Growing up, my favorite “hymn” was Sydney Carter’s Lord of the Dance, because I found it upbeat and catchy — to be quite frank, it wasn’t far removed, musically, from a lot of popular children’s artists. Raffi, for example, could easily have been a folk-Christian writer, by tweaking his lyrics slightly. Today, I still can see the musical appeal of Lord of the Dance, and certainly, when I remember the other hymns from growing up, I can see why I liked this one. The most damning indictment that can be made of the lot of modern Church music is that the songs aren’t hymns, but attempts to write Christian pop (or folk, or light rock) songs, and failed attempts. They’re trying to create worldly music, and failing even by those standards. It’s like spiking the punch with Diet Coke.
Today, I was reminded of Lord of the Dance, which I haven’t sung – or thought much of – for years, because I came across Sydney Carter’s obituary. It provides more than enough reason for the song to be banned from every church:
The number’s success stems from two elements. It has a lively, catchy tune, adapted from an air of the American Shaker movement. But the optimistic lines “I danced in the morning when the world begun/ and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun” also contain a hint of paganism which, mixed with Christianity, makes it attractive to those of ambiguous religious beliefs or none at all.
Carter himself genially admitted that he had been partly inspired by the statue of Shiva which sat on his desk; and, whenever he was asked to resolve the contradiction, he would declare that he had never tried to do so.
However, he admitted to being as astonished as anyone by its success. “I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian. But in fact people did sing it and, unknown to me, it touched a chord. . .
“Anyway,” Carter would continue, “it’s the sort of Christianity I believe in.”
I don’t see any way, given this information, churches could continue to carry the song as a Christian hymn. The image of a dancing Christ isn’t even found within the Bible; the image is very much that of the Hindu goddess Shiva. The lyrics are also, as the obituary writers note, vaguely pagan. And given that the hymn’s author acknowledges that both the inspiration and text of the hymn are heretical and “dubiously Christian,” how could anyone possibly defend keeping this as a Christian hymn? At another point, he said, “By Christ, I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other lords of the dance.” I think the question Christians have to ask themselves is this: is there any requirement above “it sounds pretty, and maybe mentions God” to be considered as a hymn anymore? Because if so, I think leaving this “hymn” in is indefensible.
To make all of this worse, Sydney Carter is also the author of another pretty disgusting “hymn” called Friday Morning, which has the shockingly blasphemous lyrics:
You can blame it on to Pilate,
You can blame it on the Jews
You can blame it on the Devil.
It’s God I accuse.“It’s God they ought to crucify
Instead of you and me,”
I said to the carpenter,
A-hanging on the tree.
The “hymn” manages at once to deny the Divinity of Christ and curse God for not stopping the Crucifixion. Later, it says, “And your God is up in Heaven / And He doesn’t do a thing, / With a million angels watching / And they never move a wing,” before (I kid you not) damning God to Hell. It’s the sort of thing you might expect at a summer camp for the most bitter anti-theists. Yet stunningly, even this God-hating song somehow briefly made it into hymnals. Carter’s obit says:
The Conservative politician Enoch Powell and the Daily Express called for his poem Friday Morning to be banned because of its lines “It’s God they ought to crucify/ Instead of you and me. . .” The American Armed Forces even announced that they were having this removed from their hymnal. “Until somebody rang me up to say it had been taken out, I didn’t even know it was there,” Carter commented.
The bizarre notion of churches singing songs damning God is a reminder of modern Christianity’s disastrous flirtation with the most deadly of heresies, and the jarring way in which heretical music in particular often slips under the radar even at many otherwise good churches.
So given that Carter:
- wasn’t Catholic, even in name,
- was (quite literally) a God-hating heretic, who penned poems spitting in God’s face,
- wrote Lord of the Dance to reimagine Christ as a Shiva-like Diety instead of as Jesus,
- acknowledged it was heretical and only vaguely Christian, and
- admitted that his own version of Christianity was as warped as his hymn’s,
…any guesses as to how he was treated by liberal Catholics? Two ways you can figure out the answer. One is to read his obit, which says:
He remained a regular contributor to Christian journals, including the Roman Catholic Tablet, where his wise and often humorous contributions were much appreciated.
The other is just to check out the popular “Catholic” hymn books: for example, the Gather hymnal, which still features him, or Oregon Catholic Press’, which even allows you to buy the hymn by itself or as part of Rise Up & Sing. Let’s pray for the day that the restoration of orthodoxy is complete, and we can be free of this terrible stain on the Church.
A disappointing comment on Friday Morning, Joe.
Friday Morning is definitely one of the most uncomfortable songs i’ve ever had to listen to, but as song’s composer said – faith without doubt is foolish arrogance.
I’d be pretty surprised though if you could find a church that had ever sung Friday Morning.
How very sad, and ugly, that you perverse the uplifting joy of dance. Dance praises God’s heavenly rhythms and those of the universe He created. Dance lifts us into the Light & soaring of Gid’s heavenly angels.
Did you read the article?
I agree,..dance is heavenly Joy ..
There is an incredulity of faith which is natural, and which can only be overcome by spiritual assistance. Mark 9:24 captures this beautifully, when the father of a possessed boy says to Jesus, “I do believe; help me with my unbelief!” There’s a real humanity, and humility, within that paradox. The man has at once come to Jesus for a miracle, and balks that what he hopes for could really come true.
In contrast, Sydney Carter built his own version of Christianity contrary to what the Bible taught and contrary to the faith of any Church in history, and wrote a song damning God to Hell because of Carter’s own inability to answer the question of theodicy. I would say that, rather than an undoubting faith, is the foolish arrogance.
Maybe it’s my own inability to understand, but I guess I don’t see how a man who claims to know what Christ really taught, while disagreeing with all the evidence on things like the Divinity and Uniqueness of Christ, and condemning millions of believers he doesn’t know for their supposed arrogance (simply for not doubting the Lord who ransomed them) can be considered anything but foolishly arrogant himself. And unlike Carter, I have more than my own opinion to back up my claims: Psalm 74 twice condemns those who mock God as the fools. Revelation 16 describes the damned at Armageddon as cursing God for their suffering instead of repenting — suggesting this isn’t virtuous from a Christian perspective. And St. Padre Pio, I believe, was the one who said that doubt is the greatest insult to Divinity.
My point isn’t to condemn Carter, for God only knows if he repented in his final moments, but to suggest that just as their as some artists or musicians who are so counter to what Christians stand for that we avoid even their non-offensive work. We wouldn’t dream, for example, of showing Howard Stern clips in church, even if the particular clip wasn’t vile. Carter ranks up there with Stern, yet churches still carry Lord of the Dance.
Mathew 7:1-
What would Jesus say about both he and Stern?
Many hated the tax collector and the prostitute.
John 13:34
Your comments remind me (a Jew, very familiar with the kindness of christians) of:
The Indian chief Hatuey fled with his people but was captured and burned alive. As
“they were tying him to the stake a Franciscan friar urged him to take Jesus to his heart so that his soul might go to heaven, rather than descend into hell. Hatuey replied that if heaven was where the Christians went, he would rather go to hell.”
Perhaps Mr. Carter wanted to distance himself and Jesus from people like you 🙂
What happened to his people was described by an eyewitness:
“The Spaniards found pleasure in inventing all kinds of odd cruelties … They built a long gibbet, long enough for the toes to touch the ground to prevent strangling, and hanged thirteen [natives] at a time in honor of Christ Our Saviour and the twelve Apostles… then, straw was wrapped around their torn bodies and they were burned alive.” [SH72]
— American Holocaust, by D.Stannard
Point of fact: Shiva is a god, not a goddess.
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Shameless Popery, you have missed the whole point of the song. Listen to Bishop Fulton Sheen’s commentary on it (leaving out the final and more shocking verses): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqyU0v1easY
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Sarah Q Malone, you have missed the whole point of Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s reading of Carter’s poem. Even though you link only to a 1 minute and change portion of his homily, it’s pretty clear that the first thing he says makes it clear that the poem was supposed to be the words of one of the thieves crucified with Christ – and clearly NOT Dismas, the good thief, but rather the one Dismas rebuked, the robber who “blasphemed Him, saying: If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” And the last thing the good Archbishop says in the YouTube – IS NOT IN THE POEM but rather Archbishop Sheen’s puncturing Carter’s atheist rant/poem – “And it WAS God they crucified…And God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.” Pointing out the very fact that Carter and his fans are woefully ignorant of, the whole point of Christianity.
This is so sad and hateful and scathing. It’s a beautiful song– love thy neighbor! XOXO
I agree!! Great song, favorite hymn out
Great song. Why twitter on endlessly just to appear learned and hyper religious?. Did the writer who wants to rubbish the song it write anything better?
I have fond memories of my mother singing this tune. When I remember her it seems this song comes to mind. A few years after her death out son was being babtised on Easter Sunday. I felt very sad that Mom wasn’t with us but was sure that she was looking down from heaven and with me spiritually. Just after the baptism our church featured a spiritual dance of angels to this song. I knew then that this was my mom giving me the “spiritual nod”. I still get choked up when I think about the day.
I’m sure, given enough time that you can condemn whatever you set your mind to. I’m also sure that Christ can use sinners to be fishers of men. To me- it’s a beautiful song of Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and his promise to us. Let his light shine in you
Thank you, Mr. McDowell. My sentiments exactly.
If we took every song out of the hymnal by every composer who had ever been tainted with the slightest heretical belief, well…there goes “Mighty Fortress.” Though I have little use for the theology of its composer, that’s a song that I NEED in my head sometimes in order to give words to the hope and adoration in my heart. With your pardon, I’m just not willing to go that far, if for no other reason that I don’t want my own good works judged only in light of the sinful and imperfect creature performing them.
As to the lyrics of Friday Morning, I will bring to attention an observation of G.K. Chesterton about Christianity: basically that every religion has atheists, but only in Christianity does God Himself, even if only for a moment, becomes mysteriously private even to Himself. During the mysterious moment when God the Father removes Himself from the awareness of Jesus on the Cross, it is almost as though God Himself becomes, if only for a moment, an atheist. (Almost, please don’t forget the almost) I think it’s useful to examine and meditate on the justice of God through the eyes of those who find it ammoral and offensive. Such people are no less fitting objects for our understanding and compassion then our fellow believers, are they not?
Yes to that. Our Lord, inclined me to sing Lord of The Dance, yesterday for a fellowship I was visiting. By His leading it complimented the message on ‘Grace’. By Mr. Joe’s standard, we probably need to remove “It is Well with My Soul” from the hymnals. Surely as Horatio Spafford presented himself as an incarnation of the Messiah in his final years living in Jerusalem.
You seem to have missed the essential irony of Friday Morning. It is written from the perspective of one of the brigands being crucified with Jesus whom Carter gives deeply ironic lines. The brigand wants God to be crucified instead of the man next to him, but we know that that is exactly what is happening. And when he says the line “to hell with Jehovah” the reason he gives is that he wishes the “carpenter had made the world instead,” which, again, we know is what was happening. The man being crucified next to him is none other than God himself through whom all things were made. What the brigand means as curses actually convey a word of truth along the lines of Caiaphas in John 11:50. The song conveys the image of a God who is faced with evil in his creation and who doesn’t sit on the sidelines as some suppose. Rather he get personally involved in it. Just at that moment when the brigand insists that God “doesn’t do a thing” about all the injustice in the world, God is right next to him taking that injustice on himself.
Once we grasp that the song is dripping with irony, the conclusion becomes clear. On the one hand, the brigand is right and Pippa is wrong: all is not right with the world. But they are both wrong the other count: God is not “in his heaven.” He became flesh and dwelt among; even getting so close as to hear the faint curse of those who think him far away.
And I can’t see that as “disgusting.” Quite the opposite really.
Sorry for not reading your reply vis Friday Morning. You did a much better job of exegesis than I, quoting more effectively again. I just trailed along behind, but with the same emphasis. I believe the OP never did appear to look at his comments?
I love this song and see NOTHING un Scriptural about it
. Would love to see my children grand children enjoy singing it
Thank you, Sharon. It is musical, poetic, and uplifting.
Matthew 7:2-3
2For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye?…
Luke 18:9-14
9And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11“The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14“I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I respectfully, but strongly, disagree. I was first exposed to “Lord of the Dance” by the UCLA Chaplain of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the church in which I was baptized, confirmed, and subsequently married (and where I met my wife). I am eagerly anticipating hearing “Lord of the Dance” tomorrow morning at San Dieguito United Methodist Church (encinitaschurch.com), first as a piano-and-organ duet during the offertory, then as our closing him. I see nothing whatsoever sacrilegious about it. The Shaker hymn tune is indeed uplifting, and the words are clever and fitting.
One of my absolute favourite hymns.
Singing this (and I have pretty much every day ever since I learned it in infant school 40 years ago) lifts my heart, mind and spirit. It is about dancing through your challenges, and transcendance. It carries grace and joy into the darkest and most difficult times, when all hope appears to be lost.
May this song continue to bring souls dancing to God for all generations to come.
The author needs to relax and realize that “heretical” is a completely relative term. OK, so the song is a little infantile in its imagery and in its use of the tune. Worse has been committed in the name of “sound doctrine.” “Lord of the Dance” is an OK song — far, far, far better theology and far more artistically sound than “Onward Christian Soldiers,” for example. Not every Christian image has to come from the bible, you know. What’s so “pagan” about the Lord of creation dancing among the stars? Furthermore, when did obituaries become either the theological or artistic authority for our hymnody?
Regardless of his intent, Carter’s lyrics in “Lord of the Dance” parallel the oldest Christian creeds. It identifies Jesus as part of the Trinity, Jesus as creator, Jesus’s ministry, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and Christ dwelling in us. This is clear, to Christians and atheists. Although it doesn’t use any of God’s names, that doesn’t detract from its value. It has been criticized for using the dance metaphor.
As I sing and pray this song in my heart I feel Jesus my Lord and Savior leading me in the dance … from this life to everlasting life… no matter how dark the valley or steep the hill…
Music can be a channel for the Devine . The Devine is the substance of conveyance . If Genghis Khan fashioned the pipe that carried the water from a pure mountain spring, should one refuse to drink ? Lord of the dance works for some and not for others . Any judgement concerning the author seems irrelevant . Perhaps a testament to: God can use all things for good.
Despite a lifetime of 75 years of attending worship services I only recently heard Lord of the Dance. It was one of the 3 hyms suggested by those attending a Wednesday evening Chapel Communion service at a Methodist Church in McKinney, Texas, led by an associate pastor who is a Family Brother at a Trappist Monastery. Almost immediately the tears started as I felt the nearness of God and my lifted spirit affirmed the beautiful message that reminded me of Julian of Norwich’s revelationary vision of the Trinity dancing. This hymn is good theology and a confirmation of the mystery of salvation. My heartfelt reaction told me that my soul still believes despite my intellectual doubt.
Really?
Christianity is entwined with the echoes of paganism, such as, Christmas on Dec. 25, the word Easter, Noah’s ark coming almost unchanged from Gilgamesh, even the sacrifice of Christ on the cross carries hints of older stories of sacrifices being nailed to trees. The whole idea of the holy trinity comes pretty much directly from ancient Greek philosophers and their musings on the human spirit.
If you are going to remove things from your Church, that have connections to “paganism”, you might find that large sections of your belief system end up gutted.
Maybe do some research? And leave a perfectly harmless and beautiful song alone.
Thank you for your review. I visited a Methodist Church today and had to stop singing this song due to its non biblical connotations. It is sad that those who say they truly follow Christ have more affection for a song then they have for Christ himself. The song is problematic scripturally as was the composer. For those reasons alone, it should not be sung in Church. But in our society honoring.God in spirit and in truth falls victim to warm feelings, entertainment value and apostasy. More reasons why we need a Savior. Glory be to God and God alone.
I truly agree. Instead of of us bringing the church into the world; we have brought the world into the church. That’s why all the churches are failing. Jesus is our salvation.. People revere this song more than Jesus. They are seriously misguided!
Perhaps not in a Catholic Church.
The dancing Christ motif can be found as far back as “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,” a classic medieval Christmas carol that is often sung in church. Here is the first verse:
“Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance.”
Whatever the merits of “Lord of the Dance,” it is generally considered that “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day” influenced it.
I love this song. We used to sing it in Thursday chapel at my Lutheran LCMS grade school. They still sing it at my LCMS church in Southern California. My step son and I just looked it up when he insisted the song did not have words and was called Simple Gifts. I on the other hand broke out in “dance dance wherever you shall be…” I also remember singing “we are one in the father we are one in the son…” to this tune. Perhaps that is another verse
I just heard “Lord of the Dance ” for the first time at a Easter Service . I was watching the service online as we are all at shelter in place status during the Covid -19 crisis. The pastor delivered a message of hope during this time of despair and to trust I the Lord and believe. Then the song was sung at the end -what joy was felt as you listened to the words of this song, even the little children could feel the message in the song
Easter! Where would we be without Easter? NO HOPE! On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after his crucifixion and burial. By raising from the dead, Jesus defeated the power of sin and death and purchased, for all who believe in him, eternal life in Christ Jesus. My life does not end in the cemetery.
I can tell you all are not Anglicans, and, even for Catholics, very literal, and uncomfortable with text in song that isn’t meant to be sung without some thought as to what it is about. The denials of the singer, are the denials of the crucified thieves, Christ’s companions on the hill Golgotha, and what else should they sing? The kicker, of course, is in the last line, not quoted:
“To hell with Jehovah, to the carpenter I said.
I wish that a carpenter had made the world instead.
Goodbye and good luck to you, our ways will soon divide,
Remember me in heaven, as the man you hung beside.”
Only look at it, and you see the irony, he wishes for the world the Carpenter WILL MAKE at his Ascension and Resurrection, yet to come, that he cannot then know, but that we know DID come.
Also, Sydney Carter was not a heretic, he was an Anglican. You might consider efforts at Reconciliation before you spout old-fashioned nonsense. I rather expect you might be a beater and burner, given the pulpit. Definitely not the model of a Man I’d want to take to my heart, especially not in the face of Christ’s Lessons and Humility.
I also love the song. I sing it to my daughter as a lullaby. I don’t find it heretical, whatever the inspiration of the author. I do, however, understand the objections that it isn’t necessarily appropriate for mass.
My major objection to the song (as pointed out by the USCCB’s document “Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church”) is the incorrect language blaming all Jews for the Passion. To fix this, I make this change when I sing it. From this:
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame:
The holy people said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high,
And they left me there on a cross to die:
To this:
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame:
The holy priesthood said it was a shame.
Romans whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high,
And they left me there on a cross to die:
I find it a shock, a shock to find that anyone would exclude the role of ancient pagan rituals has played in the evolving of religion.( irony intended)
The late author Father Andrew Greeley wrote many books featuring Auxiliary Bishop Blackwood Ryan (call me Blackie). LORD OF THE DANCE was always sung at family masses presided over by Blackie. Greeley always gave a job description of an Auxiliary Bishop. He compared it to a character in Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The Auxiliary Bishop’s job was to clean up the mess created by the Cardinal. I find the role of liturgists similar to the Fictional Cardinal’s mess. You can take it out of the hymnal but you can’t stop it from being sung as a meditation which frequently does not require a hymnal.