Music, like smells, can invoke memories and bring you back to a different place and time. I want to talk (type?) specifically about hymns that do that.
“Called to Serve†is an obvious one for mission memories, but for me, it brings me back to my pre-mission days. On Sunday evenings, my BYU ward (as seems to be tradition in all BYU wards) would gather in the apartment building lobby for ward prayer (consisting of a hymn, scripture, and prayer). It was a vaguely enjoyable 15 minutes. If I remember correctly, almost half the time the hymn “Called to Serve†would be selected.
I imagine this is because most people know this song and can sing it without a hymnbook, plus it’s kind of a peppy, fun song. So when we sing it in church now, I remember heading downstairs with my roommates, finding a spot along the wall or on the floor, looking at the cute guys and seeing who was with who (“They’re together?! No way!â€), and enjoying a few minutes of communal worship.
The song that brings me back to my mission is “God Be With You Till We Meet Againâ€. Anytime we sing this in church, I’m instantly transported to the past. I have two specific memories with this hymn. The first one is from my time in the MTC. On our last night together before the nine of us shipped off to four different missions, we stood outside in the early summer darkness, in those very few minutes we had before having to be in our dorm rooms, saying our final goodbyes. We had so much fun in that district and it was painful to be moving on. As we cried (even the elders), we sang “God Be With You Till We Meet Again†together. Fast forward a year and a half later, and we get to my second memory with the hymn. On my last night in the mission, we called in – as we did every night – to our district leader to tell him we were in. He and his companion got on the speakerphone and sang “God Be With You Till We Meet Again†to me in English and then in Spanish. Thus, that hymn will forever remind me of my mission.
Finally, the hymn “I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go†reminds me of ward and stake splits. The town I grew up in was and still is one of those towns with new subdivisions always going in – whole new neighborhoods popping up almost overnight in what used to be hay fields (I could swear this one subdivision really did go in overnight, and came up with a theory of alien invasion of Earth via suburbia). Thus, every couple of years, our ward would be bursting at the seams, and a ward split would inevitably occur. As a teenager, I was devastated by a couple of the splits, as many friends would no longer be in my same ward. I would emerge from the multi-ward meetings they’d hold – where they would put up the map and announce the new ward boundaries – sobbing about the injustice and tragedy of the cruel split, and how the new people were snobs and there was no way I could ever be friends with them. (Ah, the melodrama of a teenager.) Of course, two years later, at the next split, those same “snobs†were my best friends and I was again devastated as they were split away. In the later splits, the stake seemed to have discovered that “I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go†is the perfect hymn when a ward or stake is splitting. Even through my tears, it made me smile because, really, it was the perfect choice for a closing hymn.
What hymns bring you back to a different place and time?
The hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour” always reminds me of two things–my father-in-law, because it was his favorite, and a set of missionaries who once stopped by my house, because they stood in my living room and sang it to me.
The line from Israel, Israel, God Is Calling, “Mark how judgment’s pointing finger / justifies no vain delays,” always reminds me of my previous next-door-neighbor, Mark, who was frequently late to priesthood opening exercises.
And every time we sing the line “Her light shall there attract the gaze / of all the world in latter days” from High on the Mountain Top always comes to mind whenever the annual Salt Lake City Gay Pride parade comes around.
(Sorry. )
The one that still gets me is a Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. Both because of its history with the martyrdom but also because we always broke down crying whenever we sang it in the MTC. It still has a closer connection to strong manifestations of the spirit for me than any other song.
“Lord, I Would Follow Thee” reminds me I’m an “ex-CON” — the Columbus Ohio North stake has a HUGE fascination with that song for some reason (I remember singing it every… maybe 3rd Sunday for Sacrament meeting, for two stake conferences as part of the stake choir, in at least four other stake conferences for one of the regular congregational hymns, and every 5th or 6th Sunday for YW opening exercises,) and so my sisters and I have all the verses memorized (I can sing it in three different choral arrangements, my younger sister can sing it two different ways). It brings back memories of our chapel/basketball court/”cultural hall” and moving the orange chapel chairs out of the way for activities and the whole “life in a tiny rural branch where three people know how to play the piano” experience. That was the first hymn I had completely memorized; right after that came some of the Christmas hymns (I love being in choirs that sing the stuff in the hymnbook…)
In the Columbus Ohio East stake, we sang it very occasionally — when we got split out to become the brand-new Columbus Ohio South stake, it seemed to go up a little, but not nearly to the frequency of the North days. Every time I see good old #220, that’s what I think of. Actually, I also think of it every time we sing #219, “Because I Have Been Given Much,” which was also much more popular in North stake than what seems typical.
(I think my sisters and I are possibly the only ones in the quad-stake region who think this way, but we’re looking forward to the day when the fifth Columbus Ohio stake — Columbus Ohio West — is created; they’ll be COWS, which is even funnier than being CONS; COES and COSS and plain old COS just aren’t as entertaining.)
This probably isn’t where you’re headed with this, but I can’t sing “High on a Mountain Top” without thinking of the time when my brother and I were teenagers and him changing the lyrics to “High on a mountain top, a badger ate a squirrel…” Still makes me chuckle everytime I hear the intro.
And now, Jimbob, so will I.
For an old-timer, “I Need Thee Every Hour” stands out as the hymn we sang at EVERY General Priesthood meeting during Pres. McKay’s declining years, since it was his favorite hymn.
“God Be with You Till we Meet Again” brings back my time volunteering for the once-a-month FHEs at the Utah State Prison. Whenever one of the people who attended the services was getting released, we always stood and sang that hymn as closing song.
Then I remember that Sen. Bob Bennett (in pre-Senatorial days, at least) always sang the words to “Scotland the Brave” while the rest of us were singing “Praise to the Man.”
This could go on forever…
Oh, and I can’t help but change the lyrics of I Am a Child of God slightly to, “Has given me an earthly home / with parents kind of weird.”
I especially sing it loudly when I’m subbing in Primary; the kids love it.
How about those Primary songs? (I’m from the old school orange book style of song myself) I still love to hear Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree and Book of Mormon Stories.
First, I too have fond memories of “Called to Serve.” and “God Be With You Until We Meet Again” When we would sing “God Be With You Until We Meet Again”, I would feel very maternal towards the other missionaries including the Elders and my companion who was the only other sister. I would focus so hard and try to sing with such heart hoping that all of them would stay true to the Church. Little did I know that I would be the inactive one due to my personal problems. I still love to hear the hymm though.
When I sing “High On a Mountain Top”, it reminds me of when I sang in a Regional Choir in my area when President Monson came here.
Songs such as a “Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief,” and the songs about the First Vision or Joseph Smith take me back to a special program that I sang in at Church that was followed by a nice dinner.
“Silent Night” makes me think of my mom as she would sing that to me when I was young and it hers is my favorite rendition. When I was so anxious about wanting to join the LDS Church, I used to sing that to myself at night to calm myself although it was not the Christmas season.
It’s funny how we’ve highlighted a few ‘topical’ hymns. That is, for some occasions in the church, there’s an obvious hymn that needs to be dusted off to set the mood. God Be With You, and I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go are two of them. The other obvious one is We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet, which is pulled out wherever the Prophet appears.
This has always really bugged me. It bugs me because only the first two lines are about the Prophet. Hasn’t anybody else noticed this? We need a whole song about the prophet, or we should just skip the exercise altogether. No more of this in-between stuff.
Barb, I use “Silent Night” as a brain scraper. When I get some random song stuck in my head, and just can’t seem to rid my thoughts of it, “Silent Night” always gets rid of it. I love the song, too, but for some reason, it doesn’t get stuck, and it cleanses so well.
Ryan, you have hit upon one of my pet peeves. I actually love that hymn, but I love the whole thing. I drives me nuts that it is selected as a hymn when a prophet theme is desired. Also, instead of seeing it as a song that is basically a prayer (“We thank thee, oh God…”), some people seem to get stuck on the prophet thing and see it as all these things we are thanking the prophet for, and get all up in arms about it (or else happily start spouting false doctrine gleaned from that interpretation); I’ve had more than one argument about that. Does nobody learn to comprehend the things they read? Drives me nuts…
I hear you, Ryan Bell. Maybe we should just repeat the first two lines over and over until the tune was done.
As for “We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet”, I think it has one of the coolest lines still left hymnbook. In fact, if I can get away with it, I usually try to say in my best deep, movie announcer voice “the wicked who fight against Zion, shall surely be smitten at last” while clinching and shaking my fist. My wife thought it was funny the first time I did it for her. Apparently it’s not now as funny as it once was.
Unfortunately, they took one of the best prophet hymns out of the hymnbook (Oh Give me back my Prophet dear, #137 in the 1948 book, words by John Taylor), although text like this from verse 4 may explain why they took it out:
It is because the priests of Baal
Were desperate their craft to save;
And when they saw it doomed to fail,
They sent the Prophets to the grave.
It had a beautiful tune, but was difficult to sing.
My mission companion noted to me that his dad would tell him to read the name of the hymn and finish the prepositional phrase by saying, “..in the bathroom”. I still laugh when I think about some of them.
“Apparently it’s not now as funny as it once was. “
Nope. Still funny.
On the too rare occasions we sing “If you could hie to Kolob” or “Oh my father” I am taken back to church meetings on my mission where we sang these songs with investigators visiting. I always was bracing myself for our investigator to jump up and run out of our meetings because of our strange doctrines that I had not told them about. Alas, it never happened.
The original lyrics to “Praise to the Man” also had that wonderful biting edge:
They don’t write ’em like that anymore.
A wise mission president once counseled me that, when I have a very spiritual experience, it’s a good idea to associate a hymn and a scripture with the experience so that later when we sing the song in church or read the scripture, the memories of the experience come back to me.
It also makes for a the start of a great impromptu talk in those times when one is called upon for such.
For reasons that are too sacred too mention here, #132 “Be Still, My Soul” will always be associated with being supported by the Spirit during one of the toughest times in my life.
Abide With Me – especially if sung a capella
I am a Child of God – with ALL the verses
Testimony – not the most impressive song, musically, but I heard it when I was on a business trip and dropped in on a random ward, and it just a moving experience
Israel, Israel, God is Calling
I Stand All Amazed – but only if sung as “Asombra me da”
You Can Make the Pathway Bright – especially if played by an organist who can “jazz it up” a bit
Holiday Songs:
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Angels We Have Heard on High
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
On the new Tab CD “Love is Spoken Here” (why isn’t there a thread for reviews of CDs, new books like “Rough Stone Rolling, etc.?) they sing “Oh What Songs of the Heart”, a hymn we hardly ever sing, and for good reason, since it’s really a “funeral” hymn, although I’ve never heard it sung at a funeral, either, but it will be sung at mine (many years down the road). Another incredible Mack Wilberg arrangement in where he uses a motif over and over so much so that it practically drove me crazy trying to track down the song he quoted. “It Might as Well be Spring” from the Broadway musical State Fair is the song he quotes, or at least I think he does. Not sure how that song and the hymn go together.
And the best part of Oh What Songs of the Heart? The only reference to Star Trek in the hymnal happens when they sing about “transports of love”.
Beam me up…
“I Stand All Amazed – but only if sung as ‘Asombra me da'”
If they sang it that way, heaven help you. The Spansish grammar people would tell you it was unintelligible.
To say nothing of the English grammar people who would tell me it isn’t Spansish.
Hark, All Ye Nations! (1985, #264). This hymn was sung by German Saints and missionaries long before it was finally translated and included in the English hymnbook. I learned it in 1966 in the LTM.
I Believe in Christ (1985, #134). It was the April 1972 General Conference. I was sitting just under the south balcony near the front of the Tabernacle when its author first spoke the words. Elder McConkie said the word ‘believe’ without the ‘e’, like ‘bleave’. Sometimes I sing the song that way in his honor.
Called to Serve (1985, #249). Because I’ve sung it six times so far in the MTC as our sons have departed. Those memories make it difficult for me to sing the song in any setting.
Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (1948, #148; 1985, 141). About a year before becoming the Church’s Fourteenth President, Howard W. Hunter fashioned an entire general conference talk around this hymn. “I have chosen for my brief text this morning,” he said, “the words of an ancient and sacred hymn, which are attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux and estimated to be nearly nine hundred years old.” Since then, I think of his talk every time the hymn is sung and it’s now one of my favorites (see Ensign, May 1993, 63).
There are many more, including one with music by Mozart that isn’t in the hymnbook anymore, “Though in the Outward Church Below” (1948, #102). The imagery conjured up by the words to this hymn helps me when fellow Saints expose their sharp edges.
Hooray Tanya! This is the type of post we could use more of in the bloggernaccle, in my opinion. Thanks for an enjoyable read!
Thanks for the enjoyable post. #18 Jeff A- You might relate to this… Last Sunday our ward here in the southeast US sang _In Our Lovely Deseret_. I don’t think I had sung this hymn since I was kid. I sang out with gusto in remembering this was one of my mother’s favorite songs that she sang around the home in which I grew up. Later that night one of our teenagers wanted to know what kind of bizarre hymn was that! He also hoped there were no investigators present.
Hear, Hear! to Ryan and Adam re their comments on “We Thank Thee o God for a Prophet.” We need a new standard–with words that fit the importance of the doctrine, and music to match. I don’t think we need “shall surely be smitten” or “never such happiness know” either.
One great memory: “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” which always takes me back to my grandmother’s funeral in St. George in 1965, and the assurance of the reality of the resurrection.
“Oh What Songs of the Heart” bears a different name in my memory: “Ware wa ten ni mata . . .” The Japanese saints loved the song, and we sang it almost as often as “Shu yo mimune ni” (My Jesus, As Thou Wilt” which has never made it into the English hymnnal in my lifetime). The overture to Weber’s Der Freischutz is the source of the tune, so hearing that conjures up memories of a small branch in Okayama, meeting in a converted house on a cold bright February day.
I was asked to sing “How Great Thou Art” at my grandmother’s funeral and it has meant much to me in the time since.
I will say, that my brother (the inimical J. Stapley) and my nephew sang “the Star Spangled Banner” on the Sunday close to the 4th of July with Scottish accents and I couldnt decide whether to be offended while cracking up.
Re #21/23/24 – Sorry, yes, I misspelled “Asombro me da”.
I included it because it was sung at least 6 times a month when I was on my mission. Yup, along with “Bandera alto en/El monte se hizo” (“High on a Mountain Top”). Plus, it was the inspiration for the highly entertaining mission game of “translate BACK into English hymns that have already been translated into Spanish”.
The summer of 2002, my family was returning from a vacation and happened to attend Church in the ward building next to the Toronto chapel. IIRC, Canada Day was upcoming (the next day, I think), and there was a very passionate singing of “O Canada” and “God Save the Queen” in the sacrament meeting.
Scatter Sunshine – because the saints in Italy, for some horrid reason, loved that song more than any other.
How Great the Wisdom and the Love – It makes a near perfect harmony to the verses of Home on the Range, everytime we sing it in church, I mentally shift the words to “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam” and I always chuckle as I feel urged to contiue with the “home, home on the range,” when the rest of the congregation have finished singing.
I am looking for the favority hymns of all the latter-day prophets.
Know some? I do a medley of the RS Birthday ‘gals’ each month – WW’s favorite was in his bio info for this week’s lesson … got me wondering… what were the others Thanks