3.20.2004

Hymns Ancient and Modern

I recently bought the Passion CD by that name, several traditional hymns arranged in modern rock style (most to the original tunes, a few to new ones). And of course, many of them sound like a U2 cover band taking a shot at "Go spread your trophies at His feet, and crown Him Lord of all." But here is the thing this made me think about: while I have no desire at all to hear U2 do "Open the eyes of my heart" or "O sacred King," I would love to hear them do one of the really theologically rich classic hymns.

Of course they have used "Amazing Grace" live plenty of times. But driving home today I was trying to pick a hymn text with which U2 could do a particularly effective job. The Wesleys came to mind for obvious reasons, and I thought of "Come, O thou Traveller unknown," because it's a Bible passage they've already treated, and kind of like "Exit" or "Tomorrow" in starting with dark struggle and ambiguity but then breaking through into something stunning. (Although they'd probably end it after verse three, with an instrumental, right?) Or perhaps "Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun?", with its sun/son wordplay, some apt concern about hypocrisy, and even the ol' U2 "change the meaning on the last line" technique. That one might not be directly Biblical enough for U2, though.

So.... Other nominations? My only requirement is that it has to be a classic hymn, not a praise song.

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