I'm Still Getting Hate Mail

over my dissing of John Lennon's hypocritical atheist dirge "Imagine."   That that banal, hypocritical, useless song seems to have replaced another song I dislike,  "Amazing Grace" as the go-to song to sing for every ill conceived occasion where a show of piety, of some vague sort, is evoked shows how bad things have gotten since the once common familiarity with earlier Protestant hymnody has died out of the life experience of most Americans.   

I've gone over what's wrong with the song and John Lennon's hypocrisy (he'd have to imagine "no possessions" really hard as he clung to his hundreds of millions and what possessions he had with Yoko in The Dakota) and its defects as a melody and its banal harmony as well as insipid, stupid words - look for it in my archive - so I won't go over that again.

What is really hilarious about the push-back I'm getting is it's from the superannuated cohort of the "nothing is sacred" set such as congregate to masticate their pre-digested ideas as their Geritol kicks in.   If you want to see how sincere they are about that "nothing sacred" pose, diss the "smart" Beatle and his crappy song and you'll find out they hold such shit in the highest regard.  

But I want this to be constructive so I'd suggest a more appropriate song to remember Jimmy Carter would be Marty Haugen's fine hymn,  All Are Welcome, here sung at a Roman Catholic Women Priests' Ordination Mass

Let us build a house

where love can dwell

And all can safely live,

A place where

saints and children tell

How hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions,

Rock of faith and vault of grace;

Here the love of Christ shall end divisions;

Let us build a house where prophets speak,

And words are strong and true,

Where all God's children dare to seek

To dream God's reign anew.

Here the cross shall stand as witness

And a symbol of God's grace;

Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

Let us build a house where love is found

In water, wine and wheat:

A banquet hall on holy ground,

Where peace and justice meet.

Here the love of God, through Jesus,

Is revealed in time and space;

As we share in Christ the feast that frees us:

All are welcome, all are welcome,

All are welcome in this place.