You don’t want me to post any more nooze today, do you? (“Of course they don’t!” Byron the Quokka advises me.) How about more Nat King Cole instead?
Requested by Phoebe, a favorite Christmas carol for just about everybody, O Come, All Ye Faithful… sung by Nat King Cole.
This is another ancient carol that I really love–Good Christian Men, Rejoice, from the 14th century: sung here by the Mennonite Hour Singers.
Don’t worry, I’m not trying to win my own carol contest. I just wanted to share this hymn!
Requested by TheWhiteRabbit–Go Tell It on the Mountain, sung by Sarah McLachlan.
It’s early days in our second annual Christmas Carol Contest, and so far the leading carol got 24 views on the day it was posted. Remember, you can enter as often as you like.
Requested by Phoebe: from Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal, Adeste Fideles, sung by Pavarotti.
And, huff-puff, I think I’ve caught up with the hymn requests!
One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, by Johann Sebastian Bach. Instrumental guitar rendition by Rick Foster; requested by Joshua. Second to none.
This old Burgundian carol, Pat-a-Pan, is one of my favorites; and I especially like this unusual performance of it by the Zamar Student Choir at Harrisburg Baptist Church in the Northern Mississippi Choir Festival.
Did I mention that you can enter the Christmas Carol Contest as often as you like? It sort of dried up yesterday. I’ll have to have a word with Byron.
This is the antidote to all the poison we have to swallow as news. This is the light the darkness can’t put out. This is our defender and our King. This is Jesus Christ.
Requested by Jeremy, Angels from the Realms of Glory–performed with gusto galore by The Piano Guys and the Tabernacle Choir.
Nat King Cole, a national treasure, sings Away in a Manger. This is what I call the American melody that goes with the hymn.
This was the first Christmas hymn I ever learned. When I hear it, I think of the “primary” class at Sunday school–nowadays it would be called “day care”–and this little book they gave us, one Christmas. On the front cover was a picture of the Holy Family in the manger: and how well I remember the sweet smile on the baby’s face!
I will never forget it.
The only way the devil wins is if he can stop Jesus Christ from being born–and that he couldn’t do.
Requested by Phoebe, Away in a Manger, sung by the choir at Kings College, Cambridge. (Note to Phoebe: This is what I call the British melody that goes with this hymn, The American melody is the other one we often hear.)
Our friend SlimJim has requested it here, and my friend Jessicafischerqueen has posted it on my chess page, so what can I say but here it is? The First Noel, sung by Bing Crosby. You’ll look long and hard to find an equal to his voice.