Poetry in motion

My wife and I got to talking about what constitutes good music in the church, and the thought came to mind that one very important thing for music--whatever the genre--is that the poetic meter and scheme serve to commit the message to memory.  That is, there are various meters and rhyme schemes used in church music (and poetry in general), and when the author ignores the principles of poetry, what generally results (whatever else might be in the genre) is an eminently forgettable song.

Almost as if cued, our four year old son started singing a toilet training song set to Surfin' Safari:

Let's go poopin' now, everybody's learnin' how,
Poopin' on the potty with me!

Let's go poop, poop in the potty......

On the bright side, you now know that there is some good in the Beach Boys, as they've helped get my son out of diapers.  On the down side, you also know that it's not only the poetic meter, but also the content, of a song which matters.

Post-Script; The Brownsville Station/Campus Crusade for Christ song "Smokin' in the Boys' Room" has also been very helpful for toilet training.  And no, this blog has not, in fact, been taken over by either Learned Foot in its content, or W.B. Picklesworth for general poetical excellence.