This week's Long & Short Reviews prompt asked reviewers to share some favorite song lyrics.
I have only two or three hundred favorite songs. Some reviewers limited themselves to recent songs, to make the decision more of a challenge. Despite e-friends' educating me over the last few years I don't remember the lyrics to many recent songs.
Where do I start? The ones that have been favorites longest? Include religious songs, or not? Yes, I think this post needs to include a few religious songs. I think we can do without Teen Romance and stick to songs about topics that are more inclusive.
I like some songs because they don't make any sense. I don't think that's what the prompt was about, though. I think I'll exclude nonsense songs from this prompt, too.
"'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
(I first heard it on a record when I was about four years old, learned all the words and how to play it on the piano in grade four. The digital recording is, of course, new to me too...
"I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills--
My heart with rapture thrills...
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light.
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King."
(One of the songs Miss Music taught us in grade one. Digital recording:
"Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
("All four verses are right here in the Girl Scout Handbook. Learn all of them," Mother said. I was eight years old. Most digital recordings don't include all the verses, but in this video an elderly veteran gets all of the words and most of the notes right in the fourth verse--the happy ending, my favorite verse.
"Home, where the river runs gold,
The water tastes good, the winter's not cold;
Home, where the trees grow tall,
The home fires burn, the whippoorwills call."
(In the video version Jim Reeves sings a different last line than he sang on the record...
"Standing by a purpose true, heeding God's command,
Honor them, the faithful few: all hail to Daniel's band!
Dare to be like Daniel! Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm, and dare to make it known!"
(I've never heard anyone sing this children's Sunday School song so solemnly before, but I will admit their harmonies are lovely.
"Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above."
(Hmm. I like it better as a church hymn than as a performance piece, but this is the song.
"If you love Me true, My commandments keep.
Feed My lambs, He said, feed My sheep."
(Google finds lots of videos for songs that contain similar words, but not this one.)
"Stony the road we trod,
Weary the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet, with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the land for which our fathers sighed?"
(The writers of this song did not intend it to be used in a divisive way. They wrote it for a Black school choir to sing on a celebration of President Lincoln's birthday, but rejoiced when it was sung by other people on other occasions. They didn't mind when the NAACP said it could be a "(Black American) national anthem." I doubt that they would have minded knowing that it's been sung after many successful protests, most definitely including those for school choice in Virginia. Black Americans have some right to feel especially proud of this song since it was written by and for members of their demographic group. Perhaps only those who believe that the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Act were good things should sing it...but that includes just about everybody.)
"Making a mess may be all right, and quite a sight to see,
But please be quite sure, before you mess things up,
That you can clean up your mess before it messes up me!"
(I never saw the skit on television; I learned the song from a "Sesame Street Songbook," much later.
"Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain,
Nor helpeth good hearts in need."
(Google can't find a digital recording for this one. Too bad. Anyway, this song has been a favorite since I was fifteen or so, and that makes ten.)
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