Life’s been busy lately, but I wanted to get something in this week to entertain you loyal readers. I was listening to some King’s Gold on the way to work this morning, and heard the King’s Gold 2 version of “The Judgement”. It got me to thinking about songs in a minor key. It’s not something you hear a whole lot of in gospel music, since most of our songs are of a cheery nature. Minor keys pretty much always create a feeling of sadness, or even impending doom.
Probably one of the most notable uses of a minor key in southern gospel is the second verse of “We Shall See Jesus”. Another example of using it for a single verse is in most of Gaither’s arrangements of “It Is Finished”. Some others that came to mind immediately were the Kingdom Heirs’ “Where’s John” from their most recent album, and “Everybody’s Gonna Have a Terrible Time Down There,” Lee Roy Abernathy’s lesser-loved inverse song.
How many can you come up with? Are there any examples of using a minor key when the message is not sad or foreboding?
And if you dare, that lyrical masterpiece:
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