This morning I have been to a Christening. Here is a line from one of the hymns...
"And if I were a fuzzy, wuzzy bear, I'd thank you Lord for my fuzzy wuzzy hair, but I just thank you, Father, for making me 'me'"
And they wonder why the Church of England is losing its congregation!
Did the fuzzy wuzzy bear have a name perchance?
ReplyDeleteIan,
ReplyDeleteI find that very poor taste.Sorry
Whatever happened to "Hymns - Ancient and Modern" ?
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the vicar didn't start playing his guitar in accompaniment.
It is extremely insulting and demeaning to bears to call them fuzzy wuzzies and has strong overtones of racial abuse. I call for all Church of England hymn writers to be put to the sword immediately. The Archbishop of Canterbury must issue a global apology to all bears everywhere who have ever existed, as a necessary first step. Only by these means can we rid ourselves of the cancer of bearism within our society.
ReplyDeleteWasn't the whole problem that the fuzzy-wuzzies didn't like the name of the bear?
ReplyDeleteBut did it have a good tune? ;)
ReplyDeleteWashbrook, I agree, the whole hymn is in poor taste. Or are you saying the church of england is beyond critisicm? In my view it is in this case beyond parody.
ReplyDeletePoor Miss Gibney
ReplyDeleteOver a hundred years ago she could have look for help from Gordon of Khartoum known to history as a Hero. Today she looks toward Gordon of Kirkcaldy known to history as Mr Bean.
Maybe it was a contemporary nod to current bear politics?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we now are assured that God loves bears -- Paddington is overly sensitive here, there is no need to sir the bear masses up into a frenzy.
There's more:
ReplyDeletewww.butterflysong.com
In fact a whole CD, from the USA
Ian .
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't you publish the whole hymn.
Are you also saying are you beyond critisicm?(YOURS)
CORRECT SPELLING criticism.
Iain, I agree. Having attended a C of E primary school, I was forced to sing along with this drivel in assemblies. This 'hymn' alone played a considerable part in my transformation from agnostic to atheist.
ReplyDeleteThis is from the Butterfly Song, originates in America.Another line is 'I thank you Lord for raising my trunk'. The same guy has also penned another song idealy suited to NuLab called 'I just wanna be a sheep, Baa Baa Baa Baa.' Lines include 'Don't wanna be an hypocrite..cause they're not hip to it. Don't wanna be a goat....nope,Haven't got any hope...nope.
ReplyDeleteWe used to sing that song in Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Northern Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI think you ought, for copyright puspoes, credit the writer of that hymn, "The Butterfly Song", who is Brian Howard. Indeed, it has its own website www.butterflysong.com.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually a very popular hymn with young families, and is therefore helping to bring a new generation into our churches. If we stuck with "Hymns Ancient and Modern" we'd be left with the odd Maiden Aunt and Retired Colonel in the pews.
That's a children's song trying to explain a concept in children's terms. What were you expecting at a Christening, Noel Gallagher?
ReplyDeleteAndrew Marr today describing Labour as having broke 'the rules' - 'framed as laws'.I complained to the BBC about this on Saturday.LAWS were broken - NOT RULES.The BBC will do anything to sublimilaly form opinion in favour of Labour.
ReplyDeleteWe have family services in our village with hymns like that and others following the Book of Common Prayer. The family services have congregations of 50+ people and the BCP services get 5 or 6. End of discussion.
ReplyDeleteWashbrook may perhaps be referring to yourself repeating this story to an audience of millions (er, ish) rather than to the children's hymnal that includes it?
ReplyDeleteHopefully you sang with gusto? Avoiding offence to anthromorphically inclined pagan parents.
I prefer the old forms, with phrases like, 'as ye shall answer for it on the dreadful day of judgment.'
ReplyDeleteIain
ReplyDeleteThe full, ghastly, lyrics are here:
http://tinyurl.com/27xj7z
So that's what he meant by Suffer Little Children.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any consolation to the CofE, I remember repeatedly being given that hymn to sing as a pupil in a Catholic primary school 20-25 years ago. I've just discovered I still know the tune and many of the words, and it's only marginally less irritating than "He's got the whole world in his hands".
ReplyDeleteI think they realised these hymns were more suitable for children than adults, however.
It's a children's song ... what's wrong with singing a children's song at a christening service? It's been around for over 30 years and in my experience has been a favourite of Sundayschool children for all of that time, especially if you do the actions for all the different animals. It actually contains quite a reasonable message: we thank God for making us, and praise Him in whatever way we can, not worrying about what colour, size, shape (or fuzziness) we might happen to be :)
ReplyDeleteI remember going to a Christening with childish hymns like that, I felt like the attendees were being treated like retards.
ReplyDeleteLook up Christus Vincit on Google - the fight for decent church music is back in business. Paul Inwood must be brought to account for insipid melodies and profiting from unbearable mass settings.
ReplyDeleteThe old CofE can't win with the likes of you, Iain. If they try to get with the times, you accuse them of selling out.
ReplyDeleteIf they stick to the party line on homosexuality you accuse them of being homophobic.
Heads you win, tails they lose...
And I think your criticism rings rather like the criticism of West Ham by a Man Utd 'supporter' who has not been in a football ground in the last decade..Think about it.
I think a huge number of non-churchgoing but otherwise practising Christians would agree wholeheartedly with you...
ReplyDeleteTo be fair it's a good deal more uplifting than many of the other hymns you could have heard.
ReplyDeleteAlso - it's children's hymn and a favourite at that; one that's been sung on 'Songs of Praise' and is used by just about every school in the land!
Fuzzy wuzzy wuzza bear
ReplyDeleteFuzzy wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy wuzzy wuzzn't fuzzy, wuzzy.
The Fuzzy Wuzzies don't like it up em!!
ReplyDeleteWell, I went to my parish church this morning and we had three rousing traditional advent hymns from Hymns Old and New, which we use alternatively with the New English Hymnal, and all three are probably in A&M too - but does anyone use A&M any more - it lacks lots of the hymns people enjoy singing?
ReplyDeleteBUT if it had been a christening we would likely as not have had a song that the Sunday School and smaller children knew (we have a successful Sunday School and about 20% of our congregation are children). And the bit you quoted seemed reasonably sound, theologically!
The Vicar (well, she is the Vicar but we call her our priest) doesn't play the guitar - but our organist can switch to the piano for that sort of music (and compose himself where necessary).
And OUR congregatiuon isn't shrinking - nor, on aveage are congregations in our rather liberal Diocese - Southwark
Was that before or after they danced and waved their silk flags? or before or after they spoke in tongues.
ReplyDeleteThat was what happenned at a christening I attended....my own children's! I thanked the vicar who said
'Call me George'
Will 'Glad-Handing' at Labour Party functions henceforth be known as 'GRAND-HANDING'?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that it was an evangelical church, if it had songs like that. (I refuse to call them hymns). And by and large, it is those churches which are growing in numbers...
ReplyDeleteHmm...
ReplyDeleteThis is not a 'hymn': it is a children's song for use within the context of children's ministry. It may help (or not!) to see the entire lyric:
If I were a butterfly,
I'd thank you, Lord, for giving me wings;
And if I were a robin in a tree, I'd thank you Lord, that I could sing;
And if I were a fish in the sea, I'd wiggle my tail and I'd giggle with glee;
But I just Thank You Father, for making me - ME!
'Cause you gave me a heart and You gave me a smile
You gave me Jesus, and You made me His Child
And I just Thank You, Father For making me - ME!
If I were an elephant,
I'd thank you, Lord, by raising my trunk;
And if I were a kangaroo, I'd hop, hop, hop, right up to you;
And if I were an octopus, I'd thank you, Lord, for my good looks;
But I just Thank You, Father, for making me - ME!
'Cause you gave me a heart and You gave me a smile,
You gave me Jesus, and You made me His Child
And I just Thank You, Father For making me - ME!
If I were a wiggly worm,
I'd thank you, Lord, that I could squirm;
And if I were a crocodile,
I'd thank you, Lord, for my big smile;
And if I were a fuzzy wuzzy bear,
I'd thank you, Lord, for my fuzzy, wuzzy hair;
But I just Thank You, Father, for making me - ME!
'Cause you gave me a heart and You gave me a smile,
You gave me Jesus, and You made me His Child
And I just Thank You, Father For making me - ME!
Okay, okay, it's not quite up to linguisic majesty of His Grace's Prayer Book, but children love it, and they love doing the actions. When did you last do the actions to a song, Mr Dale? (You don't have to answer that...)
It beggars belief that the vicar chose this for an exclusively adult service, so His Grace has no doubt that its inclusion was for the sake of the children, all of whom, Mr Dale, the Prime Minister reminded us we must suffer to come unto us.
One good website for a serious analysis of the direness of so many modern hymns is:
ReplyDeletehttp://cathythinks.blogspot.com/
Clothilde Simon
How would a fuzz wuzzy "bear" thank the Lord or know about the Lord. Why didn't the parents put a stop to this ridiculous piece of thought fascism. My God! Thought fascism at the baptismal font!
ReplyDeleteThe CofE is the most militantly anti-Christian organisation in Britain. I loathe them.
Was the vicar in a clerical collar or sweats and trainers?
Ho Ho Ho;
ReplyDeleteHee Hee Hee;
I-love-God-and-God-loves-me;
Just send the money.
It's losing its congregation because it peddles superstition, and because we're no longer in the dark ages. Doesn't really matter how they dress it up, a more educated society always abandons superstition.
ReplyDeleteEven granting the point that it's a children's "hymn", why would you play a children's hymn at a baby's christening - a holy service?
ReplyDeleteWho held the baby while they did all the hand moves?
So opinion going against Iain on this one then?
ReplyDeleteoh careful Iain, you've insulted the fish car sticker types. 40 lashes for you.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, in the context of a children's hymn its surely fine, and it has a non-judgemental message which is refreshing from any religion. I know my 3 year old would love it, if I was minded to send him to Sunday School, which I'm not.
I bet the kids loved it.
ReplyDeleteIt's the last line I loathe "... for making me ME"
ReplyDeleteMe, me, me.
Remember the advertising slogan "I want it, I want it the way I want it, and I want it NOW"?
Not so far removed.
What happened to humility?
Catholic services are worse! As a "Proddy" attending Catholic services with my Catholic husband I expected the music and hymns to be of high quality - Pergolesi, Mozart etc. I was in for a cultural shock.
ReplyDeleteMost Catholic hymns are ghastly and seem to have been written by nuns 20 years ago.
My general rule in life is that if a hymn has the C (copyright) symbol after it's title it will be awful.
Torymory
I gave up on the Church of England years ago. Just another leftie organisation with no understanding of real life.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the "fuzzy wuzzies" were what Cpl Jones in Dad's Army believed "wouldn't like it up 'em".
ReplyDeleteI suppose that, as in any other area of life, there will always be something a bit off. I am Salvation Army, and also a great fan of Graham Kendrick, so I have access to a lot of VERY good material!
Don't forget others such as Hillsong, Michael W Smith and the rest, and there's a lot of great Christian music out there. I'm sure you already knew this, and weren't about to be swayed by oddities such as that you mentioned in this post. I think you're just being deliberately provocative :-)
Even so, there is no harm in my mentioning just a few examples of what is really good about this part of the musical sphere...
In response to the poster known as "savage44", I'd say there's nothing wrong with children's songs at christenings. It's just that there is so much really great material out there nowadays, that it seems a shame to miss out on it all.
ReplyDeleteTrust me on this (as Pete Tyler would say!) -- our Singing Company (the Salvation Army's junior choir) perform some absolutely stunning stuff, in styles from blues to rap, with occasional solo parts.
One of my personal delights, when a visiting musical Section from another Corps is with us for our Sunday morning service, is when our Singing Company does their bit. Talk about socks being blown off!
The young folk have their own ministry, and it is a really good one! I'd encourage any Christian church to take a look at what is around nowadays, and see just how much the children and their audiences enjoy and appreciate their performances. I am often very moved, and frequently elated, by what the kids can do, adding to the wealth of great material that is around these days.
The Christian Church has become infested with hand wringing moral weaklings who seem to have got very confused about their national role? Instead of the Patriotic and fierce moral guardians who stand for western values AND would have the moral guts to defend them to their last breath, we have timid, self hating, guilt ridden moral relatavists who will swallow any old left wing garbage they are fed!
ReplyDeleteI cannot even bear to look at that bearded idiot in charge without wanting to put a bullet in him.
I used to sing that when I went to school.
ReplyDeleteSo ’ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your ’ome in the Soudan / You’re a pore benighted ’eathen but a first-class fightin’ man.
ReplyDeleteRudyard Kipling
Alex said: "We have family services in our village with hymns like that and others following the Book of Common Prayer. The family services have congregations of 50+ people and the BCP services get 5 or 6. End of discussion."
ReplyDeleteNot quite the end. At our church, worshippers are given a £10 note each as they leave and numbers are increasing dramatically. If we want even bigger congregations we may increase the amount of money we give, or move the service to a less threatening venue.
When I was boarding at prep school, we had to go to the Family Service at the local parish church every Sunday.
ReplyDeleteOne of the regular "hymns" sticks in my memory, so here are the words in toto...
My God is so big,
So strong and so mighty,
There's nothing he cannot do.
The rivers are his,
The mountains are his,
The stars are his handywork too!
My god is so big, etc...
[Repeat ad infinitum or at least until small children are screaming with the hideous boredom of it all.]
There were actions that you had to do too. Oh yes, there were. Next time I see you, I can show you because I remember them too; however, they were so banal that you can probably imagine what they were anyway. The only one that you may stumble on is "mighty": just think "Rodin's Thinker" and you'll get there.
The whole thing was tawdry, humiliating, patronising and buttock-clenchingly embarrassing...
DK
I must admit I had a similar experience last year at a school Harvest Festival.
ReplyDeleteAs I stood there singing "plough the fields and scatter" I was suddently struck by a profoundly shocking thought. As an ex farmer's son I was probably the only person in the entire urban middle class congregation of 250 who had actually ever sat on a tractor and ploughed or scattered.
A Hymn that is now utterly meaningless to most people - perhaps we should be singing "buy Freetrade and swipe my Switch card at M&S"
My son got a Transformers Advent Calendar. My Mum said "What happened to Christmas I thought it was about Jesus". My 8 year old daughter quipped "Transformers Jesus in disguise."
ReplyDeleteHi Iain,
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with you, it is certainly true that these sort of hymns shouldn't be sang in church of england churches. However I think we should be a bit accepting as it was a christining and there was probably young people there.
I also have a queston for you, who do you think will win the Liberal Democrat leadership election? And how do you think Vince Cable is getting on, should he have stood?
Ned Lamb. LiberalTalk24.blogspot.com
Norfolk
Last one i went too the vicar/priest/pervert wittered on about lottery tickets and getting in to heaven no hymns one prayer bish bosh out in 15 mins.To be fair it was a mostly RAF do and there have been cuts.
ReplyDeleteNed, nice of you to drop by, and good luck with your nee blog. I read about it on Nich Starling's.
ReplyDeleteI know and like both Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne. I suspect Nick will just about do it but I think it will be very close - which of course is not an ideal result for the LibDems as a strong mandate for the winning candidate would be better. As I have said, I think Nick's campaign has not been impressive and that Chris Huhne has been far more articulate.
Regards to your father!
Wendy Alexander will be praying for strength as Strathclyde police have just launched and enquiry into her dodgy dealings!!
ReplyDelete2:31 PM - "... a more educated society always abandons superstition."
ReplyDeleteTo which "more educated" society do you refer - either contemporary or in history?
If in history, did it survive?
Who chose the song, the vicar or the parents?
ReplyDeleteI've no idea what the policy of the church was, but at our church:
- Children of parents who go to the church anyway get Christened during the normal Sunday morning service (so the Rector and the Director of Music pick the music.)
- Children of parents who are just turning up because they think that a Christening is a nice reunion party to get everyone who came to the wedding back together, and that church is just SO lovely, get put into an extra "Christening service"... at which the parents get to choose the music, just like they do at weddings.
Or are you objecting to the song having been written in the first place?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZKp4npV47Q&feature=related
ReplyDeletewho's jealous of the fuzzy wuzzy's hair then? Andrew Neil has more than Iain (although less brains under it)
ReplyDelete@ Cox,
ReplyDeleteAnd she's denying any 'intentional wrongdoing', too. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7123534.stm
So that's OK, then. If you do not 'intend' to break the law then it's not a crime. All of a sudden there's a new clause in the legislation exonerating those who 'do not intend' to break the laws....
What was that about ignorance and excuses?
Lord, give me strength, also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZKp4npV47Q&feature=related
ReplyDeletesorry about my last post
It's worse than you think. Apparently the people ho go to these church services believe they have an invisible father who watches over them and that when they die they will go and live in the sky.
ReplyDeleteI fear we are losing the battle against the infantilisation of British society
Dear Fellow-Tories, in fact, dear World,
ReplyDeleteThe BBC website is quoting Geoff 'Buff' Hoon as saying about Gordo Brown "he has a real reputation around Parliament ... as someone frankly not that interested in matters of money, certainly so far as it affects him personally and as far as it effects the party."
Now, forgive me for having an elephantine memory, but is this the same Gordon Brown who according to Wikipedia "served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007, becoming the United Kingdom's longest serving Chancellor since Nicholas Vansittart in the early 19th century"? The one with the ferocious attention to detail, command of his brief, the 'Iron Chancellor', etc.
If NuLab's defence of Gordo is that he is fnancially illiterate, then that's my flabber completely gasted. What will next week bring?
Back to the topic of the post, most of us in churches that have a healthy number of kids aren't stuck using children's stuff that was around when we were wee ones. For an example of good modern kids' worship listen to some of the samples here.
ReplyDeleteAccording to attendance figures for the C of E in 2005 published earlier this year, congregations were down about 1 per cent compared to the previous year but the number of children attending was increasing.
ReplyDeleteI don't go to the family services at my local church because I don't like the music but others do.
I don't sneer at them. I just accept that different people have different tastes. Do you take my point?
Our family are Catholic and we attend church every Sunday. Being English I had some problems coming to grips with some of the Austrian church music, which quite frankly included an awful lot of "unsingable" tunes which sometimes left me miming (and not very successfully). On the other hand, there are a great many hymns which are very beautiful, some of which have been written during the last 20 years or so. I always thought we had some delightful children's hymns in the UK, but I suppose they'll try anything nowadays to try and get people to church regularly. Our priest refers to them as "Christians on Wheels" as they arrive initially in a pram, next in a limousine for the wedding and make a grand exit in a hearse. The only time one sees a full church is at Christmas and Easter and at these times I often think of Betjamins poem, "Diary of a Church Mouse". Maybe the kids should instead read this and understand it!
ReplyDeleteSorry Iain, usually agree with you but not on this one! There is nothing worse than too many long, dull hymns in a service, which really puts people off going to church.
ReplyDeleteIf you at least throw in one or two livelier ones like this one (which incidently has a great tune!), whilst retaining the traditional hymns as well, I can't see how anyone can have cause for complaint.
Thankyou for your thoughts, I understnad what you are saying about the campaign. I am sure you can guess who I am supporting. I am new to blogging (created my blog in the last week)as you can see if you have seen my blog it is developing.
ReplyDeleteI will pass on my regards to dad.
Ned
Fuzzy-wuzzy was a name coined by British soldiers in the Sudan in the 19th Century for the locals who teased out their hair and allegedly did it up with camel dung. The expression was still current in the Merchant Navy forty years ago.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't talking about teddy bears.
It doesn't seem a suitable expression for a spiritual song of today.
If I was a fuzzy-wuzzy (i.e. Sudanese) bear, I'd thank the Lord, I wasn't called Mohammed
ReplyDeleteIs this really about a fuzzy-wuzzy bear, fuzzy-wuzzy being an old Army name for the Sudanese and we've only had one passing reference to Gillian Gibbons' situation
ReplyDeleteIf I was a fuzzy-wuzzy bear, I'd thank you Lord for not calling me Mohammed.
The conservative party in song:
ReplyDeleteMe me me me me!
"God, it's good to be selfish sometimes" - I believe that's what they say?
Iain,
ReplyDeletefuzzy wuzzy wuz a bear
a bear waz fuzzy wuzzy
if you cut the hair of a bear
he wuzn't fuzzy wuz he?
Hope you had a nice day.
Daisy;