History LyricalDissonance / Christian

* One egregious example is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA3P244DSss Christ lag in Todes Banden]]'', (Christ Jesus Lay In Death's Strong Bands) by Martin Luther — the lyrics are joyful and celebratory about the resurrection of Jesus (it even has "therefore, let us joyful be" in the first verse!), but set to a dark, somber, minor-key melody more fit for a funeral dirge. The melody was written when people had very different ideas about what a "happy" song sounded like. Tempered tonality didn't exist yet, and hence neither did modern key signatures or the media that cemented our ideas about their emotional meanings. J.S. Bach wrote a cantata based upon the melody and lyrics of this hymn, which means that the trope also applies to that cantata.

* Many popular Christian Rock groups or [[NotChristianRock groups that take inspiration from their beliefs]]; ie: Red, Music/{{Skillet}}, Music/{{Flyleaf}}, Dead By April. They're often so similar to typical rock and have such AlternateCharacterInterpretation that a lot of people would have never learned if someone didn't point it out.

* One example of a different nature is Emery's song "Don't Bore Us Get to the Chorus." Its tone is much more upbeat than their other songs and has minimal amounts of screaming. [[spoiler:It's about a serial rapist.]] That's arguably the point, though; the song is basically a deconstruction of pop culture's tendency to ignore disturbing lyrical content and go instead for a happy beat. The result is...memorable.

* The ValuesDissonance between the 19th Century and today means that a lot of people are disturbed by cheerful hymns about Armageddon like "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Of course it is important to keep in mind that this song was written by abolitionists to be sung by people who were actually fighting a brutal war to end slavery in their nation. So, it does fit the circumstances it was intended for. But the crusading rhetoric can be off-putting today: especially for people who have had such language wielded against them.

* ''Get Happy'', made famous by Judy Garland, was based on Christian Evangelist revival music, and true to form is an upbeat cheerful dance number about the Apocalypse. (A standard bit of Christian belief is that when that time comes, the righteous will be united with the Almighty in Heaven, so it'd be a bit ''weird'' if a room full of righteous Christians admitted to being afraid of that.)

* One egregious example is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA3P244DSss Christ lag in Todes Banden]]'', (Christ Jesus Lay In Death's Strong Bands) by Martin Luther — the lyrics are joyful and celebratory about the resurrection of Jesus (it even has "therefore, let us joyful be" in the first verse!), but set to a dark, somber, minor-key melody more fit for a funeral dirge. The melody was written long before the invention of tonality, which governs key signatures and results in modern music's various emotional motifs. J.S. Bach wrote a cantata based upon the melody and lyrics of this hymn, which means that the trope also applies to that cantata.

* The ValuesDissonance between Christians and non-Christians means that a lot of non-Christians are disturbed by cheerful hymns about Armageddon like "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

* The Music/{{Allies}}’ song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZDeG6EyCB8 “Rock Of Salvation”]] is, like most of their material, about discovering salvation in Jesus. However, the music is quite dark and disturbing with a pulsing bass and sighing guitar.

* The Music/{{Allies}}’ song “Rock Of Salvation” is, like most of their material, about discovering salvation in Jesus. However, the music is quite dark and disturbing.

[[AC:Hymns/Cantatas]]
* Far too many hymns to list will have cheerful lyrics but slow, mournful melodies.
** One egregious example is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA3P244DSss Christ lag in Todes Banden]]'', (Christ Jesus Lay In Death's Strong Bands) by Martin Luther — the lyrics are joyful and celebratory about the resurrection of Jesus (it even has "therefore, let us joyful be" in the first verse!), but set to a dark, somber, minor-key melody more fit for a funeral dirge.
** To be fair, the melody was written long before the invention of tonality, which governs key signatures and results in modern music's various emotional motifs.
** J.S. Bach wrote a cantata based upon the melody and lyrics of this hymn, which means that the trope also applies to that cantata.
** Another Bach cantata, ''[[http://youtu.be/o73shN739YU?t=16m15s Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen]]'', is an inversion of the above. The cantata contains six movements, two of which are duets, where one duet part represents a doubter and the other represents a believer. The melody in both parts is light and happy, and the believer's lyrics celebrate Jesus's resurrection. However, the doubter's lyrics express sorrow that Jesus is dead and that "Death still holds Him in its bonds."
* Conversely, the ValuesDissonance between Christians and non-Christians means that a lot of non-Christians are disturbed by cheerful hymns about Armageddon like "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

* ''No Hiding Place Down Here'', made famous in ''Series/BabylonFive'' where several aliens and other non-Christians happily sang along, is a cheerful little ditty about how loosely defined "sinners" will be totally annihilated come Judgment Day. How cheerful.
** For maximum (and wholly intentional) dissonance, the scene intercuts between the singing choir and [[spoiler: Lord Refa]] being brutally beaten to death.
* ''Get Happy'', made famous by Judy Garland, was based on Christian Evangelist revival music, and true to form is an upbeat cheerful dance number about the Apocalypse. To be fair, a standard bit of Christian belief is that when that time comes, the righteous will be united with the Almighty in Heaven, so it'd be a bit ''weird'' if a room full of righteous Christians admitted to being afraid of that.