He’s not joking – I’ve seen it in Catholic hymn books, though I’ve never been at a mass where it was sung…
From the book:
Boy, thou uproarius shark of Heaven,
Slaughter of Elysium!
Hearts on fire, aroused, enraptured,
We will tolchok you on the rot
And kick your grazny, vonny bum!
BTW: You can sing “Clementine” to the tune of the “Ode to Joy”! And vice-versa, of course. Same with “La Cucaracha!” Check out this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=269946
I grew up Missouri synod Lutheran. And I remember the horrible songs in the Old(red )hymnal It was full of somber, plodding dirge-y music with lyrics that had been written in German. They were translated nearly litereraly by a Linguist, not a Musician, and nothing fit the beat. Extra words were shoved in, some beats were mysteriously empty, and sentences just trailed off. The music director/organist kept trying to add new songs, but after a line or two most people just gave up and got annoyed. And it was pretty much the same 15-20 songs every time, because they were well known and people could follow along.
It got much better in the new hymnal(blue book) around 1980 or so. They updated the words so they fit the songs in a lot of them and added new stuff. But there was still some older clunky crap that the organist kept trying.
Is it correct to say OtJ is the European National Anthem?
The tune is the European anthem, but without any lyrics and the name “Ode an die Freude/Ode to Joy” originally referred to the poem by Schiller.
I’m Catholic, and my hometown parish used to sing “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee” quite often.