Thursday, March 17, 2005 AD
Abiding Memories
Nice post from Erica about the hymn "Abide With Me".
It is indeed a great hymn. Erica suggests it would be good for funerals, and certainly it used to be very popular at funerals in the UK, along with Psalm 23 sung to "Crimond". Both have now been largely supplanted by Frank Sinatra ("My Way"), Celine Dion ("My Heart Will Go On") and Robbie Williams ("Angels"). *sigh*. Oh, and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" - a fun enough song, but heartbreaking as a feeble shake of the fist at the "last enemy".
"Abide with Me" is probably best known in this country as "the Wembley Anthem", the hymn sung before the FA Cup Final and other major cup finals at Wembley Stadium. Certainly the most moving time I've ever sung it was the only time I've been to Wembley, for the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final in 1999 - traditionally Rugby League's "big day out", when the finalists' towns or cities are emptied as fans travel from the north of England (RL's heartland) to the Final.
To my surprise, it wasn't just the first verse that was sung, but the whole hymn. And regardless of how many people were thinking about or really believing what they were singing, the sound of 73,242 people bellowing out words like:
It's doubly moving when you think about how this tradition may have arisen in the first place. The first FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium was in 1922, only a few years after the slaughter of the First World War, and "Abide With Me" was sung there for the first time in 1927.
It's easy to see how the words of this hymn would have gripped what was at that time still a largely Christian nation, as it struggled to come to terms with the greatest disaster in European history since the Black Death. (Indeed, my understanding is that the overall casualty figures from the War had only become available in around 1923, turning a vague continent-wide sense of trauma into horror at the scale of what had happened).
Let's hope the tradition continues when the new Wembley Stadium is opened in a few years' time.
It is indeed a great hymn. Erica suggests it would be good for funerals, and certainly it used to be very popular at funerals in the UK, along with Psalm 23 sung to "Crimond". Both have now been largely supplanted by Frank Sinatra ("My Way"), Celine Dion ("My Heart Will Go On") and Robbie Williams ("Angels"). *sigh*. Oh, and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" - a fun enough song, but heartbreaking as a feeble shake of the fist at the "last enemy".
"Abide with Me" is probably best known in this country as "the Wembley Anthem", the hymn sung before the FA Cup Final and other major cup finals at Wembley Stadium. Certainly the most moving time I've ever sung it was the only time I've been to Wembley, for the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final in 1999 - traditionally Rugby League's "big day out", when the finalists' towns or cities are emptied as fans travel from the north of England (RL's heartland) to the Final.
To my surprise, it wasn't just the first verse that was sung, but the whole hymn. And regardless of how many people were thinking about or really believing what they were singing, the sound of 73,242 people bellowing out words like:
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?is one that brings a lump to my throat thinking about it even now. An unforgettable experience. Plus, Leeds Rhinos stuffed London Broncos 52-16 (including Martin "Chariots" Offiah running the length of the pitch to score Leeds's first try), the widest winning margin in the history of the competition. So it was a pretty good day all round. :-)
I triumph still if thou abide with me!
It's doubly moving when you think about how this tradition may have arisen in the first place. The first FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium was in 1922, only a few years after the slaughter of the First World War, and "Abide With Me" was sung there for the first time in 1927.
It's easy to see how the words of this hymn would have gripped what was at that time still a largely Christian nation, as it struggled to come to terms with the greatest disaster in European history since the Black Death. (Indeed, my understanding is that the overall casualty figures from the War had only become available in around 1923, turning a vague continent-wide sense of trauma into horror at the scale of what had happened).
Let's hope the tradition continues when the new Wembley Stadium is opened in a few years' time.
