And the Christmas Carol Contest rolls on, with this request by Phoebe: Away in a Manger. I thought this John Denver rendition might be nice.
This carol never fails to move me. It’s one of my very earliest memories.
Tag: Christmas 2018
By Request, ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’
Joshua requested this one, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, performed by Enya. This hymn, originally an ancient Basque hymn, goes all the way back to the 8th century. It was the high point of my 7th-grade class’s Christmas concert. But we’re not allowed to have those anymore.
By Request, ‘O Holy Night’
Erlene has requested O Holy Night, and I’m sure she won’t be the last to do so, between now and Christmas. I opted for this performance by Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, two guys who knew a bit about singing. I’m not ashamed to tell you Pavarotti moved me to tears.
By Request, ‘For Unto Us a Child Is Born’
And the first entry today in our first annual Christmas Carol Contest is For Unto Us a Child Is Born, from G.F. Handel’s Messiah–the words of Isaiah 9:6-7 set to music and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra–requested by our friend, “TheWhiteRabbit.”
(Yesterday’s leader was Mary, Did You Know?, with 16 views.)
By Request, ‘Mary’s Boy Child’
From Scotland, we have Ina calling for Mary’s Boy Child, by Boney M.
This contest is off to a rocket start! I hope I can keep control of it.
By Request, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’
Requested by Joshua, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, performed by Don Pardoe and GLAD–a capella, the hard way.
By Request, ‘The Holly and the Ivy’
Phoebe asked for this, one of her favorites: The Holly and the Ivy–one of mine, too. Sung by Mediaeval Baebes.
By Request, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ (Crosby & Bowie)
Georgia asked for this one: The Little Drummer Boy, by Bing Crosby and David Bowie, from the last TV special Bing ever did.
By Request, ‘Mary, Did You Know’
We know Marcia from her blog, “A Mom Looking Up.” She enters the carol contest with a request for Mary, Did You Know? by Pentatonix.
Our First Christmas Carol Contest
Here, lemme have that starter pistol… Blam! I hereby open our first annual Christmas Carol Contest, starting, like, right now and running through December 26.
Unbearable excitement will be generated, I just know it–lots and lots of Christmas fun! Oh–and I’d better tell you how it works.
Readers may request Christmas hymns to be posted here, no limit on how many. At the end of each day, I’ll check the stats and see which hymn got the most views that day, and who requested it. The winner will be whoever requested the hymn that got the most views on any given day during the contest.
F’rinstance, say on Nov. 30 someone asks for “The Sussex Carol” and it gets 14 views that day, and it was the most views any hymn had gotten so far. But then on Dec. 5 someone else requests “I Saw Three Ships” and it gets 15 views that day: it would become the new front-runner in the contest. The leader can change from day to day, which ought to make the contest fun to watch.
At the end of Dec. 26 I’ll check and see who posted the Christmas hymn that got the most views in a day, and that person will be the winner. The prize will be an autographed copy of one of my books. Or treasure.
Anyone is eligible to play, and from time to time I’ll announce which hymn is currently leading the pack. We will not be doing secular Christmas carols. No “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”–we are proclaiming the birth of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh.
Anyway, the contest is now open, and I await your pleasure.