by Farkel 40 Replies latest jw friends
Great posts Farkel!
I remember the old songs and I liked most of them. That's because they stole most of them from "wordly churches" and wordly, filth infected classical artists, as you pointed out. When they purged themselves of music of pagan origin and made their own, it was awful. It was not what made me leave, but it bothered me more than a change in doctrine.
Here's why I left: I am a tall man, and I "stumbled" over the Pyramids.
Hi, Farkel:
Thanks, this was a classic. Excellent recap of the organizational flaws.
Remembering when they changed from the green book to the pink book, like overnight the singing went from ho-humish (pun intended) to horrible. I used to play piano when they had the green book, and the singing wasn't too bad in those days, but nothing like the singing in a lively evangelical church. (That's one thing I will give fundamentalists credit for--their inspirational singing.) But after the pink book came, I quit playing because I could not follow their tunes--neither to play nor sing. The tunes just do not follow general music theory. I must not be the only one who had that problem. I thought that was why they resorted to releasing tapes to accompany singing. People just can't sing bad music.
Now pushing back a little before the pink book came out, remember the music they had at district assemblies in the early 60s? They started having a choir at district assemblies, and some of the songs were quite lovely. I heard a rumor that Johnny Green (MGM music director, wrote "Love Me or Leave Me") was a JW, and I wondered if he might have had anything to do with some of that music for a brief time before the pink book. One song I especially remember, not because it was beautiful, but because of the weird lyrics (in march tempo):
"Hap-py are the ones who stay a-waaaake
And keep their out-er gar-r-r-ments!
That they may not walk un-cloooothed
And peo-ple see their parts of sha-a-a-ame!
Oh we are ha-ppy serv-ing Jahhhhhh" ...
[Da-dah da-dah da-dah dah dahhhhhh]
He comes to see the work we do,
May we al-ways stay a-waaake!
Remember that one.
Hi ros!
Good to cya in here posting!
: I must not be the only one who had that problem. I thought that was why they resorted to releasing tapes to accompany singing. People just can't sing bad music.
No. I had exactly the same problem. As Alan mentioned further up this thread, we can thank Karl Klein for the horrid melodies in the pink book, which also had a horrid title: "Singing and Accompanying Yourselves With Music in Your Hearts With Liberty and Justice for All. Amen."
Farkel
Sorry Fark but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Dubs could say that they spend their time studying the Bible and not music. They could explain that their lack of harmoneous know-how is more than compensated for by their _____________ (each Witness will bs at will here). However, your post was well worth the effort. I think you have inadventantly stumbled across The Apostates Creed! Is there any chance you can refine it, number it, and get it up on a Site near you? Seriously, we need a brief concisive list of the bleedin obvious to use as a basic guide - somethng that can be printed out and carried with us at all times. I know the last time the door bell rang and I could see the brief case thru the side glass, I thought: bugger, where do I start? My mind was racing. I needed your list.
Well done!
Marilyn
Hi Farkel,
I wonder if your "epiphany" is not a flashback to a webpage I posted on the Net in March 1996 (ouch! It been that long?).
I posted the lyrics to Song 8, you know the one with the highly poetical title "Loyally Submitting to Theocratic Order", and the comments read as below:
This is (either you believe it or not) song number 8 from the official (and the only permitted) song-book of Jehovah's Witnesses: Sing Praises to Jehovah.
I'm certain that Jehovah didn't really deserve this, no matter what he did!
Considering that this is the text in the original language, you can perhaps imagine how bad the translated versions are. I know.
We have considered bringing an .au sound clip file so you could hear a JW congregation actually singing this song, but the term "decency" used in US censorship regulations indicates they would clamp down hard on that one...
The loyal Jehovah's Witness elder Lynn Newton described the quality of JW songs with these words in his "Glossary":
inverted word order <> "This paragraph some examples contains of a problem that annoying and significant I find. If creates ever the Society another songbook, I hope that is made significant effort the lyrics of new songs to write and the the lyrics of old songs to rewrite so as the archaic practice of inverting word order to make a rhyme to avoid.'' Not that we should be guided by the standards of modern music lyricists.But speaking as a former musician, songwriter, and one who spent twenty years preparing music for publication I have observed that about the only places the technique is found is in some religious music :-( and in doggerl (chintzy, sentimental verse). Yet hardly a song exists in our songbook that doesn't have word inversions, in some cases in every verse. <> ``Quoth the raven: `Nevermore'!''
What Lynn Newton and other artistic JWs have not realized, is that the message of these songs is not one whim better than the poetry...
- Jan
--
Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. [Ambrose Bierce, The Devil´s Dictionary, 1911]
Farkel,
What a crack up!!!! I thought I was the only one who felt this way, because obviously good little Dubs didn't discuss it. But as one who plays piano and has a passable singing voice, it used to annoy the hell out of me. The song are very un-singable and have absolutely no musical merit.
I was one of the "lead" singers, they might miss that. When I was depressed and couldn't get myself to sing loudly, the bros. and sisters would come up to me and say they missed my singing. Oh well, I don't miss singing with them.
I thought I was the only one who came up with the Looney tunes theme. Yeahhhhhhhhhh, someone else caught it too!!
TW
Jan,
: I wonder if your "epiphany" is not a flashback to a webpage I posted on the Net in March 1996 (ouch! It been that long?).
Was that your page that talked about the lyrics of dubs songs being like Vogon poetry? If so, I'm sure you're aware that I've directed many people to that site over the years. And in fact, I've commented a number of times in the past at how horrid those songs are.
If it was a flashback to your comments, it was an unconscious one. Remember, I had to actually PLAY that crap on the piano in Kingdom Halls for a dozen years. So, being a musician, I'm even more sensitive to the poor qualities of that music than others.
BTW, I hope your page on Vogon poetry snd Kingdom Song lyrics made a successful migration over to Kent's site. It was funny!
Farkel
Doug, thanks for this thread! After reading it, I had some good clean family fun in the car, as I entertained Papa and Little Dark with rousing renditions of some of the best of the worst...scared me how many of the cursed things remain in my brainpan!...Little Dark was howling by the time I finished a rousing verse of 'From House to House'...
Should I thank the Society for the wholesome family time it gave us?...
Nah. But thanks to you for the reminder of one more thing to be grateful for... freedom from musical tyranny ROCKS, doesn't it?
Excellent post, Farkel, as usual! It will go in my "keeper" file.
I remember the PO at our congregation couldn't hit a tune in a bucket. The times he was standing behind us at the meetings, my daughter's and I would have the hardest time keeping a straight face when the music started! It would just make my backbone curl listening to him sing!
RCat
we thankyou oh Farkel each day and each night that you shet upon us your precious light.
