Blake Shelton Addresses 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken?' Controversy on 'The Voice'
Credit: NBC
Caroline Pennell was eliminated from The Voice last night, but the Tuesday night results show was home to a very different kind of controversy. The Top 8 contestants, while backed by Seattle's Starbucks Chorus, performed the classic hymn "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" for charity. However, a critical change to one of the lyrics of the 105-year-old song prompted Twitter to erupt with outrage, as the word "Lord" was replaced with a non-secular "Oh".
In the aftermath of the performance, coach Blake Shelton professed his confusion at the change.
"I don't know what, uh -- how it happened, or -- I'm learning about it just like you guys are," Shelton told Zap2it. "I was sitting in my chair singing that song how I grew up on it, with 'in the sky, Lord, in the sky.' I sang it as loud as I could. And that might be why I didn't realize until after the fact that 'Lord' was either taken out, or it was just performed some other way."
Shelton couldn't come up with a reason for why the lyric was dropped either. "I've heard -- you know, in the twenty minutes I've had since the show ended to come in here -- a lot of different reasons why it was that way," he says. "I know it was performed -- and it's meant for a good cause, and they're trying to raise some money. And that's a good thing. But I will say, that's not the version I grew up on. And that's not the version I was singing sitting in my chair, if that clears up anything [about] where I stand on this thing."
Further details on the background of the song via Zap2It:
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" was written by Ada R. Habershon as a Christian hymn, and it should be noted a hymnal page from 1908 (seen below) does not actually mention the word "Lord." But it also doesn't use the word "oh," which replaces "Lord" in "The Voice" performance. "The Voice" version also skips the verses that mention "Saviour" and "Heaven."Though the hymn chorus does not, the modernized version of the song lyrics most often dp include "Lord." A 1935 country music version of the original hymn with "Lord" added was made famous by The Carter Family, and later performed by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, among others. Johnny Cash sang the chorus with "Lord" intact in 1968's "Daddy Sang Bass."
Of course, being the boss of a multi-million dollar hit show doesn't necessarily mean that executive producer Mark Burnett has any idea what went wrong, as he also expressed his puzzlement.
"Especially for those of us who know this song from church so well ... I realized immediately what had happened," said Burnett. "I thought I'd misheard on the sound. Then came the next chorus, and I'm like, 'OK, it's live TV, so I've got to wait until the next commercial break. I'm running over there and asking the question.'"
Burnett offers an explanation for the change, saying that for the song to be provided to fans on iTunes, The Voice had to use the version that was in the public domain. Of course, said version would actually be the hymn, and not the more modern country version. And even if the more modern country version had been used, it doesn't explain why the word "oh" was inserted into the song in lieu of "Savior" or "Lord".
"My mistake was I assumed that the public domain version has the word 'Lord' in it," Burnett says.
Starbucks was also apparently unaware of the lyric change, which makes this possibly the biggest instance of televised passing-the-buck in history, as no one has any idea what happened or why. Maybe an executive just assumed it would be wiser to neutralize the religious side of the song and make it non-denominational? But then, why do a hymn in the first place?
This seems to be the issue country fans are having with the lyric change, and they've taken to Twitter to ask Shelton to take action. "Be our voice Blake and let the bosses know how disappointed we are," writes one upset fan, to which Shelton responds, "Will do." It's hard to imagine heads will roll over this, but someone has to be at fault for the change. Let's see if anyone eventually takes the fall.
Via: Zap2It