I realize any "Christmas" song is about the birth of Christ, I am not that dense. It is that the tone of the song is so different in those two versions. The words in the DT seem to be glorifying Christianity AS A RELIGION; whereas the version I remember is simply about the birth of a holy child who happens to be Christ (who wasn't such a bad sort, really; until the Church decided to perpetuate centuries of murder, rape and pillaging in his name...oops, that's another thread, I guess).

Since the Christ myth is itself based on earlier solar deities (like Mithras, for example), I think the story is soemthing of a universal one. I liked the version of the song that wasn't all about Jesus the savior but seemed to marvel at ther wonder of this miraculous birth and the joy of the people in the surrounding land.

One version seems more romantic and mysterious; which I like in a song. That's all.