REQ: Lord of the Dance chords
Karen A. Reinhardt
Does anyone have the guitar chords for this song?
Thanx in advance...
Diane Carter
I always thought that the song "Simple Gifts" which is like the theme
for Lord of the Dance was an American Shaker hymn. Does it have irish
roots?
Garry Wiegand
Well, that Shaker melody is also present (changed, a bit) in a song called
"George Fox", about the founder of the Society of Friends (the Quakers) (not
to be confused with the Shakers.)
But "George Fox", like "Lord Of The Dance", is a modern song. It was *also*
written by Sydney Carter (the year before he wrote the LOTD words.) Mr. Carter
must have liked that melody. (Aaron Copland did too -- see "Appalachian
Spring".)
With respect to Simple Gifts itself, the book "Rise Up Singing" says "This
song was sung throughout the Shaker communities & appears in many pre-Civil
War manuscripts". I have no other info.
I found a Lord-Of-The-Dance FAQ on the net at
<http://www.stainer.demon.co.uk/music/lotd.htm>.
garry
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Bob Cameron
> I always thought that the song "Simple Gifts" which is like the theme
> for Lord of the Dance was an American Shaker hymn. Does it have irish
> roots?
AFAIK, it's American, but has been adopted into celtic music generally in
recent years ( sits OK on GHB too, BTW) ( too many acronyms Here, i'd
say).
The lord of the dance is also a hymn- a sort of riddle, a very condensed
rendering of the Gospel story, in which the "Lord of the Dance" is Jesus,
the dance, evidently meaning life and salvation.
The tune for Amazing Grace is likewise 19th Century American, "New
Britain", n but has become firmly entrenched in people's minds as a
trsditional Scottish tunme thanks to the hit recod by the Dragon Guards in
the 70's.
Peter Grant
Garry Wiegand wrote:
> Well, that Shaker melody is also present (changed, a bit) in a song called
> "George Fox", about the founder of the Society of Friends (the Quakers) (not
> to be confused with the Shakers.)
The Shakers were in fact derived from the Quakers. They came to America
from Manchester (England) in the late 18th century, led by a woman called
Ann Lee (or Mother Ann). They were given their derisive name for their
practice of dancing in church meetings. They wrote the Christian hymn
called "Simple Gifts" in the 19th century.
The English songwriter, poet and folk singer Sydney Carter, wrote the
words for "Lord of the Dance" in 1963. Having been an admirer of the
simplicity of the Shakers, he chose to adapt the tune "Simple Gifts" to
fit his words. He is quoted in the book "Green Print for Song", published
by Stainer & Bell (1974), as saying "I could have written another (tune) .
. . but this was so appropriate that it seemed a waste of time to do so.
Also, I wanted to salute the Shakers."
In LOTD he sees 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." It's a fair distance in spirit from Michael Flatley's bombast.
As Garry points out, much of this info. is found at Stainer & Bell's
website http://www.stainer.demon.co.uk/music/lotd.htm
regards
Peter Grant
___________________________
Tasmania - Australia's green state