Let's Sing A Song Of Cheer Again

By 3rd Way

I have previously mused about the significance of song to our culture, and voiced a preference for "America the Beautiful". The Pope's arrival today made me take a closer look at a song that was sung, quite beautifully, by our Military Choir in his honor. After learning more about it I concluded it is time to pull the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" from the official playlist.

Is it just me or does anyone else find it unsettling when our President greets a religious leader with a gun salute and the singing of these lyrics:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

Chorus

His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on."

Chorus

Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Chorus

While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

Our God is marching on.

This song also serves as the unofficial anthem of the Republican party, they sing it at the conclusion of their national convention. The unofficial anthem of the Democratic party is "Happy Days Are Here Again".

Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again,
So let's sing a song of cheer again,
Happy days are here again.
All together, shout it now!
There's no one who can doubt it now.
So let's tell the world about it now,
Happy days are here again.
Your cares and troubles are gone,
There'll be no more from now on!

The Democrats should play this up. Which party would a young voter rather belong to; the one that sings a song with an unsettling mix of militarism and Christianity or the one that sings a song of of joyousness?