0419B I HATE MUSIC TRILOGY (SONG OF THE WEEK)

I HATE MUSIC TRILOGY (SONG OF THE WEEK)

[I wrote this medley of songs as a sarcastic parody of the infighting within the church over styles of music. It has been through several arrangements over the last 30 years or so, but this is one. Please hear this to the end, or trust my heart to be making a very spiritual appeal to the church. Thanks to Margaret Cloud Searcy who encouraged the first line, "I ain't what You is," which led to the rest of the medley. I'm also grateful for the contributions of The Refreshment Company, which performed the medley live and broadcast at Music Minnesota many years ago.]

#1

Lord, you know my heart, You know every part of me

What I feel inside is clearly seen

So there's no need to say what I'm feeling deep inside

yet I'm telling you this secret and I hope You'll pardon me when I say

I hate

Country Gospel music

Country Gospel music

It just seems so shallow and so insincere

All that talk of by and by and some mansion in the sky

Well it sounds like broken records playing year after year

I hate

Country Gospel music

Country Gospel music

And I hope You'll pardon me this time

If I tell You from the start what I'm feeling in my heart

I hate Gospel Quartet southern country western gospel music

And I know you hear it sweetly if it's coming from the heart

and I know them good ol' boys have been around

But when we get our harps of gold and sing a brand new song

Please don't let them pickers start to make a sound

I hate

Country Gospel music

Country Gospel music

It just seems so shallow and so insincere

All that talk of by and by and some mansion in the sky how some day we're gonna fly and we're never gonna cry and we'll never never die favorite pronoun is an "I" so though I often try and I can't really say why

I hate straight-tone, harsh-R, modulating diphthong steel guitar pickin, banjo twanging Gosple quartet southern country western gospel music.

#2

Hour after hour day after day passes by

I look at my watch: it's 11:03 

another endless Sunday morning 

and the choir still sings another endless high church song

The kind where you could never sing along

Week after week year after year passes by

You've heard it before they'll sing it again

They say that it's a classic and I say it has no end

They say that it's been loved for years

that it's classical, it's classical

I hate I hate I hate I hate the classical

The high the high the high church classical

It takes.....

It takes.....

So long.....

It takes so long...

It takes so long...

Takes so long to say one sentence

And then.....

And then.....

Then they just

Then they just

Then they just repeat the whole thing!

And I know you hear it sweetly if it's coming from the heart

And I know those choir folks could be sincere

But if there is a message I can't reach up that far

It's only meant for high brow ears to hear

I hate I hate I hate I hate the classical

The high the high the high church classical

It takes so long...

 to say one sentence

the melody is sweet but still I must repeat:

I hate I really hate the

musically replete but spiritually void

composed by music masters who never knew the Lord

filled with convoluted obsolescent King James English stuff

All head no heart all milk no meat it's spiritual fluff

So though I hate to say it and don't mean to complain

I really really really really really really really really hate

I really hate the classical

#3

God's music is wonderful happy and gay

its melody thrills me each time that it's played

But there is a music I can't tolerate:

The music of Rock and Roll

It gets on my nerves with its primitive beat

I'm out of the kitchen yet still feel the heat

So if You'll permit me I'd like to repeat:

I hate the contemporary sound

Well you know the music of rock and roll

won't carry a message that will bless the soul

that's right, oh, that's right

Well, it's wholly unholy it's black and white

It's like using the darkness to carry the light

and that's not right

You know that's not right

Well if there's one thing I learned in school

It's that wisdom won't come from the mouth of a fool

Living water won't flow from a solid rock

and the traffic shouldn't go when the lights says, "STOP!"

So if you want to grow in Christ

stop listening to music that just ain't right

Say "I hate rock and roll"

Say "I hate rock and roll"

And I know You hear it sweetly if it's coming from the heart

and I know those tattooed freaks could be sincere

but they don't look like Christians before they even start

and their music's far too loud for human ears

Well you know the music of rock and roll won't carry a message that will bless the soul...

It seems so shallow... 

I hate the classical...

Well it's wholly unholy it's black and white it's like using the darkness to carry the light...

It sounds like broken records playing year after year...

It takes so long...

water won't flow from a solid rock and the traffic shouldn't go when the light says stop...

The melody is sweet but still I must repeat

And I know, You hear it, sweetly if it's coming from the heart

...I know, I know, I know...

#4

Why would the Spirit choose three words to reveal

what kind of music to use to teach, to admonish, to heal

he said "Psalms hymns and spiritual songs"

All kinds of music so all could sing along

It takes all kinds to win all kinds

with Psalms hymns and spiritual songs