William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army. Once told that certain kinds of music were too much “of the world” to be used in evangelistic meetings, he replied, “Not allowed to sing that tune or this tune? Indeed! Secular music, do you say? Belongs to the devil, does it? Well, if it did, I would plunder him of it. Every note and every strain and every harmony is divine and belongs to us.”
At another time Booth discovered that a popular Christian chorus of the day took it’s tune from a music-hall ditty, “Champagne Charlie is My Name.” His response? “That settles it. Why should the devil have all the best tunes?”
Source: reportes in Chris Armstrong, Christian History Magazine Newsletter 10/1/2003 citing Ian Bradley, author of Abide with Me: The World of Victorian Hymns.