Blogocentric Formulations

Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the Joy Divine

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"Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee"
by David Stillson

                   

This is actually one of my favorite holiday songs, even though it's not really specifically about the holidays at all. They just happen to play it a lot in churches this time of year, and it's one I look forward to every year. I actually like the upbeat rock version my church plays, but I couldn't find a video or a recording to include for this challenge, so I'm instead including a version by a very talented musician that has the same general tempo to the song and remarkably plays all the instruments and does the vocals entirely by himself.

One of the reasons it's so hard to find a good (IMO) version of this song is because a lot of people perform a version that's very slow. It's actually based on a hymn, so I think there's a tendency for people to take the song seriously and make it contemplative... which in my opinion is a mistake because it's supposed to be an uplifting song that's joyful and exciting. I think the pop/rock versions of the song do a better job of capturing the essence of the song than a traditional choir or breathy vocalist.

If this song sounds familiar, it's because the chords are based on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" which is one of the most famous classical compositions ever (it's the final movement of Beethoven's final Symphony No. 9). And the lyrics are taken from " The Hymn of Joy

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flow'rs before Thee,
Opening to the Sun above,
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays,
stars and angels sing around Thee,
center of unbroken praise:
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain,
call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blest,
well-spring of the joy of living,
ocean-depth of happy rest!
Thou the Father, Christ our Brother,—
all who live in love are Thine:
Teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the Joy Divine.

Mortals join the mighty chorus,
which the morning stars began;
Father-love is reigning o'er us,
brother-love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music lifts us sunward
in the triumph song of life.

," written in 1907 by Henry van Dyke, which has been suggested as being one of the best expressions of joy in all English language hymnals. Over the years, performers have rearranged the poem, substituted some words and phrases for others, and even introduced entirely new lyrics like one David Stillson (and many other church bands) adopted, which starts the song with:

We sing in jubilation, adoration, to our joyful king
You are spinning, you are singing, zealous love over all your children.

I know it's not strictly a holiday song, but if there's a song out there that can get me into the Christmas spirit in the blink of an eye, it's this one. Or Mariah Carey. Casting Crowns also does a decent version of this song although they replace "Three" with "You" to give it a more modern sound. And a band called Go Fish did a pretty decent version but substitutes a lot of the lyrics for simpler ones because they wrote the song to reach an audience of younger children. Personally, I prefer the versions that are a little closer to the original hymn so van Dyke's contribution isn't totally mangled... but any rock/pop/upbeat version of this song is an improvement over the stuffy slow hymn.