Requested by Ina–Bing Crosby and David Bowie sing The Little Drummer Boy, and Peace on Earth–at the same time! Without messing up either of them. Don’t try this at home, folks. You’ve got to be a pro.
Tag: Christmas 2019
Warning! Christmas Music Ahead
Byron the Quokka here, folks–and it’s time to get serious. That’s why I’m trying to look serious in this picture.
As much as we’re enjoying our Second Annual Christmas Carol Contest, and as much as we want all of you to enjoy it, too, we haven’t forgotten that a Scientist has warned the world that too much Christmas music can make you crazy. Crikey! We don’t want our readers bouncin’ off the walls and yellin’ “I am a captain in the Queen’s Nay-vee!”
Well, we think you can avoid going crazy if you only listen to these carols one or two or three at a time, and then stop and either take a cold shower or run around the block reciting some of the Canterbury Tales.
Or you could just ignore the whole business and listen to as many carols as you please! That’s what I always wind up doing.
I’m Byron the Quokka, and I approve this message!
By Request, ‘Good Christian Men Rejoice’
Requested by TheWhiteRabbit for his birthday yesterday evening, but held over till this morning to give it a fair shake in the carol contest–Good Christian Men Rejoice, by the Kings College Choir at Cambridge.
By Request, ‘Silent Night’
Who said you can’t play hymns on a banjo? This video proves them wrong.
Requested by Lydia, Silent Night, a banjo solo by Michael Staun with simply gorgeous background photos. Just beautiful!
‘O Holy Night’ (A Capella)
Jessicafischerqueen posted this on my chess page. “There’s something unexpected about it,” she says–O Holy Night by MattNickleMusic.
Gee, only six days to Christmas! If you haven’t entered the carol contest yet–well, now’s a good time to jump in!
‘O Holy Night’ (John Berry)
I think this is my friend OhioChessFan’s favorite Christmas hymn–O Holy Night, sung by John Berry. He posted it on my chess page yesterday, and I want to share it with you here.
If you want to listen to the other hymns posted there yesterday, before I can bring them all here, visit http://www.chessgames.com/ , scroll down and click “Chessforums,” scroll until you find the little green dinosaur and “playground player” (that’s me), and click it. They’re all still there.
By Request, ‘How Many Kings’
Requested by Allison (“Weavingword”), How Many Kings, performed by Downhere.
The lyrics tell it all. The Son of God, the only rightful king, stepped down from His throne in heaven to be born a baby in a manger, and humbled Himself to the point of dying on the cross–for us. For us.
By Request, J.S. Bach: ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die stimme’
OK, let’s get some of these hymns played. Requested by Heidi, a chorus from a Bach cantata, Wachet auf, ruft uns die stimme (“Wake, rise, the voices call us”).
This reminds me of a day when some of our family from the Old Country came to America to visit Grandpa. Everyone was sitting outside on the porch, conversing in German, when suddenly my cousin, Christopher, just a little boy at the time, started to cry.
“Why, what’s the matter?”
And he explained: “Everybody’s talkin’ Germany but me!”
A Christmas Prayer
I’m typing this on Sunday morning, for publication Wednesday morning, when I expect to be doing more Christmas shopping.
This is a prayer, for this Christmas and every Christmas. Please join in.
O Lord our God! Bless this Christmas of 2019, and give it power to work day in, day out, day and night, and every day of 2020. Give it speech that all might hear. Give it the power to draw our hearts to Jesus Christ your Son, our Savior and our rightful King: give it the power to make us strong in His service, strong in His love. And may it move us to love one another, as Our Lord Himself commands.
All year long, O God! Bless this Christmas all year long. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
By Request, ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’
One of my earliest memories: sitting on my Uncle Bernie’s lap while he reads to me out of a Christmas book; and this is playing in the background–It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. That’s a very nice thing to remember.
Requested by TheWhiteRabbit. Sung by the Mennonite Hour Singers. Background sets by God the Father.