Will, I think you speak the truth. We can pass judgment music all we like and push all sorts of it aside because it doesn't meet our standards, but that's not the point. If somebody enjoys performing or listening to a song, then that song has value. Some of the music I've enjoyed most is corny, trite, and sloppily sentimental. Sometimes I enjoy that stuff just because it's weird; and sometimes I just like a little sentimentality.

Many moons ago, I spent eight years in a Catholic seminary; and one of my greatest pleasures there was singing. We'd gather in the chapel vestibule before evening prayers and smoke cigarettes and sing Engelbert Humperdinck songs. We would chant bus schedules in a Gregorian psalm tone. We'd gather around a piano with a group called the "Rolling Lambs" and drink beer and sing gospel songs. We did all that in jest, but we put a lot of sincerity into all those corny 60's commercial folk songs - including Kumbayah. Whatever the case, we sure had a good time singing a lot of bad music.

Now I'm in a song circle that uses "Rise Up Singing" as a hymnal. Yes, the book has a lot of corny songs; but I sure have a good time singing them. Isn't that what it's all about?

-Joe-