How to blog without saying anything - Part 63 in an unending series
As usual for a Monday morning, I can't stay focused long enough to generate a semi-coherent post, so I'll succumb to the stream-of-consciousness impulse.
- If this humble blog is any indication, folks are getting pretty fed up with politics. Even though this quasi-political post generated about 5,000 extra page views last week, this lame post about folding fitted bedsheets has generated almost as much discussion. Personally, I find that somehow reassuring (especially since I excel at lame posts).
- We seem to be singing the same choruses every Sunday morning at our church. Maybe they just all sound alike. Not that I'm complaining (necessarily); I really like some of them. But I'm still just a wee bit uncomfortable referring to the Creator of the Universe as "the Darling of Heaven." That just doesn't seem right, even if the words and melody are by one of the best writers of praise and worship music in the world.
- That reminds me of another thing I don't like in "contemporary praise music" in church services: the mouthing of nonsense phrases. We once sang a chorus that ended with several repetitions of "whoa, whoa, whoa" (not intended to be the horse command, but more along the lines of The Righteous Brothers..."You've lost that loving feeling, whoa, whoa, whoa"). I see no place for congregational recitation of the types of utterances reserved for pop stars. But, I guess I'm old-fashioned that way.
- Of course, perhaps I wasn't the only one. We no longer end that chorus in that fashion.
- We also sang a really dreadful, dirge-like song in Sunday School yesterday, one of those "what a wretched filthy wormlike creature I am, only that gives worms a bad name" kind of songs, written by the otherwise commendable John Wesley back in the 18th century. I'm not even sure it was all theologically correct. It certainly wasn't meant to be sung with only a guitar accompaniment. After four verses, I still couldn't find the melody. But the words lent themselves to monotone mumbling anyway.
- OTOH, a couple of weeks ago in Sunday School, we sang "Dropkick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life," so I suppose it all balances out.
- Our TV went out yesterday afternoon. It's not like we don't have at least four backups, but this is the big boomer in the living room. Still, it wasn't a total loss. I didn't have to see the Cowboys collapse against the Steelers.
Deb, that was my goal...thank you for affirming it!
Posted by: Eric at October 18, 2004 11:31 AMI find the stream of consciousness posts to be the most fun at my favorite blogs. Maybe it's because I now have a level of "knowing" certain folks, so they crack me up. Who knows...
Posted by: jen at October 18, 2004 04:13 PM"what a wretched filthy wormlike creature I am, only that gives worms a bad name"
John Wesley, huh?
So that's where The Cure got all their songwriting ideas.
...right down to the monotone mumbling.
Eric, great post on music. I wonder, though, if the "whoa, whoa, whoa" might have originated somewhere else, other than in pop music.
Don't know if you've ever had a chance to go east and attend some of the old churches there, especially in the South ... I did, as a child, and I remember some of the slower songs where a line of lyrics would be followed by an extended, undulating "whoooaaa." This was mostly the old gospel music of Virginia and the Carolinas - more rural than urban, more black than white, as much preaching as singing, and very, very moving.
You don't hear it as much nowadays. Perhaps what you heard was a modern West Texas variation on that old tradition.
If you have the "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, you might listen to - I think - 'O, Death' and 'Lonseome Valley.'
Posted by: Jeff at October 19, 2004 08:57 AMJeff, I think you're exactly right about the origin of the seemingly nonsensical syllables. There is, after all, nothing original in any of our modern pop culture references.
I have absolutely no problem with the "whoas" (although they are more likely "woes") in the old spirituals, where the singers were offering up their heartfelt burdens to the only One who heard and cared...or, for that matter, in performances where the singers are entertaining a human audience. In the former case, it's actually Scriptural, where those groans express feelings that can't be put into words and which cue the Holy Spirit to take over for us in intercession before God. In the latter case, it's just performance "icing": sweet to the ears, but with no nutritional value to speak of.
But, in a largely upper-middle class white congregation singing an upbeat lyric with a rock backbeat, it just doesn't pass the "smell test" for worship or praise, in my book.
Posted by: Eric at October 19, 2004 09:17 AMAbout the publisher
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Your description of the various songs at your church made me smile...thank you :-)
Posted by: Deb at October 18, 2004 10:10 AM