Sunday, as the Pastor ended his teaching, he said we would now sing a great hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. I noticed on the bulletin for the day that it was the closing hymn, but I wondered why there was no hymn number as usual; after all, it is in our hymnal. I soon found out!
The band started a musical introduction that had nothing to do with the hymn, which had me really confused until the overhead noted that Matt Boswell was listed as one of the authors. Oh brother! Another person without much imagination stole a song and added a bridge/chorus with a whole different tune, which was added after verses three and four, with that last time repeated. And don’t forget the obligatory instrumental bridges between verses.
Since you know the real song, let me show you the bridge/chorus, and you can listen to it here.
A mighty fortress, a rock unfailing
The King of Glory forever amen
For endless ages enthroned in praises
The King of Glory forever amen
For this tiny addition Matt is probably earning thousands of dollars with his theft. The whole point is to get excitement going — manufactured enthusiasm — with increase in octave and band action.
This piece was meant for recording and selling — what I call a “radio song.” It should not have been brought into the assembly. No one, who hadn’t heard the recording previously, would have any idea of the tune and lyrics of the fraudulent addition to the stolen song.
Were the added lyrics okay? Yes. Was the added tune fairly easy to learn? Yes. However, I’m really tired of the Church pandering to these lazy artists who steal to enrich themselves, and pandering to the younger generations who can’t handle a hymn sung with dignity.
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