Favorite Hymns of Yesteryear

[PreachersWife2004]

There are some hymns that pianos cannot do justice to. Be Still My Soul is definitely one of them.

 

[LutheranHawkeye]

Wow Be Still my Soul is terrible on piano and especially on guitar. It's best done with a choir and an organ.

 

[seajoy]

I'd love to hear you play the organ someday.

Me too!

 

[BigNorsk]

This thread filled me with memories. I can't share many names of hymns because it's just something I don't remember until I'm singing, I use that part of my brain for ag chemicals and pests.

Anyway, I mentioned to my pastor one day that about the only song I could remember from bible camp when I was growing up was "Puff the Magic Dragon", I'm not kidding, the counselors sang that every time there was a campfire.

Anyway, the look on his face was priceless. I suspect it looks a lot like some of yours right now, at least that is how I'm visualizing you. Truth-stranger than fiction.

Marv

 

[DaSeminarian]

This thread filled me with memories. I can't share many names of hymns because it's just something I don't remember until I'm singing, I use that part of my brain for ag chemicals and pests.

Anyway, I mentioned to my pastor one day that about the only song I could remember from bible camp when I was growing up was "Puff the Magic Dragon", I'm not kidding, the counselors sang that every time there was a campfire.

Anyway, the look on his face was priceless. I suspect it looks a lot like some of yours right now, at least that is how I'm visualizing you. Truth-stranger than fiction.

Marv

Noel Paul Stookey wrote that song and his trio, Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it. Noah Paul Stookey also wrote "The Wedding Song, There is Love" and has claimed that he is a born again Christian for almost 40 years. During the 70s and 80s his "Wedding Song" was probably the most sung song at weddings. Can you imagine the royalty check he must have received for that alone.

I love the movie "Meet the Parents" with Ben Stiller and DeNiro. Their dialogue on "Puff the Magic Dragon" is classic.

 

[DaRev]

"Puff the Magic Dragon" seems like an odd song to sing at a bible camp, with it's drug culture overtones and all.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

"Puff the Magic Dragon" seems like an odd song to sing at a bible camp, with it's drug culture overtones and all.

To an adult, it might seem odd.

To a child, though, it's a very natural song (although not very biblical!). I can still remember watching Puff the Magic Dragon on TV. I was eight years old. The drug connection didn't come until I was much much much older, thankfully.

But yeah, still kind of a weird song to sing at bible camp, considering all the better bible songs that kids could sing. Maybe that was a popular song at the time, not that I'm trying to date anyone here!

 

[filosofer]

To an adult, it might seem odd.

To a child, though, it's a very natural song (although not very biblical!). I can still remember watching Puff the Magic Dragon on TV. I was eight years old. The drug connection didn't come until I was much much much older, thankfully.

But yeah, still kind of a weird song to sing at bible camp, considering all the better bible songs that kids could sing. Maybe that was a popular song at the time, not that I'm trying to date anyone here!

[FONT= "Book Antiqua"]
You must have caught "Puff the Magic Dragon" song on the 3rd time around. Some of us are old enough to have been there with the first go-around... when it was the hottest thing for teens and young adults, long before it was any kind of TV show/cartoon, etc..

In Christ's love,
filo
[/font]

 

[C.F.W. Walther]

I'd love to hear you play the organ someday.

I think Mel has me beat by light years.

 

[C.F.W. Walther]

This thread filled me with memories. I can't share many names of hymns because it's just something I don't remember until I'm singing, I use that part of my brain for ag chemicals and pests.

Anyway, I mentioned to my pastor one day that about the only song I could remember from bible camp when I was growing up was "Puff the Magic Dragon", I'm not kidding, the counselors sang that every time there was a campfire.

Anyway, the look on his face was priceless. I suspect it looks a lot like some of yours right now, at least that is how I'm visualizing you. Truth-stranger than fiction.

Marv

LOL--wonder what he was"puffing" on

 

[DaRev]

You must have caught "Puff the Magic Dragon" song on the 3rd time around. Some of us are old enough to have been there with the first go-around... when it was the hottest thing for teens and young adults, long before it was any kind of TV show/cartoon, etc..

In Christ's love,
filo

The only reason I don't remember the 60's is because I was too young at the time.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

I was but a twinkle in my parents' eyes in the 60s...my existence was a ways off...

I also realized that I was getting Puff the Magic Dragon mixed up with Pete's Dragon!

 

[LutheranChick]

The title of this thread made me smile, as our church's hymns of 'yesteryear' are pretty much exactly the same hymns as we sing today! My great-grandparents probably sang the same hymns, except in Norwegian. I guess if I had to pick just one I would say "A Mighty Fortress" - although I prefer the revised arrangement vs Luther's original arrangement of the tune - sorry, Martin! There are so many great hymns that I love it would take too long to list them all.

 

[latebloomer]

"Mighty Fortress" is great when played as a march, but I grew up hearing it like a dirge. We have a different organist now, with a peppier playing style.

As for Puff the Magic Dragon, I always thought it was about a little boy and his toy/imaginary dragon friend. Then the little boy grew up and left Puff behind. I think the last verse has the little boy's son discovering Puff.

I like some of the tunes in TLH that go with more than one hymn. I might not recognize the words at first, but when I hear the tune, yeah, I know that one. But right now, off the top of my head, I couldn't even hum one of those tunes to myself.

When I was a kid, not able to read yet, I used to see the music printed in the liturgy and thought it was lessons for singing so we would be able to sing the hymns.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

Latebloomer, you made me chuckle.

When I was around eight or nine years old, there were certain smells, noises, characteristics that I loved about church and those have just stuck with me forever.

I can clearly remember page 15 in the front of the TLH. I remember the day I didn't need to use the hymnal because I knew the liturgy by heart. (Then they brought in CW and I had to relearn it all!) I clearly remember loving the sound my mary janes made on the sunday school floor, AND I can remember how I loved how the word "glory" rolled off my tongue in the Lord's Prayer. I liked the G sound, I guess.

Isn't it weird how we remember stuff like that?

 

[DaRev]

Talking about smells...
When I was a kid I always asscoiated the smell of wax candles with the church and the memories associated with that. Nowadays we use oil candles and they don't have that smell.
But during Advent we use wax Advent candles and when i get a wiff of them (they are near the pulpit) I would have these marvelous flashbacks to my youth and the church.

 

[filosofer]

I guess if I had to pick just one I would say "A Mighty Fortress" - although I prefer the revised arrangement vs Luther's original arrangement of the tune - sorry, Martin! There are so many great hymns that I love it would take too long to list them all.

[FONT= "Book Antiqua"]
I think that Luther wrote both versions, but only one was included in LTH, both were included in LW.

In Christ's love,
filo
[/font]

 

[DaRev]

I think that Luther wrote both versions, but only one was included in LTH, both were included in LW.

In Christ's love,
filo

The tune was written by Luther, but the "march" version was altered by the pietists.

 

[latebloomer]

I know the most common tune to Might Fortress. Both are in LW, and I think both are in LSB? But I've heard the same tune played different ways and I much prefer the faster tempo.

 

[filosofer]

The tune was written by Luther, but the "march" version was altered by the pietists.

[FONT= "Book Antiqua"]
Pietists aren't all bad, eh?

In Christ's love,
filo
[/font]