Comments on: You Have Been Listening to the Sunday Evening Broadcast: Early Hymns of the Restoration, 1933

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:48:20 +0000

Yeah, that surprised me. If it was already recognized as at least questionable in the early ’30s, why was it still being taught in seminary in the early ’70s? (and no doubt later, but I mean when I was in seminary — I know I heard it then if not before.)

By: The Other Clark

The Other Clark — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:53:29 +0000

There’s a spirit of Milleniallism throughout the commentary and all the cosen hymns that seems absent from today’s brand of Mormonism.

I didn’t know Brigham Young spoke in tongues at the temple dedication (who knew it was an ancient language?)

I was familiar with the fine-china-in the wall-plaster story, but thought that had been debunked. Sounds like it was already recognized as a dubious claim in 1933…

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:01:52 +0000

Well, Amy, there are a few in there that I’d suggest you not bother singing, in hopes that you or your children will never have to suffer through them being sung at church. : )

Besides, when I’m the boss, they’re coming out!

By: Amy T

Amy T — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:26:00 +0000

“Great God, Attend While Zion Sings”

I’ve never heard it sung. I have used it as prelude music for sacrament meeting, which would technically provide an affirmative answer to Mark’s question in comment 1.

It would be difficult for a small, untrained congregation to sing, and perhaps even a larger congregation, and it is very much in the style of the Psalms, which don’t seem to be used much in our culture. (Unfortunately. We read through all of them for our family scripture study last year. We’re also singing through each of the hymns in the hymnbook for Family Home Evening, so that my children will have sung each of them at least once in their life, no matter whether they’ll ever hear any given hymn again. Sight reading hymns can be a useful skill.)

By the way, I wish “Come, O Thou King of Kings” was used more. I like it — it is one of the grandest of the millennial hymns.

By: Mina

Mina — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:19:13 +0000

These transcripts are a fascinating read. I love radio and am a big fan of today’s podcasts which offer the possibility of resuscitating this gorgeous medium of sound and imagination. “From within the shadows of the everlasting hills” is a phrase which has dominated my memory all my life and still evokes rich and complicated feelings…

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:25:48 +0000

H’okay, I’ve proofread this now as I didn’t do last night — no guarantees that I’ve caught everything, but I did fix 20 typos, one for each hour I worked yesterday immediately before programming this post.

Jay, I acknowledge that the word should properly be “springs,” but I’m leaving it “brings” in this instance because that is the word used in my source. Whether it was an inadvertent error there, or whether the Choir consciously changed the word for some reason, as they occasionally did/do, I do not know — but I do acknowledge your correction, thanks.

KLC, the script was published soon after the broadcast; I’ve merely typed it up to share here.

If readers like radio plays like this, I remind you that you can find a handful of others by going to the Topical Guide (link in upper left-hand corner of this page) and searching for the category “You have been listening …”

By: KLC

KLC — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:11:19 +0000

Ardis, did you transcribe this or was a transcript published?

By: Jay Anderson

Jay Anderson — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:52:12 +0000

I enjoyed this. An interesting thing about all of these hymns is the 1985 hymnal still uses the same tunes as from the 1889 Psalmody. (Though “Great God, Attend While Zion Sings” in the Psalmody had the altos, tenors, and basses sing a different rhythm than the sopranos.)

Two typos:
* “Great God, Attend” is by Isaac Watts
* The second line of the first verse ends with ‘springs’.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:34:21 +0000

Minor typo: that’s Watts (as in Isaac Watts) who wrote that last hymn.

But I have a question: has anybody ever heard that song in a church meeting in the past 50 years? (I can suggest a few that we should skip in favor of this!)