Hymn of the Week: April 12, 2024
I Danced in the Morning
Glory To God: 157
Text: Sydney Carter 1963
Music: Simple Gifts
Quaker Folk Song
I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.
"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.
I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they wouldn't follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and for John;
They came with me and the dance went on.
"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame,
The holy people, they said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,
And they left me there on a cross to die.
"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.
I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I'd gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.
"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.
They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that'll never, never die,
I'll live in you if you'll live in me;
"I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.
Upon his death
on March 13, 2004, at the age of 88, Sydney Bertram Carter’s obituary in the London Telegraph began with the bold assertion, “Lord of the Dance” was “the most celebrated religious song of the 20th century.” This statement deserves further examination.
Examination
“Lord of the Dance” (1962) captured the spirit of the 1960s protest movement in the United States. It became a sacred equivalent for songs by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s, including “Where Have All the Flower’s Gone” and “To Everything Turn” (later made even more popular by Peter, Paul, and Mary), as well as Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1962). While the direct – even, for some, sacrilegious – language accompanied by the folk acoustic guitar bordered on heresy for some; for others, these songs were a breath of fresh air. “Lord of the Dance” brought this sound and spirit into the church, especially in services designed to reach young people.
Born in 1915, Carter was educated at Oxford and taught high school in the 1940s. Sympathizing with the Quakers, he served in an ambulance unit with the Society of Friends during World War II. Carter began composing songs in the 1950s and 1960s, many of which remain very popular in the schools of Great Britain to this day.
Called a “carol” by Carter, “Lord of the Dance” was not the first song on this theme. “Tomorrow Will be My Dancing Day,” a seventeenth-century English carol, provided an obvious model for this famous hymn. An earlier medieval carol also explored the allegory of the dance as a metaphor for humanity’s relationship with Christ. Carter adapted a melody from the Shaker dance tune Simple Gifts. The first four stanzas appeared in the Student Christian Congress Hymns (1963), and the five-stanza version in 9 Songs or Ballads (1964). Carter’s Green Print for Song (1974) suggests that he wrote the words first and then adapted the tune of Simple Gifts to the text later. Simple Gifts has been identified as a quintessential American folk tune by composer Aaron Copeland (1900-1990), who quoted the tune as the climax of his famous symphonic work Appalachian Spring (1944).
A favorite of youth groups in the 1960s and 1970s, “Lord of the Dance” spread far beyond the Christian community, partially because the song never mentions Jesus or Christ by name. Its most famous use beyond the church is as a “Celtic” dance for Michael Flatley’s world-famous show, Lord of the Dance. The origins of the tune are not Celtic, however, but thoroughly American.
Always the iconoclast, Carter’s theological perspective may not pass all tests of orthodoxy. The opening lines of this first-person account of Christ’s life have been thought by some to “contain a hint of paganism which, mixed with Christianity, makes it attractive to those of ambiguous religious beliefs or none at all.” While inspired by the life of Jesus, Carter implied that the Hindu God Shiva as Nataraja (Shiva’s dancing pose), a statue that sat on his desk, also played a role in the song’s conception. The choice of an adapted Shaker tune for the melody – sometimes called the “Shaking Quakers” who were known for their vigorous dancing during their rituals – rounds out the dance theme. Carter acknowledged the theological contradictions, but never attempted to resolve them.
He notes: “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.”
For the complete text, see http://celtic-lyrics.com/lyrics/309.html (a misnomer since neither the lyrics nor the tune are “Celtic”). The second stanza mentions that the “scribes and Pharisees” would not join in with the dance, but the “fishermen, . . . James and John” did continue the dance with the Dancer. The third stanza has been viewed by some as anti-Semitic – “the holy people said it was a shame” – leading to Christ’s crucifixion.
The fourth stanza has one of those turns of phrases that are typical of many folk-based songs – “it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back” – a bit shocking for those who have grown up with “Abide with Me,” yet offering a different perspective on this central narrative in the Christian experience. The final stanza captures the untainted joy of the Resurrection when the dance is complete and all are invited – “I’ll live in you if you live in me.”
Carter placed the primary emphasis on faith rather than creeds or theology. He asserts: “Faith is more basic than language or theology.” Later, he continues this idea: “Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on.”
Welsh Hymnologist Alan Luff writes perceptively, “In his notes on his songs Carter insisted that they are to be seen in a state of coming to be, and, although some have now been printed many times in books, they need always to be approached as ready to be remade. He abhorred finality, and called his book Green Print for Song, not ‘Blue Print’, because a blue-print was a final draft. He wrote his own tunes, but did not claim to be a musician. He has been fortunate in his arrangers, but none of their versions should be thought of as authentic or final.”
Alzheimer’s disease began to take a toll on Carter by 1999. He was lovingly cared for by his second wife Leela Nair until his death. A friend, Rabbi Lionel Blue, commented after a visit, “our only contact is a thin thread of memory and his songs. I start singing them, and he joyfully joins in—and I leave him as he continues singing.”
C. Michael Hawn is University Distinguished Professor of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, SMU.
Thank you, Linda Habig!
