She and Hymn

This week's reading assignment for Sunday School is super short--just one section. So it's ok that I'm not posting this until late Saturday night. The section in question is directed to Joseph Smith's wife Emma, and includes instructions to compile the first LDS hymnal.

It's been about a week since the announcement was made regarding the new LDS edition of the scriptures, and now many Mormons are likely wondering--will there also be a new hymnbook? By which they really mean, when will "Come Thou Fount" be official again?




In case they do update it soon, here are some scattered thoughts on some selections from the current LDS hymnbook.

Hymn #3--Within the last year or two, I've heard entire congregations nail the minor differences in the chorus of the 3rd verse. In the first 30-ish years of my life, I don't think I ever heard it sung without at least a few people messing up.
#5--When I hear people say that gays are not welcome in the LDS church, I like to direct them to the final couplet of the 2nd verse of this hymn.
#26--One of my pet peeves is when choirs add a pause between "Joseph" and "this is my beloved" in the last verse. It really bugs me for some reason.
#64--Speaking of choirs...this was the first song I ever learned as part of one (for seminary graduation). I liked it so much I had it sung at my mission farewell.
#78--The fanfare! I don't think every hymn should begin with a fanfare. But I think most of them should.
#134--Written by the legendary Bruce R. McConkie. I love the way he says "b'lieve."
#147--Read the first word of each verse consecutively. Once you do, I guarantee you'll never be able to not read them that way when you see the lyrics.
#169--I think this hymn was written by a man I once interviewed for an article about pheromones for the BYU newspaper. Take that for what it's worth.
#179--I'm not super familiar with this hymn, but the lyricist and composer were born in the same year and died in the same year. Eerie.
#194--When I was a kid, my bishop once announced this hymn as "There is a Green House Far Away." For some reason, EVERYBODY remembered this forever. My family would joke about it regularly; the bishop would later move from our ward, but returned to speak before leaving on a mission with his wife, and in his talk he referenced the gaffe. It had surprising staying power.
#204--I have no idea why, but in Scotland they sing the third verse of this hymn differently than American Mormons do. Instead of singing "With the dawn of re-dee-eem-ing grace," they sing "With the daw-awn of re-deem-ing grace." They don't change the cadence of the first two verses, just the third. They use the same hymnbook with the same music as us Yanks. And this happened in two different wards in two different Decembers, so it wasn't just a one-off situation. A very unusual phenomenon.
#205-206--Between these two hymns is the exact midpoint of the hymn book (including preface, index, etc.). I got bored once in sacrament meeting and took the time to figure it out.
#227--I can't sing the 2nd verse of this hymn without thinking of this song.
#249--I know I'm not the only one from my generation who still thinks the word "soosimay" (I'm sure that's not how it's spelled) when singing this one.
#296--This hymn was written by someone named F. Bland Tucker. I wonder what the "F" could possible stand for. It must be pretty awful if they would choose to go by Bland.
#307--This song's inclusion in the hymnbook is peculiar. Seems like it would be a much better fit for the Children's Songbook.
#338, 340--I'm not patriotic in the traditional sense (in that I don't post a new pro-gun meme on Facebook every day), but I do enjoy singing both of these anthems in church. I especially love it when all verses are sung, as the later verses in both cases are even more stirring than the well-known first verses.

That's plenty for now. See you all "When We Meet Again in Sabbath School" (#282)!