The Vatican Rag

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox song "The Vatican Rag" is a ragtime parody song by American satirist Tom Lehrer. The song purports to be a response to the Second Vatican Council, a meeting that proposed reforms to the Catholic Church. First performed in 1965, it is controversial for its irreverent depiction of Catholic traditions.

Music and lyrics

Template:Wikisource/outer core{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|showblankpositional=1|unknown=|1|2|3|diagnose|has|italic|italics|lang|nocat|position|title|wislink|works|wslink}} "The Vatican Rag" takes musical inspiration from ragtime pieces such as "Spaghetti Rag" (1910) and "The Varsity Drag" (1927).<ref name="R2005">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A spoken introduction describes the song as a response to the "Vatican II" council—which, among other things, broadened the range of music that could be used in services—and humorously proposes this rag as a more accessible alternative to traditional liturgical music.<ref name="V100">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The song begins:

The lyrics mockingly list a number of Catholic rituals such as confession, the Eucharist, and Rosaries, and suggest the irony of modernizing an age-old institution like the church.<ref name="FF">Template:Cite book</ref> Amy Richlin notes that the song is funny "not only because of the words but because it's a rag".<ref name="R2005"/> According to Jesse David Fox of Vulture, "Lehrer doesn't just poke fun at a sacred cow, he slaughters it."<ref name="V100"/> Eruptions of shock and laughter can be heard in recordings as the audience reacts to both the song's blasphemous tone and its creative rhymes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Composition and performances

In the early 1960s Lehrer wrote satiric topical songs for the US version of the television show That Was the Week That Was.<ref name="CT">Template:Cite news</ref> Inspired by the ongoing Second Vatican Council, he composed "The Vatican Rag" during this period, but he decided not to submit it because he thought the show would "[do the song] badly or [take] out the satiric parts".<ref name="FF"/><ref name="CT"/> He instead debuted the song at the Hungry I in San Francisco in a series of shows that were recorded for his last album, That Was the Year That Was (1965).<ref name="CT"/>

Lehrer later played "The Vatican Rag" in videotaped performances. In April 1967, he played the song on a benefit show for WNET-TV in New York, prompting hundreds of people to complain to the station.<ref name="ND1967">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NYT1967">Template:Cite news</ref> In September 1967, Lehrer included "The Vatican Rag" on his Live in Copenhagen TV special recorded in Denmark.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception and legacy

Some Catholics criticized "The Vatican Rag" as blasphemous.<ref name="ND1967"/><ref name="WaPo1991">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After one show at the Hungry I, Lehrer's performance of the song led to a confrontation with the actor Ricardo Montalbán, who happened to be in the audience.<ref name="SF"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to a former Hungry I bouncer, Montalbán approached Lehrer in a fit of rage, yelling, "I love my religion! I will die for my religion!" to which Lehrer responded: "Hey, no problem, as long as you don't fight for your religion."<ref name="SF">Template:Cite book</ref> In May 1967, a Putnam County, New York, schoolteacher used Lehrer's "Vatican Rag" and "National Brotherhood Week" as examples of modern satire for her seventh-grade class; the outcry was such that the school board banned the songs and censured the teacher, and she quit three months later and left the area.<ref name="NYT1967"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Conversely, fans of Lehrer consider the song one of his best compositions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Vulture included the song on its 2016 list of "The 100 Jokes That Shaped Modern Comedy".<ref name="V100"/> Stop the Church (1991), a short documentary about an HIV/AIDS demonstration in New York City, uses the song as the background music to church services.<ref name="WaPo1991"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, "The Vatican Rag" was the last song played by the jazz radio station WNOP before it converted to a Catholic talk format.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref>

External links

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• "The Vatican Rag" at tomlehrersongs.com, Tom Lehrer's official Web site
• "The Vatican Rag" – live performance from Copenhagen via YouTube