Lord of the Dance (hymn)
Lord of the Dance is a hymn with words written by English songwriter Sydney Carter in 1967.[1] He adapted the tune from the American Shaker song "Simple Gifts". The hymn is widely performed in English-speaking congregations and assemblies.[2]
It follows the idea of a traditional English carol, "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day" which tells the gospel story in the first person voice of Jesus of Nazareth and originates the device of portraying Jesus' life and mission as a dance.[citation needed] Carter's lyrics show a liveliness and wry humour in his adaptation of the theme which is not present in "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day".[citation needed]
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[edit] Controversy
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- I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,
- The holy people said it was a shame;
- They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
- And they left me there on a cross to die.
Some have expressed the view that this stanza should be altered. For example, an article in a Quaker publication[3] stated that although "Lord of the Dance" is "one of our most popular and widely sung" modern hymns, this particular stanza can be taken to be anti-Semitic, and "[e]ach time we sing this verse together we lend emotional power and the appearance of support for what is in fact a lie". However, a response in the same publication noted that while "the holy people" happened to be Jewish in the particular case of Jesus, a "larger and more meaningful interpretation" of the phrase is to identify it with "those who consider themselves the most righteous" at any time and place, and of any ethnicity. The hymn "has been taken up widely throughout the Christian Church".[4]
[edit] See also
- Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
- Nataraja, depiction of Shiva as Lord of the Dance
[edit] References
- ^ Elizabeth M. Knowles, The Oxford dictionary of quotations, http://books.google.com/books?id=o6rFno1ffQoC&pg=PA192
- ^ Trevor Beeson (2008), "A song and a dance", Round the Church in fifty years, p. 83, ISBN 9780334041481
- ^ http://www.neym.org/PrejudiceAndPoverty/Issue3.summer99.pdf
- ^ http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/hymns/dance.htm
[edit] External links
- Stainer & Bell, copyright holders for Lord of the Dance hymn.
- Lord of the Dance and Simple Gifts
- Words to Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
