The politics of action songs
Well, people say here in England that there’s no major difference between the main political parties, but a new battleground has opened up. In the blue corner1 is Tory überblogger Iain Dale. He reports from a baby’s baptism on Sunday:
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!
In the red corner is (non-New) Labour political pundit Paul Linford:
For a blogger of Iain’s prominence and influence to do this is really a bit like Nancy Banks-Smith giving a critical pasting to In the Night Garden as if she were reviewing the latest Stephen Poliakoff epic.
All that the Butterfly Song is really saying is that God made us as we are, and that we should celebrate our individuality. Somehow, I would have thought that was a sentiment which Iain Dale would have approved of.
I give you the battleground of the next election. It’s so much more interesting than the politics of sleaze. Don’t believe me? This topic collects more comments than any other of Iain Dale’s most recent posts (some of which comments are bizarre in the extreme). Fuzzy-wuzzy bears are the new “clear blue water”.
Notes- US readers: in the UK blue means right-wing and red means left-wing [↩]
December 4th, 2007 at 12:04 am
For once I am with Iain Dale. Fortunately my church consigned The Butterfly Song (composed 1974, and yes, it has its own website!) to the (metaphorical) dustbin about 20 years ago. But it seems that some Anglican churches are stuck in the 1970’s and think that is being modern and trendy, and Graham Kendrick songs from the 1980’s are a bit too daring.
But then I wonder what Iain Dale would think of the real modern stuff like Matt Redman.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Class.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
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