APAD: The devil has all the best tunes.

Meaning:

    The view that music, especially popular music, is predominantly secular

    rather than religious.

 

Background:

   This proverbial saying is best understood by looking at the context it was

   first used.

 

   In the late 18th century Methodists began setting hymns to popular tunes.

   This gave rise to criticism from more mainstream religious believers who

   thought that popular music shouldn't be heard in church.

 

   The notion that dance music was `the Devil's music' was widely held in the UK

   in the 1700s. This view was of very long-standing and was expressed as early

   as the 5th century by Saint John Chrysostom, circa 349 - 407, the Christian

   theologian and archbishop of Constantinople:

 

     "Where dance is, there is the devil."

 

   The response to the criticism used by English Methodists was `why should the

   Devil have all the best tunes?'.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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The Methodists took a brave step by either admitting that the devil's good at

something (and we are tempted) or claiming a few good tunes for God. 300 years

later, many cheered with Leonard Cohen who sounded like a Taoist when he said that

even something "cold and broken" invokes hallelujah.