Happy Hundredth Hymn! Thanks, readers, for being here, commenting, engaging, and occasionally educating. Only 390 more to go!
Now… this song is a unquestionably a zipper song. It is highly repetitive and easy to learn. What’s fun about it is when people start harmonizing – it turns it from ‘dear god make it stop’ (with flashbacks to 60 prepubescent campers on a bus singing ’99 Bottles of Beer’ until you die a little inside) to fun, communal sing-along. And the lyrics move – joy and sorrow intertwined.
And here’s a little bit of fun that I discovered this morning quite by accident while waiting for the coffee to brew: “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” is a perfect countermelody. I’m not sure what the point of the mashup would be, but it’s a reminder of how similar songs can be when the appear to come from the same root, the same locale, the same peoples.
There’s not much else for me to say musically. That being said, I am always surprised when a simple song like this suddenly gets to something deep. Because emotionally, this song reflects what I suspect many of us long for these days – moving, active, forceful peace, joy, love – to help us through the pain and tears – to help give us towering strength. There are a lot of hard days ahead, and we need peace, not like a stagnant pond but like a moving, thriving, ever-changing river.
I’ve got peace like a river,
I’ve got peace like a river,
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul. (2x)I’ve got joy like a fountain…
I’ve got love like an ocean…
I’ve got pain like an arrow…
I’ve got tears like the raindrops …
I’ve got strength like a mountain …
May we have all we need.
The point of such a wonderful mashup is that the kids will be over the moon to learn this on Sunday! – and using two songs they know well makes it easy for them to learn a cool musical skill! Thank you, thank you.