WHY SHOULD THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD MUSIC? THE CHRISTIAN USE OF CONTRAFACTUM AND PARODY By Garth R. Hentzschel Much can be learnt about The Salvation Army through hymnology, the study of its songs. This paper will focus on only one area of Salvation Army hymnology, the use of secular tunes for sacred worship or contrafactum and parody.1 Song has given The Salvation Army a rich tapestry in its development, history, theology and has featured heavily in the modern identity crisis, the so-called “worship wars.”2 The paper will discuss William Booth’s quotation, look at the beginning of song in The Salvation Army and through the use of examples, reveal something of the variety of secular tunes used by The Salvation Army. There are numerous claims that William Booth or other Christian leaders declared, “Why should the devil have all the good music”, or “tunes” or the like, however there is no evidence that Booth ever said this statement.3 The Bandsmen and Songster in 1929 attributed this quotation to John Wesley, but Brindley Boon, Sing the Happy Song! stated this too cannot be confirmed.4 A blogger claimed that this phrase is a “mis-quote” from Reverend Rowland Hill, who in an 1844 sermon stated, “The devil should not have all the best tunes.”5 This was a call for Christians to write good music and not for the church to use secular music in churches. David W. Music went even further and claimed that the quotation is often misused when people want to use any style of music in church. Music went on and stated that the misused quotation holds to an idea that the music came from the devil: Reference citation of this paper Garth R. Hentzschel, “Why should the devil have all the good music? The Christian use of contrafactum and parody”, The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016, 155-181. The paper was presented at ‘History – Our Wake Up Call?’, Salvation Army History Symposium 22-24 July 2016, Maroochydore, Australia, The Salvation Army Eastern Territory Historical Society, Brisbane Chapter. 1 Contrafactum – “a chorale or hymn produced by replacing text of a secular song with religious poetry”, MerriamWebster dictionary, (USA, 2016), http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contrafact ¶ 1, accessed 2 July, 2016., or “a song in which the melody is similar or even identical to another song yet contains different lyrics”, “Contrafactum: What’s that?” musicnotes blog, (USA, 26 July, 2016), http://www.musicnotes.com/blog/2016/07/26/contrafactum-whats-that/ ¶ 1, accessed 2 July, 2016. Parody – work slightly modified to create a new work that is similar to the old. 2 For an example of the discussion around this, see John Cleary, “Salvationist worship – A historical perspective”, Journal of Aggressive Christianity, retrieved http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article12-42.html, accessed 2 July, 2016. 3 This quotation and those similar to it are often attributed to William Booth, see for example, “Why should the devil have all the good music?”, Stories for Preaching, (USA, 2016), http://storiesforpreaching.com/why-should-the-devilhave-all-the-good-music/ accessed on 2 July, 2016.; Brian Radcliffe, “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?”, Assemblies, (UK, 1999-2016), http://www.assemblies.org.uk/sec/2320/why-should-the-devil-have-all-the-good-tunes accessed 2 July, 2016.; “Music in The Salvation Army”, The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, (NSW, Friday, 7 January, 1944), 3.; However, Wikiquotes stated: Though it is widely attested that Booth used this addage [sic], it originates in the 18th century, being attributed to George Whitefield, in The Monthly Review, or, Literary Journal, Vol. 49 (June 1773 - January 1774), p. 430; it has also been reported as a remark made by Rowland Hill, when he arranged an Easter hymn to the tune of “Pretty, Pretty Polly Hopkins”, in The Rambler, Vol. 9 (1858), p. 191, as well as being attributed to Charles Wesley, and sometimes his brother John.
“William Booth – Quotes”, Wikiquote, (USA, last modified on 24 September 2015, at 23:50). 4 Brindley Boon, Sing the Happy Song! A history of Salvation Army vocal music, (London, UK: Salvationist Publishing and Supplies, 1978), 115. The only Christian leaders in their field who can be linked to these words were Larry Norman and Sir Cliff Richard who sang the song Why should the devil have all the good music, view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsyOzVsVWKs and lyrics.wikia.com/Larry_Norman:Why_Should_The_Devil_Have_All_The_Good_Music 5 “Why should the devil have all the good music”, Dial-the-Truth Ministries, (USA, 1995), http://www.av1611.org/question/cqdevila.html accessed 2 July, 2016
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 155