Requested by Ina, The Little Drummer Boy featuring a duet by Bring Crosby and David Bowie–two giants from two very different eras of popular music. Bing died just before this could be shown on television, and David passed away recently. Now they sing on Christ’s Kingdom.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing–from St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, performed by choir and full orchestra: well, our King deserves the royal treatment. Requested by Erlene.
P.S.–Erlene, Patty wants to remind you that sometimes it’s easy to turn off your computer’s speakers by accident, or hit the wrong key and mute the video, again by accident; so you might want to check that. Come to think of it, it’s happened to me; and there I sat, puzzled, no sound… and I only had to turn the sound back on.
God told Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18), and by “all,” He does mean “all.”
Hence this African Christmas carol, as a reminded.
Don’t worry, I’ll get around to blogging some “news” sooner or later. It’s just that this news, the birth of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the Word of God, is a lot more important.
P.S.–In the opening picture, those things hanging from the trees, I think, are birds’ nests. But I forget what kind of bird. Anybody know?
This request came to us from Scotland, from our friend, Ina–Boney M. performing Mary’s Boy Child.
Keep those Christmas hymn requests coming, folks!
Joy to the World–would you believed Isaac Watts published it way back in 1719? It may be old, but it seems to be the most published Christmas hymn in North America today. The melody is usually attributed to G.F. Handel, but that’s not quite certain.
I have chosen this unpretentious performance by I don’t know who… because it sounds joyful!
Okay, now the hymn requests are coming in, and I will get to all of them, I don’t care if I have to post half a dozen hymns a day. It’ll be great for anyone who happens to stumble upon this blog.
This is Ave Maria, sung by Rachael Lampa, requested by our esteemed colleague WeavingWord, who knows the Middle Ages even better than I do.
More to come!
I’m kind of baffled by the paucity of reader requests, compared to the celebration we had here last year. C’mon now, folks! It’s only 16 days to Christmas! I’d rather post hymns than politics, but I can do both.
Meanwhile, I like this carol so much, I’m posting it again–this time by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band, performing it the old-fashioned way. And if the Hillsboro, Oregon, school district doesn’t like it, so much the better!
I have to go out and try to finish my Christmas shopping, but first a hymn: The Holly and the Ivy, sung by Mediaeval Baebes. I hope this old, old carol will get you in the mood to ask for more.
And please don’t anybody fall into the trap of thinking that any of the beauties of the natural world–holly, ivy, deer, a crisp clear winter morning–are anything but witnesses to the glory, the goodness, the wisdom, and the love of the God who created them. The only God–who sent His only begotten Son into this world in the flesh, Jesus Christ the Son of God… to save it.
I don’t know who’s singing this, but the video has more than 20 million views on youtube, so a lot of people like it. And there’s the usual sprinkling of atheists, loving the music but seeing no connection between it and God–like kids peering wistfully into a bakery and ignoring the sign that says “Come right on in, everything’s already paid for.” I wish I could tell them that the feeling they get when they listen to this music is one of the ways God has of communicating with us. But you do have to listen.
Requested by Laura: and I’m all ready and willing to post Christmas hymns as requested by the rest of you. So come on, now! Let’s see if we can’t get some of those kids to venture into the bakery.
I’m trying to stir up your Christmas spirit, folks! Let me fall back on this old, old Burgundian carol, Pat-a-Pan, one of my all-time favorites. This is an instrumental version, played medieval-style. If this one doesn’t work, I’ll just have to try again tomorrow.