The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #112434 Message #2387197
Posted By: Rowan
12-Jul-08 - 04:19 AM
Thread Name: Was 'Lord of the Dance' anti-semitic?
Subject: RE: Was 'Lord of the Dance' anti-semitic?
I've been away for a while and am surprised by what I've found.
Gerry wants to convince us that LotD is antisemitic; no success there, yet.
Dave wants us to use 'anti-Jewish' as a more accurate substitution for 'anti-semitic'; more likely to succeed but only if we care about truth.
Some want to use scriptural quotes (in English) of texts that were less than accurately translated from various ancient forms of language (always a dodgy prospect) and seem to ignore the fact that the New Testament was a book (compiled by a committee at Nicea some three centuries after the events) of texts written at least a century after the events by heirs of the participants; no acknowledgement of the effects of oral history, either.
Shiva (not even Semitic, let alone Judaic not Christian) is the "real" LotD and it takes 300 or so posts before a nonCarter song (the Coventry Carol) is mentioned.
I must admit I'm with Joe Offer and others about Carter's LotD; I've always preferred "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" (apparently written at about the same time, by John Gardner) because the tune lends itself to better (IMO) harmonies. The words as Gardner published them (I sing a different text) are even more pungent than Carter's, so I shall probably have to reassess its effect on others' perceptions of political correctness.
If Gerry wanted to convince people, I think he's lost his chance, but it has been comforting to know (as if I didn't already) that there are some good people at Mudcat, who try do deal seriously with any and all questions.
Cheers, Rowan