I have a friend who is a convert. And she was telling our ex-mo and closeted apostate friends how she can't stand to hear the songs As Sisters in Zion and Army of Helaman.

What sorts of hymns and songs did you guys hate hearing or singing when you guys were still in?

"Praise to the Man." I was never comfortable with singing that hymn, even when I was a TBM. Also "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet." The final lines in that hymn sounds so arrogant.

The last 2 lines of "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet" go as follows:

While they who reject this glad message
Will never such happiness know.

I have thought that what a lot of Mormons are likely really thinking when they sing those two lines is this:

While they who reject this glad message
Will go straight to hell, don't you know.

As a TBM, I hated “I Believe in Christ.” The lyrics are so awkward and amateurish. Even as a believer, I was certain that if anyone other than Bruce R. McConkie had written those lyrics, there would have been zero chance it would have been included in the hymnal.

I was right on the verge of typing the exact same thing. And yes, it only found its way into the hymnbook because McConkie wrote it. The melody just drones on and repeats twice each verse so you end up singing the same god awful melody 8 times if all 4 verses are sung. It's just awful at face value. And that's just the music. If you consider that sanctimonious prick McConkie wrote it, it just becomes that much worse.

...Oh How Lovely was the Morning
...Israel, Israel God Is Calling (yes, I dislike “What a Friend We Have In Jesus,” too)
...Onward, Ever Onward...

Renee Fleming? Elizabeth Schwarzkopf? Kiri Te Kanawa?

"There is sunshine in my soul today"

A bouncy, breezy tune deliberately designed to lift the spirits with lyrics designed to Do You Good!

In similar vein, "Let us oft speak kind words to each other".

Scrub as I'm scrubbing, Follow follow me.

Most of them really. Singing their hymns are a control tactic and direct brainwashing IMO.

Families can be together forever and love at home.

I hated my home and family life and prefered going to hell rather than being with them.

That was the one I hated the most also. A whole chapel full of people singing "Love At Home," and putting on the smiling happy family face when most of them were just as unhappy at home in their dysfunctional families as we were. Another one I really hated was "Oh My Father." I can't even really pinpoint why. Maybe part of it was the droning melody, but I think it was also that it was a begging song... "oh please, Father, tell me why you've put me in this world that makes no sense. Please, please please..."

The church music is something I really liked about the church services. From the primary music to Sacrament, and choral selections for choirs.

Having been Sacrament chorister for five years, I was raised on those songs. It wasn't the music that drove me away. It was the people and the phony doctrine. Knowing what I know now, "Oh how lovely was the morning," would be my most unfavorite. Because it's a load of BS.

The other songs were okay IMO. Some were better than okay. Loved "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," song. And many others. "Come, come ye saints" is a cult classic.

That was funny! ( a cult classic).Im sure when you go to the synagogue, you hear some good music, with the cantor and all.

Yeah, I do. We sing a Debby Friedman song each sabbath for healing. It's called "Mi Sheiberach."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHKo3CjuzpY

There seemed to be a lot of those.

I hated "Choose the Right," Do What Is Right," and "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?".

Popcorn popping on the appracot tree.

Polly:)

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I'd blocked that one out. It's as least as bad as the other three I hate.

Always sounded like a Communist song to me.

I enjoyed many of the older hymns but those were probably borrowed from other faiths.

The newer hymns, written by LDS people, suck mud in my opinion.
They all seem to have been written by seriously depressed people.

I Stand All Amazed.

It's such a sappy text to begin with, set to insipid music. Couple that with the incompetent organists in a typical Mormon ward, and the redundant "choristers" trying to emote their way through even as they have no idea how to grapple with changing meters, and you get the perfect storm of Mormon musical mediocrity.

> redundant "choristers" trying to emote their way
> through even as they have no idea how to grapple
> with changing meters,

Yes, it's difficult to cope with feeding those coins in to stop the gas and electricity running out :-)

(sorry - just *couldn't* resist it)

The most gruesome one for me was Popcorn Popping On The Apricot Tree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqfenhNzsCU

It's a lot easier to say what I liked. I liked the melody of "A Poor Wayfaring Man." The lyrics are good, but no Mormon would ever follow them. Never.

Put your Shoulder to the Wheel. It makes me want to grow claws and fangs just thinking about it.

Sounds like it was written for Communist workers.

It was.

I am a child of God and that Follow the Prophet song was the worst

Do the adults sing the Army of Helaman song? I've been out almost two decades now, so I don't know all the trends. I know there are other primary songs, like Called to Serve and I am a Child of God, that the adults now sing regularly. But the Helaman song is just so funny for adults to be singing some song about a fictional cartoon-like character.

It's like they're singing: speed of lightning, roar of thunder
fighting all who rob or plunder, Underdog!U-u-u-u-Underdog, Underdog!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2018 06:01PM by NormaRae.

I cant wait to go on a Mission, or something like that??

I just remember its about A Mission????

I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two..I hope by then I will be ready to teach and preach and serve like the missionaries do.

Yukkk..yeah I hated that song.

My least favoite was "o' god the eternal father". So somber and slow! "I kkow that my redeemer lives" came in close second. I always preferred the upbeat tempo songs. "I am a child of god" always got under my skin, mostly becauase it was so overused.

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My dad and his sister used to sing "Unanswered Yet" as a duet. my dad has a really nice voice, but his sister sounds like a garbage truck in its trash-crushing mode.

Without thinking, this dumb jingle started to play in my mind.

Count your blessings. Yuck!

I hated that one because those were the very words that a counselor in the stake presidency uttered when he advised me that the church would offer ZERO help. Part of the residence where I was staying burned to the ground.

I generally liked singing the hymns. I thought many of them were beautiful or inspiring. I was usually the ward organist.

After having been out of the church for about 25 years, I was back in my home town and found myself in sacrament meeting for some family occasion (missionary homecoming?) sitting next to my TBM father. After the meeting, which included three or four hymns, my dad asked me, smiling, "Didn't you enjoy singing the old hymns?" I said, "Dad, none of those songs were 'old hymns' - I had never heard any of them before!"

The one hymn that I always found ridiculous was "How Firm A Foundation," especially the phrase "yoohoo unto Jesus! yoohoo unto Jesus! yoohoo unto Jesus!..."

But I never laughed.

Here comes the oxcart!

Pretty much any song about Pioneers.

Did you know Christian churches don't sing about famous church fathers or reformers? They sing about God. Not Joe, or the pioneers.

Then again I was from a generation where parents forcibly dressed their children like pioneers

Put your shoulder to the wheel

There is work enough to do

Dearest children God is near you

There are Bunch that bother me now though that didn't before. Especially praise to the man.

What you say is true but many (most?) Christian churches today have given up hymns for modern choruses. It is a process that has created a lot of discussion between generations.

As a kid, we had to sing some new children's song that the primary music leaders had become obsessed with over, and over, and over.

"Heavenly Father are you really there? And do your hear and answer every child's prayer?"

Still, by the 2012 U.S. Presidential election, I had some fun with this one:

"President Romney are you really there? And if you are can I see that magic underwear?"

There is a Green Hill Far Away. So monotonous.

Ere You Left Your Room This Morning, Did You Think To Pray? Ugh.

Little Purple Pansies. The worst Primary song ever.

I was RLDS, not LDS, but the hymn I loathed the most was called "The Old, Old Path." I don't know if they sing that one in any other church, but even today it sets my teeth on edge. :lol: