A Bit Too Much Like the Pirates of Penzance June 17, 2008
Posted by carpebanana in : Ramblings , trackbackOur church uses the Trinity Hymnal and the Psalter. The Bananas here love singing. But, unfortunately (I think) we also love our occasional dose of The Pirates of Penzance. The problem for me comes when the two mix. That has happened due to a hymn we learned this year.
It’s Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain written in the 8th century by John of Damascus. So far, so good. But then, who had to go write the tune we use for it? Sir Arthur Sullivan. Now, I just cannot hear any of his tunes without starting to picture bands of pirates and the Major General Stanley lurking about, ready to sing about how incredible classical education is, and sometimes I even branch out (my Mum taught me more Gilbert and Sullivan than I’ve passed on) to polishing up the handle so carefully or being called Sweet Buttercup. That is bad enough. But then to make this particular hymn even harder for me to get out of my head, the translation had to use Gilbert-like language. My favorite line (ALWAYS sung in my head by a chorus in sailor suits and dresses) is “led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.”
Unmoistened foot. LOL.
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My Hubby has a bias toward singing psalms only. Maybe that’s why he used to make up words for old hymns when our kids were babies. “Standing on the Promises of God” was changed to, “Grumping on the Elbow of my Dad”. I can never hear the “Count Your Blessings” hymn without thinking of Hubby’s words:
“Change the nappies* change them one by one,
Change the nappies see what (baby’s name) has done,
Change the nappies, change them one by one,
And it will surprise you what baby has done.”
* US readers substitute “diapers”
The last line became rather interesting when we found young Lloyd chewing on a dead spider one day. Also intersting after blue ice cream.