Lord of the Dance is a hymn with words written by Sydney Carter in 1963. He adapted the tune from the famous American Shaker dance song "Simple Gifts". The hymn is widely performed in the United Kingdom and the United States, and is often mistakenly thought to be a much older traditional hymn. On one occasion its author was informed it had been written in medieval times. A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... Sydney Bertram Carter (6 May 1915–13 March 2004) was an English poet, songwriter, folk musician and Christian/Quaker, born in Camden Town, London. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Simple Gifts is an 1848 Shaker song by Elder Joseph Brackett. ...

It follows the idea of traditional English carol, "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" which tells the gospel story in the first person voice of Jesus of Nazareth. A comparison reveals this, but also shows Carter's liveliness and wry humour in his adaptation of the theme. A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, and often with a dance-like or popular character. ...

Verse 8 of "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" is:

Before Pilate the Jews me brought,

Where Barabbas had deliverance;

They scourged me and set me at nought,

Judged me to die to lead the dance.

This verse is paraphrased in verse 3 of "Lord of the Dance":

I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,

The holy people said it was a shame;

They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;

And they left me there on a cross to die.

Some Christians have expressed the view that this stanza should be omitted because it suggests that the Jews killed Jesus. For example, a prominent Quaker publication^[1] stated that although "Lord of the Dance" is "one of our most popular and widely sung" modern hymns, this particular stanza should not be sung, because "[e]ach time we sing this verse together we lend emotional power and the appearance of support for what is in fact a lie". Similarly, one religion/philosophy professor at a Methodist-affiliated college expressed concern that "one of [her] favorites" in The United Methodist Hymnal, "'Lord of the Dance,' is full of antisemitic notions,"^[2] and therefore she recommended various other hymns be used instead. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      A Christian () is a person who... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... -1... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      For school of ancient Greek medicine... This article is about the current denomination africa. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards or prejudice against Jews (not, in common usage, Semites in general — see the Scope section below). ...

These criticisms certainly have not persuaded all people. The Quaker publication mentioned above quotes the Quaker hymnal Worship in Song as stating that "the holy people" refers only to certain Jewish priests, and the "they" in the third line refers not to the Jewish Pharisees (the "holy people" of the second line) but rather to the Roman authorities. However, the article regards the latter claim as weak on grammatical grounds. The hymn "has been taken up widely throughout the Christian Church"^[3] and remains popular for wedding ceremonies^[4].

A persistent myth exists that the song is old and originally pagan. This error was popularised in the Hellblazer story Lord of the Dance by Garth Ennis, in which the eponymous character claims that the song is an ancient Yule tune and provides the supposedly 'original' lyrics, such as substituting 'and I danced through the nights of revelry and mirth' for 'and Bethlehem's where I had my birth'. Pagan may refer to: A believer in Paganism or Neopaganism Bagan, a city in Myanmar also known as Pagan Pagan (album), the 6th album by Celtic metal band Cruachan Pagan Island, of the Northern Mariana Islands Pagan Lorn, a metal band from Luxembourg, Europe (1994-1998) Pagans Mind, is... Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. ... Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970 in Holywood, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the DC/Vertigo series Preacher, co-created with artist Steve Dillon. ... Yule is the winter solstice celebration of the Scandinavian Norse mythology and Germanic pagans. ...

There is an unauthorized neopagan adaptation of the song, which is usually sung to a different tune.^[5] Neopaganism (sometimes Neo-Paganism, meaning New Paganism) is a heterogeneous group of religions which attempt to revive ancient, mainly European pre-Christian religions. ...

References

1. ^  http://www.neym.org/PrejudiceAndPoverty/Issue3.summer99.pdf
2. ^  http://www.faithfutures.org/Liturgy/hymnal.html
3. ^  http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/hymns/dance.htm
4. ^  http://www.weddingguide.co.uk/articles/wordsmusic/hymns/hymn-lordofthedance.asp
5. ^  http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos503.htm

It goes like this Dance then where ever u may be Ak is the lord of the dance said Jake and hell lead u all wherever u may be cuz Ak is the lord of the dance said Jake!

External links

• Stainer & Bell, copyright holders for Lord of the Dance hymn.
• Lyrics and tune
• "Lord of the Dance" &"Simple Gifts"
• Words to Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day