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My favorite Mormon hymn, hands down, is "If You Could Hie to Kolob". What's interesting is that I don't care anything about the lyrics, and never really did, other than that they're a bit freaky, but the tune borrowed by Phelps is haunting. I love it.

I found a new modern version of it on YouTube. I had never heard it before this morning and can't quite figure out what to think of it. Perhaps this contemporary version is not new, but it's new to me! Here is is. Beware exmos - this may cause flashbacks! http://youtube.com/watch?v=h91y3DmbYaE Also, if you're unfamiliar with the song, listen closely for some interesting Mormon doctrine about the plurality of Gods. ;)

Although I'm not sure exactly what I believe about God, or if God even exists at all, I still enjoy hymns and have learned a lot of new ones while attending a Methodist church with my husband. My current favorite song in our hymnal is "Be Thou My Vision". It's an old Irish hymn, and although I do like the lyrics of that song, the tune is what draws me to it. Here it is played by the Japanese finger-style guitarist Ryohei Shimoyama - music only. It's gorgeous. http://youtube.com/watch?v=cVPTPfjx5so

Personally, I found most of the hymns we sang in Sacrament meeting dreary and it seemed they were never played at the right tempo - but I know things may have been different in other wards. There was also a restriction on what instruments could be played in Sacrament meeting. I guess Mormon God doesn't like guitars or trumpets or saxophones or drums. Those are just a few of the instruments prohibited in our chapel. Seems arbitrary and petty to me. Still, we did sometimes enjoy very touching solos in Sacrament Meeting, and every so often, our choir could be fantastic. At any rate, I don't miss most of the hymns we sang at all, but I still play "If You Could Hie to Kolob" on the piano every now and then.

What is/was your favorite Mormon hymn? What is/was your least favorite? And do you or did you make up new funny lyrics to the hymns to make them more entertaining, like I used to do, lol? I really had fun distorting Primary songs as a kid! (Okay, I admit it - as an adult, too. ;)) Also, if you have the nerve to listen to the new version of the old Mormon standard, what did you think of it? I'm curious...

KA

It's funny that you would mention "If You Could Hie to Kolob," because it's always been my favorite, and we just sang it in sacrament meeting on Sunday. It was the first emotionally moving experience I've had in a church building since I lost my belief a few years ago. I thought about how I used to look forward to the day when I would actually be able to travel to the edge of the universe and "see the outside curtains, where nothing has a place." I felt a great sense of loss as I thought about how the best I can hope for now is that a few humans may get to see other planets in our own solar system during my lifetime. There is no end to matter, but my consciousness will be gone a few decades from now, at best.

As for the hymns I don't like, that would be anything with "sunshine" in the title. Unless you can get someone to play it in a minor key. Then it's awesome.

"...Oh there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, where (when?) the peaceful happy moments (happy moments roll) roll,

When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul..."

You mean like that one?

I used to like that one when I went to church a long time ago. Is it still in the hymn book? I liked singing the men's part (which I tried to capture above in the quoted part.)

I also liked "O Ye Mountains High." I've always wondered if that song has the same effect on some saints in the flatlands as it did on this former saint from , where else, Zion.

Amazing Disgrace, I'm glad you got a bit of enjoyment out of Sacrament Meeting! It must suck to have to sit through church as an unbeliever - and you've done it for years? Ugh. I don't know how you do it.

Gramps, I liked "Sunshine in My Soul", too, but only when we sang it in Sacrament Meeting so I could hear the men's part; it made the song! Now that song's in my head...

KA

"If You Could Hei to Kolob" is one of my favorite hymns as well...not so much for the words, but the music.

The music for the piece was "borrowed" from Ralph Vaughn Williams, one of my favorite composers.

The Catholic hymnal actually has a different arrangement of the same piece with different words.

Some of my favorite Primary pieces are:

"Love is Spoken Here"...I love the 2 part harmony

"A Child's Prayer"....another favorite of the kids with 2 part harmony

"I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus"

"Search, Ponder, and Pray"

"I Am A Child of God"

"Scripture Power"...This isn't in the Primary book. It is actually in the leaflet for last year's primary program. It's a great little upbeat piece. The kids sang it in Sacrament Meeting last week. It's really fun to play.

"When Someone Cares"....Not a hymn...but out of the book, "Songs of the Heart", which came out when I was in Young Women. I use it for prelude music almost every Sunday. I've played it for so long I can just go on auto-pilot and don't have to think about it. It's a beautiful piece.

Edited to add---I'm also a nerd when it comes to the Church musicals. I really enjoy most of the "Saturday's Warrior", "My Turn on Earth", and "Star Child" scores.

OK, shoot me! I played the role of Gloria in "My Turn on Earth" while I was at BYU. LOL

KimberlyAnn wrote:Amazing Disgrace, I'm glad you got a bit of enjoyment out of Sacrament Meeting! It must suck to have to sit through church as an unbeliever - and you've done it for years? Ugh. I don't know how you do it.

It's not so bad. Sacrament meeting, for me, basically consists of drawing my kids' favorite cartoon or videogame characters for them upon request. Nobody can see your eyes rolling when you're looking down at a piece of paper. :) And I've gotten pretty good at adopting the detached "anthropologist from Mars" mindset that I learned about on the NOM board.

My grandmother's favorite hymn was "O My Father," and ever since I was a young boy, that song has always made me think of her and the unconditional love she had for her grandchildren. I may not agree with Eliza Snow's theology anymore, but the hymn still reminds me of someone I loved and who loved me.

I actually like "Come, Come Ye Saints" especially its sad final verse alluding to all who died on the trek to Utah. I like the "pioneers" and wish they had been better served by their leadership.

And, for some unknown reason, I will still sing "How Firm a Foundation," and "The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning." I guess because both are fun to sing loudly. The first features a line I misheard as a child as:

"What more can he say than to you he hath said:

"Yoo hoo!" unto Jesus..."

and the second one is damn hard to sing.

KimberlyAnn wrote:Amazing Disgrace, I'm glad you got a bit of enjoyment out of Sacrament Meeting! It must suck to have to sit through church as an unbeliever - and you've done it for years? Ugh. I don't know how you do it.

Gramps, I liked "Sunshine in My Soul", too, but only when we sang it in Sacrament Meeting so I could hear the men's part; it made the song! Now that song's in my head...

KA

Kim, Have you ever heard "Amazing Grace" set to the tune on the "House Of The Rising Sun" ? It is really great. I heard a the "Blind Boys of Alabama" have a great rendition of that song. I am into Karaoke and have about 1000 songs in modified MIDI format with Lyrics that I can play of my computer and when the computer is hook up to my stereo system it sounds geat and the lyric are displayed on the computer screen with a buncing ball (if you want that option). I liked BBA's version of Amazing Grace that I modified my MIDI file of the House of The Rising Sun to sync it to the lyrics of Amazing Grace.
For those of you who might be crooners, and like Karaoke, you might like to download the Free GO-SING karaoke player. Also, there are thousand of Karaoke (MIDI) songs out on the Internet that you can download for free. I downloaded for my wife the all the LDS Churches songs from the current song book in MIDI format with lyrics.
If you are interested in any MIDI/Karaoke songs and can't find them PM me and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction. To check out GOSING click the link that follows:

GoSing's Website -> http://www.gosing.com/

There are other Karaoke players but this one is free and simple to use.

KimberlyAnn wrote:And do you or did you make up new funny lyrics to the hymns to make them more entertaining, like I used to do, lol?

Always happy to oblige this sort of request...

Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

Oh, come, all ye faithful, Come and have more children!
Oh, come ye, oh, come ye and have many kids.
Come and then raise them, it’s your job to make them;
Oh, come, and have more children; Oh, come have lots of children;
Don’t come if not for children, even if you’re bored!

Look at all my children, I have too many children
But I will be so blessed, yes, in the heavens up above
Run for your lives, cause I’ve been looking at your wives
Oh, come, and have more children; Oh, come have lots of children;
Don’t come if not for children, even if you’re bored!

Hi, kids, it’s me, I've wasted not one seed
Hello kids, hello kids, you can thank me
We don’t have enough, but who needs lots of stuff?
Oh, come, and have more children; Oh, come have lots of children;
Don’t come if not for children, even if you’re bored!