Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

"I Have Decided to follow Jesus" always rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

illuminator wrote:"I Have Decided to follow Jesus" always rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

Maybe it was the mindless repeating of the phrase 3 or 4 times per stanza? The whole chorus stuff with lots of repeating tended to be a turn off for me. After I say a phrase 3 or 10 times I am surely no longer thinking about it. Just filler at that point on a lot of songs. of course ...IMHO

illuminator wrote:"I Have Decided to follow Jesus" always rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

At least in the hymnals we used there was an ominously unspecific phrase, listed near the copyright for this song: "Folk song from India." I don't know whether there's any truth to that but it gave me something to think about while singing the repetitive lyrics, KLP.

Lev

I think because it's used so much, so heavily as an invitational song, and I see the walk of shame as performed by mindless automatons, zombies if you will, it and so many others are just creepy and repulsive. Kinda the anti-Price Is Right!

I heard one commentator say that songs used by the coc are made up of old hymns they won't give up, mindless and boring hymns, and modern day love songs. They refuse to sig modern songs due to fear of being associated with denominations. Old hymns have been given a coc twist that's sometimes printed in the book, or some good sister went and edited a hymnal (I mean songbook, cocers do not say hymnal), or the church sigs a song "their" way confusing the hell out of visitors. But modern songs the coc sings are personalized love letter to Jesus.

I always had issues with Onward Christian Soldiers and Power in the Blood.

There is pair, pair, wonder-working pair!

On a similar note, I could not stand Are You Warshed in the Blood?

It was always weird to hear to hear Albert Brumley tunes condemned as "Baptist," when he was actually a C of C'er. One of the churches I attended in college had a Mosie Lister fetish and pretty much gave the man, a Baptist deacon, honorary C of C status.

One I really couldn't stomach was "Come Unto Me." Everyone sang it at a dragging pace. "Come, O Come Unto Me....all ye that labor....." Nice lyrics in the stanzas, but seemed to go on forever. "Living for Jesus" was another one people liked to drag.
And almost every congregation I went to had some old Bubba type who wanted to sing bass but faked it, and loudly, or some loud biddy who "sang" alto off-key.

Never disliked this, but have to mention it here:

"Low in the gravy lay.....etc, etc, etc.....

UPFROMTHEGRA-VY a ROSE!!!

...and they would give it all the drama they could muster.....

Allllmost persuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaded harvest is paaaast
Allllmost persuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaded doom comes at laaaaaaaaaast

Agricola, here is "Light the Fire" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp1Pij0po2k. I much prefer the Doors version, but it can be a very pretty song.

I think Lev mentioned The Greatest Commands, a four-part harmony song/cacophony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDRLrz_Hf_c Personally I always liked it *because* of the cacophony, but I'm weird. God forbid anyone be an alto and try to sing another song after carrying this one though.

Blue Skies and Rainbows is a hot mess that irritates me. So does Sing and Be Happy today. Other than that, most of the hymns are ones I love because I had converted from another denomination to the coc and then left for another denomination.