Do not try this while driving

I was driving Younger Daughter home from somewhere when she started singing reverently, “Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.”  It was reverent because she was singing the tune of “Amazing Grace.”  So, in fact, it was anything but reverent.

I thought, “You’d better not let The Church Lady hear you singing that.”  And then I thought, “But wait, this could be a good thing.”  A good irreverent hymn sing is something I need right now.

As we sat in traffic, we belted out, “There was a farmer had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o!” to the tune of “Joy to the World.” 

It turns out this is a challenging intellectual exercise.  The brain says, “Nooo way.  These words do not go with this tune,” especially when the meter does not fit.  

Here is our singlist (it was a long drive home):

Lyrics                                                              Tune

Old MacDonald                                            Amazing Grace

Bingo (B-I-NGO)                                            Joy to the World

Ring Around the Rosie                                Silent Night

Farmer in the Dell                                       The Star Spangled Banner

Itsy Bitsy Spider                                           O Holy Night

Row, Row, Row your Boat                           God Bless America

Take Me Out to the Ball Game                  Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

We had to sing “merrily” five times in order to make it fit into “God Bless America”.

One could have a discussion on whether God is blessing America right now, but God blessed us because we made it home without crashing, despite the driver devoting most of her brain power to singing disparate lyrics to the wrong tunes.  It felt good.