Like Painting a Mustache On the Mona Lisa

I have noticed a somewhat disturbing a trend in worship music for a while now - the addition of new words or choruses on older songs. In particular hymns seem to be getting these re-writes. Let's take a look at an example.

Most Sunday's during my formative years the church service in my tradition ended with a four line song people referred to as simply "The Doxology."  The real title was "Praise God, from Whom all Blessings Flow" which in reality is the last four lines of a longer hymn ("Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun"). The words of the "The Doxology" were written in 1674 by Thomas Ken and put to a tune from the Ge­ne­van Psalt­er (Old 100th) that was composed in 1551 by Lou­is Bour­geois.  Thus, "The Doxology" has been serving the worshipping church for 340-465ish years.

In 2008, another Thomas - Thomas Miller - decided, that after continual service for longer than the United States has been a country, that the "The Doxology" needed new lyrics. Mr. Miller penned a new set of words, in particular a chorus made up mostly of "Praise God" and then copyrighted it. Let's notice two things here.

First, is the audacity that it takes to re-write a song that has stood the test of time - a LONG time. It is very much like someone deciding to paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Who, after 500 years thinks, "I don't think Leonardo da Vinci got it right, I need to fix his painting"?  So it is with "The Doxology."  Why does a classic, used for over 300 years, need a re-write and who has the guts to say "I can improve on this masterpiece"?  We don't let people paint over masterpieces of fine art (or even touch them, or stand too close to them) - we leave them as the master works they are so that people can enjoy and admire them. We don't allow people to take large chunks of another person's writing and create a new work (which is plagiarism in the literary and academic world) that can be published or copyright protected.

Second, is the very matter of these hymn re-writes being under copyright. It smacks of pure profiteering for praise song writers to take a well known and popular hymn, tweak it (often slightly), and then be able to list it as an original work in order to receive royalty payments. Re-writing a popular song is a guaranteed way to get your work attention, it is a bit like rappers that sample in parts of other songs that are easily identifiable (they pay the other artists). The re-working of a hymn is sure to generate a ton of interest, use in worship, and if protected by copyright in your name, a pretty good revenue stream.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I'd love to see priceless works of art, literary genius, and age old hymns left in a preserved and original state and not re-done for profit. Maybe I'm too idealistic, but I'd like to see our songwriters craft their own classics that can serve the church for 300, 500, or more, years. So here's to history and creativity!