Woo-hoo!

We Mormons are getting a new hymnbook!

We interrupt our usual fare of book reviews and recipes to celebrate this event and offer our top 10 count-down for songs to add. We have borrowed liberally from our Protestant neighbors’ hymnbooks because those folks know to fill their great and spacious churches with a joyful sound.

Ready?  Let’s go!

#10: We thank the Irish for this beautiful hymn. Actually, I think it might already have won fans along the Wasatch Front; if Nathan Pacheco knows it, if BYU women’s singers have produced videos of this hymn already, then quite possibly the church music committee has already heard “Add this! Add this!” a few times over.

#9: This one also has sentimental value. My father-in-law used to sing it. I can’t remember if it was while he shuffled about the house in his loud Christmas morning pants, or if it was while playing his out-of-tune piano. But he was an adorable man who sneaked a musical gem into my memories.

It doesn’t quite knock my all-time favorite hymn off the top spot, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” but wouldn’t it be something for ward hymn-choosers to have one more we-love-nature song to sing after a long winter finally goes away?

#8: All right folks, this one is for keeping the men busy. Hear those low voices rumbling all up and down the scale? Wouldn’t it be a welcome break from singing the usual boring two-note bass part? Speak up, fellows, and vote for this hymn!

#7: I sent my opinions to the Let’s Make A New Hymnbook committee (well, they asked for them) and I wonder how quickly they figured out that I like the loud ones best. And how do you feel about it? Would you welcome more big-busted songs like this one your new hymnal?

In fact, let’s switch it out with “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It’s not that I don’t like “Battle Hymn.” It’s just that it’s been used for way too many silly camp songs. There’s no way I’d pick it for an actual church meeting, not anymore.

#6: This is one of those tunes that has multiple sets of lyrics. That could mean that the hymn tune has an easy meter, or that it is so well-loved that multiple lyricists want a shot at immortalizing it.

Or it could mean the Lutherans don’t like Baptist ideas, so they write their own words.

I can’t decide if I like the video’s “Take My Life and Let It Be . . .” or these lyrics.

What do you think?

#5: Who couldn’t use another Easter hymn? I mean, our Easter canon contains . . . well, enough songs to get us through Easter Sunday. But where have they been hiding this one?

#4: When I pick this hymn for postlude, my peripheral vision picks up people dance-walking down the aisles. There are some grandmas out there who can shake it, I tell you. Let’s give ’em a chance during the meeting to show their stuff.

#3: I love the story of this hymn’s origin: a Welsh coal miner wrote it on a piece of slate, while walking to work one day.

Some of you might be put off by the minor key. Indeed, I’ve heard a few calls to dump the sad-sack hymns that lurk, unchosen week after week, in our current hymnal.

What do you think?

Would you like it more if the organist added a little special sauce to the last verse? We can do tricks like that, you know.

#2:  This one is for the people who have grown out of the that Primary-room classic, “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” I foresee myself breaking out in its memorable chorus while I fold laundry or pet the cat or wait at stoplights. To me, it’s pretty catchy.

But what do you think?

#1: All right, my friends, we have arrived at my favorite. It’s like a favorite treat, something I would hide in the back of the pantry so nobody else eats it.

But I have no right to keep it to myself. Here you go. I’ll share.

The Protestants are good at expressing the joy and relief that Jesus brings to their lives. I would like a little bit of that to rub off on me.

And we have a few runners-up. We could add:

My Faith Looks Up to Thee

There is a Redeemer

Come Home. 

If you have opinions on the new hymnbook, on what should stay and what should go, make your wishes known here.

Vote for one of mine. Vote for all ten!!!