"The optimistic lines "I danced in the morning when the world begun and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun" also contain a hint of paganism which, mixed with Christianity, makes it attractive to those of ambiguous religious beliefs or none at all. Carter himself genially admitted that he had been partly inspired by the statue of Shiva which sat on his desk; and, whenever he was asked to resolve the contradiction, he would declare that he had never tried to do so. However, he admitted to being as astonished as anyone by its success. "I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian. But in fact people did sing it and, unknown to me, it touched a chord. . . "Anyway," Carter would continue, "it's the sort of Christianity I believe in.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Obituary in The Daily Telegraph (16 March 2004)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Sydney Carter
Sydney Carter (6 May 1915 – 13 March 2004) was an English Quaker poet and songwriter.
28 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Sydney Carter →
Related Quotes
"Your holy hearsay is not evidence. Give me the good news in the present tense. What happened nineteen hundred years a…"
"Come holy harlequin! Shake the world and shock the hypocrite Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down. Let the …"
"Teach the crippled how to leap, Throw their crutches on a heap, Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down. Rock,…"
"I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the hear…"
"They are songs which can be sung in a Christian context, but they all had to mean something to me because I was often…"
"There are obvious problems with so many denominations in schools today, but I had collective worship at school and I …"
"Faith is more basic than language or theology. Faith is the response to something which is calling us from the timele…"
"Coming and going by the dance, I see That what I am not is a part of me. Dancing is all that I can ever trust, The da…"
"I danced in the morning When the world was begun, And I danced in the moon And the stars and the sun, And I came down…"
"So what do you believe in? Nothing fixed or final, all the while I travel a miracle. I doubt, and yet I walk upon the…"