[Oe List ...] The 3 tracks of songs

[R Williams]

Karen,
 
Thanks for sharing your reflections.  For whatever it's worth, here's my take.
 
The inclusiveness and diversity of our singing was a big part of what made it so special and effective, and the inclusion of some of the historic hymns of the church was important to that.  May be that your critique tilts a little more toward rational than I would go.
 
Kyrie Elieson is indeed old (around the first century I think) and more of a chant than a hymn.   The words are Latin for "Lord have mercy," and "The Kyrie" as it is often referred to, is still sung in the Roman and Orthodox masses.  "Kyrie Elieson, Christe Elieson, Kyrie Eleison"  may not be rational, but it evokes sheer mystery when sung by a large community .
 
"A Mighty Fortress" was considered the battle hymn of the Protestant Reformation and, for my money, deserves to be included in any Christian song book for that reason alone, if for no other.
 
Of the songs we produced, some were/are just as special to us as these are to the historical church.  It would be fun for each of us to submit our list of 3 or so that we think were the most definitive for our Order.  I'll have to give it some more thought before submitting my list.
 
By the way, as I recall "All Life is Open" is to the tune of Guantanamera (sp?).  That might be on the list for me, as well as "The Crying."
 
Thanks again for the reflections.
 
Randy Williams

--- On Fri, 8/22/08, KarenBueno at aol.com <KarenBueno at aol.com> wrote:

From: KarenBueno at aol.com <KarenBueno at aol.com>
Subject: [Oe List ...] The 3 tracks of songs
To: OE at wedgeblade.net
Date: Friday, August 22, 2008, 1:21 PM



Some reflections on listening to the 3 tracks.  All three worked well on my machine.
 
Track 1
Kyrie Eleison (SP?) -  seems to be an old Christian hymn.  It would take a lot of demythologizing to be useful to progressive Christian groups.  I don't remember singing it from 1968 on.
 
All Life is Open - an excellent recording, with accompaniment and spirited singing of this Order song, written to that Hispanic tune whose name I cannot remember right now!
 
Track 2
A Mighty Fortress is Our God - attributed to Martin Luther, this is a classic Christian hymn, and, again, would take lots of demythologizing to merit inclusion in a progressive Christian songbook.
 
Track 3
The Crying - I think the mood and some of the images are from Kazantzakis' Savior of God.  The images, like the book, are troubling to the "average" person.  The phrase "kill the infidel...slay him on my table" would bring criticism since 9/11.  Even though the song, in the next verse, clearly states that the infidel is the self who is satisfied and complacent with life just as it is.  Publishing it in 2008 would require a paragraph of context if we would like the words to be understood as we understood them 30 or 40 years ago.
 
Karen Bueno





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