I quit using it because of a cantor who dragged it so badly, it sounded like an Irish dirge. She said it had lots of words and singing it slowly made them understood. I said it had one syllable per note. How was that different from anything else?

Of course, one could make the argument that "They'll Know We Are Christians" sounds eerily like "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac, and that "Gather Us In" could flow into the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". ;)

No, I don't.
And I also don't see a compelling reason to associate a perfectly beautiful melody, KELVINGROVE, with a benign Beatle's song for the purposes of this forum.
Can we grow up eventually?

Well, RC, CVStanford obviously didn't find it "sing songy" as he included it in his compendium of Isle's Folk Tunes circa early 20c. I have the book.
OTOH, I tend to make some distinctions between Bell's co-opting and others, particularly when a "major" personality decides that "Skye boat song" would make a lovely vehicle for a "liturgical" text, presumably because all things Celtic are gold, Jerry, Gold, I'm tellin' ya.

I'm with some on here - I actually like the tune. But I find the lyrics to be dreadful. I mean, nice pastoral theme, but how many pronouns can one fit into a piece: "Will YOU come and follow ME if I but call YOUR name..." Or from verse 4: Will YOU love the "YOU" YOU hide if I but call YOUR name?" It's like a sentence with quintuple negatives - you're left wondering what it all REALLY means...

Francis, "Kelvingrove," is a folk tune with secular texts just like "Kingsfold," "Slane" and "O waly waly" that were collected during the Nationalist-Romantic era by the likes of VW, Holst, Stanford etc. Similar to way "Suo gan" and "Skye Boat Song" have been, uh, appropriated of late.

yes, problematic.
But it's popularity has skyrocketed with PIPs, having now the cachet in my estimation of Toolanbread, Hurd's Ubi Caritas, and then the other usual suspects.

i played the piece for presentation of the gifts sat night and got a response from numerous parishioners akin to the gag reflex so i scrapped it for sunday masses altogether.

@Charles: LOL!

Hehehe ROFL

"Slane" was collected as an Irish religious song tune, though. There are some others that are known, but they're mostly not used. Ironically.

And yes, it was reasonably common to use song tunes as devotional song tunes, back in the day (not that priests were happy about it, necessarily), but people usually picked tunes that were considered neutral or positive. For example, the poet O'Sullivan used "Sean O’Dwyer of the Glen” (aka “Sean O Duibhir a’Gleanna”), “Flowers of Edinburgh” (aka “Blaith Dun Laidir”), “Carolan’s Devotion” (aka “Miss Fetherston”), “Ur Mhic na Croinne”, and “Eamonn an Chnoic” (aka "Ned of the Hill"). Some of those are a bit political in their connotations, but it's not suicide ballads. Others that were used include "“Nora Ni Aille”, “Cois Leasa,” and "An Clar Bog Deil"/"Caiseal Mhumhan" ("The Soft Deal Board" or "Cashel of Munster") which is a love song but one advocating marriage. So....

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Oh, goodness. I'd forgotten that "Kelvingrove" was "The shearin's no for you." I knew there was another song, but I couldn't think of it.

Good song, but although it's happier than "Waly Waly," it's actually a bit more searing if you take the interpretation that it's her own father (disappointed with her conduct, but not tasking her like the usual ballad father) singing it, instead of the gentler versions where it's her husband happy about the pregnancy. Either way, the song is all about a woman being so pregnant she can't shear a sheep or buckle her shoe.

As opposed to the later one where the couple is roving through beautiful groves and you keep waiting for her to get murdered down by the riverbank, until you realize it's an advertisement for Kelvingrove instead.

Yeah... modern people have some weird, weird taste in hymn tunes. Why don't we just start the Catholic Sex, Murder, and Suicide Ballad Hymnal?

At least use slow airs, folks. Much safer.

Watch it Francis, don't be messin' with the Beatles. Genius is genius, no heed the genre.

call me mean mister mustard if you want... i just call em as i see em!

F-F-Francis- the colloquialism is correctly rendered, according to a recently discovered epistle by St. Whirlygig's ancestor in the early Church, The desert father St. Mikrocosmos Bartalk of Ephesus, "I calls 'em as I's sees 'em. I'm pretty sure LA and Ecclesia Dei will have my back on this.
And "Mister Mustard" isn't apropos as well, thou wouldst be Beatle anathema thenceforth known to all as among those deemed "Blue Meanies."
What sorteth of Boomer art thou, that ye mixeth alliterative board game lexiconary among the fine tapestry of the Fabbeth Firth of Four?

And if anyone's wondering, yes, I do this on the fly. However I don't do children's birthday parties or Bar Mitsvahs. Be here all week.

And they say we "traddies" are a joyless lot!

I actually don't hear too much of a similarity. There are plenty of hymns (or songs?) that sound just like some popular secular songs though. I can't remember which hymn it is, but one sounds so much like Georgy Girl that I can move in and out between the two flawlessly.

ROFL.

One of my favorites is Dan Schutte's "Behold the Wood"....the verses sound like a slowed down version of the Gilligan's Island theme...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJafTkopGko