This is the Welsh Male Voice Choir of South Africa–just to let you see that us guys can sing, too. Well, we certainly can if we’re Welsh.
I’m still taking requests, folks, so I hope you haven’t run out of them already.
Tag: classic hymns
Hymn, ‘The Wexford Carol’
My editor, Susan, suggested this one. I’d never heard of it.
But wow! This is gorgeous. The combination of an angelic singing voice (Alison Krauss), cello (Yo-Yo Ma), and bagpipes?–yes, bagpipes–is as beautiful as it is unexpected.
‘Away in a Manger’ (American Melody)
This is the usual melody when Americans sing Away in a Manger. If you’re tuning in from the UK or thereabouts, you might not have heard it before.
And now I’ve got to stop blogging and get some work done. There’s piles and piles of it around here. *sigh*
Hymn, ‘Silent Night’
Who doesn’t love Silent Night? Celtic Woman has an extraordinarily beautiful rendition of it, complete with a verse sung in Irish. If I can find one, I’d like to post a Silent Night/Stille Nacht sung in the original German.
But first I gotta fetch my car out of the repair shop–the starter conked out on me yesterday while I was at the mall, in the rain–and then go out and do half a zillion errands.
But listen to this Christmas hymn: and if it moves you to tears, let them come: there is no need to withhold tribute from the Child Jesus Christ, Our Savior.
Only God would have thought of sending His Son into the world by way of a manger.
Hymn, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’
Let’s start off the day with O, Little Town of Bethlehem, as sung by one of our national treasures, Nat King Cole. This is a reader request.
I have to get out of here in a hurry this morning to do some Christmas shopping. In the meantime, I’ll try to find something nice to post here this afternoon.
Yes, the real world news is uniformly depressing and bad. Anyone who expects anything good out of our current crop of misrulers is not in his right mind.
But Christmas is coming…
Hymn, ‘Adeste Fideles’
By reader request, Adeste Fideles–the original Latin version of the carol we also know as O Come, All Ye Faithful. In some hymnals this melody is also used for the old Portuguese hymn, How Firm a Foundation.
I have to go to the nursing home today, but hopefully I’ll be back with more later.
Sing louder, everybody–the King of Kings has come!
And who but the Lord Our God would have ever thought of having the King come into the world by way of a manger?
Hymn, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’
By reader request, here’s The Little Drummer Boy–complete with real, live drummer boy. Wow, can that kid sing!
Into this evil age, into this fallen world, comes Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Sing louder, Christians! For our redemption is at hand.
Hymn, ‘Joy to the World’
By reader request, here’s Joy to the World, with printed lyrics.
Did you know those lyrics were by Isaac Watts, early in the 19th century? I didn’t know that.
I remember we always used to sing this in Spanish class, to Spanish lyrics, back when public schools allowed the celebration of Christmas: Paz en el mundo, pax y amor…
The times are evil, O Lord: but Christ is come into the world, to cast out the prince of this world.
Move us to sing louder!
Hymn, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’
By reader request, here is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I picked this version of the 18th century hymn because I like the sound of it, I like the snowscape, and I like the easy-to-follow printed lyrics, which show how closely this Christmas carol is based on Luke Chapter 2.
I will continue to post hymns and Christmas carols by request, so don’t be bashful–let me know if there’s one you’d like to have posted here.
Hymn, ‘On This Day Earth Shall Ring’
Let’s start getting into the mood for Christmas–not to make it an idol, certainly not as some kind of generic “happy holiday” whose name we must not mention: but as our glorious proclamation of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ as an historical fact–a thing that really happened.
I love this hymn. Our junior high school band used to do a fine rendition of it. Like everyone else in my home room, I was drafted into the school choir willy-nilly–just as my voice was changing, too–but I dearly loved to listen to the band practice this melody.
On this day Earth shall ring–amen!