AN OPEN LETTER TO THOSE
PRODUCING CHRISTIAN HYMN AND
CHRISTMAS MUSIC RECORDINGS

STOP MESSING WITH THE CLASSICS

Too many musicians, singers, composers, lyricists, record producers, and record companies want to tamper with classic hymns and Christmas songs. STOP IT! These are not improvements. You are offending people and causing problems when you make changes to these classic songs.

What you are doing that is offensive:

• Changing the lyrics
• Changing the tune
• Changing the timing
• Leaving out verses
• Shortening the song to meet airplay standards *
• Substituting new verses
• Leaving out some of the lyrics
• Moving the lyrics around
• Adding musical interludes †
• Adding lyrics
• Adding a chorus or bridge where none existed
• Changing old language to modern language
• Singing wrong lyrics by not knowing the correct lyrics.
• Changing lyrics to be sexually neutral.
• Making the song Politically Correct

Why these things are objected to:

• People like to sing along to hymns and carols they know. Changing the lyrics or tune prevents this.
• People expect to hear the entire story the hymn or carol provides.
• Adding musical interludes or a chorus usually means leaving something else out.
• People get confused when going back to the real hymn.
• Our heritage is trampled on by the changes.
• Making the song gender-neutral means that it is no longer Christian.
• Making the song Politically Correct means that it is no longer Christian.
  Political Correctness is a different religion. Democrats created PC by plagiarizing the anti-war Baha'i religion.

Why these horrible things are being done:

• Musicians, singers, composers, lyricists, record producers, and record companies want new materials they can copyright. They want the royalties. But they have the recording, which is always copyrighted. That should be enough.
• The singer changes the lyrics to ones seh can remember easier.
• The singer changes the tune because seh can't hit some of the notes
• They leave out verses to make the record fit within the 3 1/2 minute airplay limit. *
• The producer or the record company is offended by lyrics about the Cross.
• The producer or the record company is offended by lyrics about the world ending.
• The singer changes the lyrics because the original lyrics are hard to sing.
• The singer or lyricist wants to add sehr own twist to the song.
• The singer or producer hates the archaic lyrics in some songs.
• The singer sings the wrong lyrics by not knowing the correct ones.
• Someone wants the recording to be Politically Correct

Examples of these objectionable changes:

• Changing the beginning of the second verse of Joy to the World from "Joy to the earth" to "Joy to the world".
• How Great Thou Art with the third verse left out because they don't like the message of the Cross.
• In Amazing Grace some versions remove the verses where people go to heaven forever and replace them with verses where the present earth does not pass away.
• Amazing Grace with a new tune and an added new chorus.
• Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee with the last stanza of each verse removed and a new chorus added.
• Several versions of Deck the Halls have "Troll the ancient Yuletide carols" instead of "Toll the ancient Yuletide carols". Are they invoking ugly dwarves who have troll bridges?
• A new tune for Nothing but the Blood with new verses and using the old verses for the choruses. The old chorus does not appear.

Oh Holy Night - the most abused song

Various versions encountered by the page author:

• The first verse and its chorus, followed by half of the first verse and its chorus, with no other verses.
• Only the first and second verse.
• Only the first and third verse.
• Only the first and third verse, with the first verse chorus repeated afterward.
• Only the first and third verse, with the chorus of the first verse substituted for the chorus of the third verse.
• Only the first and third verses, with an entirely new "noel" chorus ‡ substituted for the third verse chorus.
• Only the first and third verses, with the first line of the third verse removed and the same "noel" chorus substituted for the third verse chorus.
• Only the first and third verses, with the first chorus after the third verse, followed by half of the third chorus.
• All three verses, but with the same "noel" chorus substituted for the third verse chorus.

The page author has NEVER heard a recording of Oh Holy Night with all three verses intact.

Examples of changes I don't object to:

• Putting Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee lyrics in the original setting of the verses in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125.
• Interleaving the two tunes used for Away in a Manger for alternate verses.
• Interleaving the two tunes used for How Firm a Foundation for alternate verses.
• Actual parodies of songs.
• New songs with no connections to old songs.
• New songs that mention old songs by title.

* - This was the maximum capacity of one side of a 10-inch 78 rpm record, which radio stations adopted as the maximum length of a popular song for broadcast. This remained the standard until The Beatles released Hey Jude in 1968 at 7 minutes 11 seconds. At the time, it was the longest 45 rpm record side ever sold. It was number 1 for 9 weeks. They then revised the airplay standards for exceptions for special songs.

† - Objectionable only when used to facilitate one of the other objectionable items.

‡ - Actually, this is the French chorus.

seh, sehm, sehmself, sehs, sehr - Gender-neutral subject, object, reflexive, and possessive pronouns, and possessive adjective.