Singing nonsense words to hymn tunes is something that's come up before. Someone who is knowledgeable in West Gallery music and its traditions told me that church choirs would get together to practice on the week, but didn't think it appropriate to sing the actual hymn words when they were stopping and starting and trying things out. Instead, they would sing nonsense words - which is probably the origin of songs such as 'Ilkley Moor Baht At'.

When universities were closed colleges with a strong religious ethos, parodying hymns would have been a fairly standard way of youthful protest. The Carmina Burana, thanks to Carl Orff, have become a well-known example of that.

The idea of not being *allowed* to parody a well-known lyric, or sing nonsense (or filth!) to a well-known tune, whether a hymn or not, because it may have emotional, religious or national meaning seems dubious, if not dangerous. As with everything, there would be times and places where it wouldn't be appropriate or even safe. But a ban? I think not.

Bobi Bob,
Ynys Manaw