch – he did wretched things. That doesn’t resolve the doctrinal problem with the lyrics vis a vis our understanding of the divine origin and destiny of God’s children.
What’s wrong with using the Catholic lyrics?
O Holy Night, except no one could ever hit the high note
Amazing Grace and Come Thou Fount, as others have put forward
Faith in Every Footstep, maybe with some lyrical rework that’s just a little less pioneer worshippy
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
We Shall Overcome
On the other hand, hearing some of these ethereal hymns sung by the sitting dead, a beat behind and with all the passion of a deacon assigned the chastity talk – maybe it’s better they’re not sung in church.
I’m not that fond of changing lyrics up. I still miss “You who unto Jesus” from “How Firm a Foundation.”
Beautiful Savior.
A simple version is in the children’s songbook. But the real deal is amazing.
When I was in the MTC, we (the MTC choir) sang this for President Hunter, which the first time I heard it.
Really wonderful.
Some of the songs listed above are written for solo singing and wouldn’t really work as a congregational hymn for everyone to sing together. But they would work well as devotional music such as for special music in sacrament meetings. I Heard Him Come and almost all contemporary music is in this category. But I enjoy the discussion. Unfortunately, if we require all sacrament meeting special music to come from the hymnal, we are unnecessarily limiting ourselves and we’re being a little too rigid.
I like “Lord of the Small.”. Lyrics here: http://highlandspastor.blogspot.com/2010/12/lord-of-small-lyrics.html
I want “Hark! Listen to the Trumpters!” back in the Hymnal. It’s still in the Spanish hymnal (“Oid el toque del clarin”) and is a wonderfully uptempo song to sing.
And “Amazing Grace” should stay the same. There is no doctrinal issue with the first verse. We have a divine nature and potential; we are also all, like Paul and Nephi, wretches.
I want to put “Hark! Listen to the Trumpeters!” back in the hymnal. It’s still in the Spanish hymnal (“Oid el toque del clarin”) and it’s wonderfully uptempo hymn.
And “Amazing Grace” is fine the way it is. There is no doctrinal issue. We all have divine potential/worth/nature; we are also all, like Paul and Nephi, wretches.
Sorry about the double post. I thought the first one didn’t go through.
In re. #15, don’t feel bad, Angela. This hymnal’s only been around for 30 years. 😉
“Come Thou Fount” started to get popular again after Mack Wilberg did one of his overblown, rounds-ridden whoop-de-hah arrangements for the MoTab in 1998. Nice old song, great poem by Robert Robinson, dating to 1758. It’s found in the Sacred Harp literature; the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp has no fewer than five versions, none of which are the modern tune we’re used to. The 2012 Cooper revision contains seven versions, none of which are Nettleton’s tune. (These are probably the two “standard” Sacred Harp works used by present-day shape note singers.) The Shenandoah Harmony revision (2012) only has one, not the current tune.
The current tune, possibly/probably by Asahel Nettleton in the early 19th century, is something of a newcomer, like most of our hymns (in the book or not). For example, as I mentioned above, the tune to “Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” is very similar, but much easier and quicker, in its original tune (Denson: 164 “Duane Street”.) The tune we sing to “How Firm a Foundation” would be totally strange to an early 19th century singer; I got caught unawares by this at a Civil War living history event once. (I was the lay preacher giving the sermon; another soldier led the hymn, and I was caught flat-footed by an unfamiliar, but accurate 19th-century, tune.)
Hawk’s original post mentioned In Our Lovely Deseret; saying, “It sounds like something written by women in the temperance movement for Nazi youth to sing.” The tune was actually written for a Civil War popular song by George Root, “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,” about a Union prisoner of war in a Confederate prison camp who imagines the marching footsteps of the Northern armies coming to liberate him.
A number of Civil War popular and marching songs, not just obvious ones like “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” were repurposed after the war for hymns, especially in the North. My favorite is “The Vacant Chair,” now sung with the lyrics, “School Thy Feelings.” A number of other hymns with martial lyrics and tunes, and military imagery, were written between 1861 and about 1890, reflecting the enormous influence of the War on the American character, and also the sense of “divine crusade” felt by Northern abolitionists.
In re. Amazing Grace, comment #16, Tom O: I get you, brother, but I refer you to Mosiah 2:21 and 4:20, 29-30. We are all miserable wretches, and it is only by the grace of God (His love in offering His Son for us) that we can cleanse ourselves.
My favorite variant on “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” is the one my Grandma learned as a girl during World War I:
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp the boys are marching, Kaiser’s knocking at the door
And if I had a bottle of beer, I would hit him on the ear, and there would be no more Kaiser anymore!
Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul (10,000 reasons) by Matt Redman in 2011