Your favourite Christmas songs

Subject: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Sooz(at work)
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 08:22 AM

If you were going to learn just one song to perform over the festive season which one would it be? I seem to half-learn two or three every year and then need to do lots of revision at this time of year. I thought that if I really learned one I would probably remember it! Problem - which song is it to be?

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 08:28 AM

it is a hard problem - my "favorite" tends to be whichever I am currently singing!

The Huron Carol is a good one - but there are so many...

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Leadfingers
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:15 AM

My Christmas Set is Three songs,Tom Lehrer's Christmas Carol and two from Adrian May/ Chris Leger's christmas show - 'When Father was Pantomime Dame' and 'I Hate Christmas'.Me and Ebenexer Scrooge agree- Christmas ?? Humbug !!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Padre
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:44 AM

The Wexford Carol: "Good people all, this Christmastide..."

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Louie Roy
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:07 AM

It is hard to beat Silver Bells

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:10 AM

Pretty Paper
Silent Night
Grandma Got Runned over...

Soo many!!!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:23 AM

White Christmas lays out nice in G for finger-picking and everybody likes to sing along.
and don't forget Hot Buttered Rum - I like Rosalie's version best
My favorite Xmas/holiday record is Reilly and Maloney's.
Chris in Wheaton

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Menolly
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 12:24 PM

My favourite at the moment is "Season of Peace" by Si Kahn, closely followed by "Gaudete"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 12:27 PM

Then there's the 'Boar's Head Carol'

and "Go tell it on the Mountain"

and "Rise up Shepherd"

and "Children go where I send thee"

and ...

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 03:12 PM

Cherry Tree Carol. Ancient, but with a characterization of men that resonates with contemporary listeners

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: mg
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 03:18 PM

if I were a performer I would do Christmas Rose (with some partners) and Jesu Bambino...I would never ever do Lo How a Rose..oh my did they make us sing a wretched version of that in high school...maybe a bluegrass type of arrangement would be OK..it sure perked up how can I keep from singing..but I like most of the standards..O Little Town of Bethlehem etc. There is some classical song from somewhere..Maria et Joseph et infantatum positum in precepio...very pretty..of course Adeste Fideles..I have never heard Catholics do Panis Angelicus for Christmas...and we sing a different tune (or used to) just for regular occasions...really good singers doing Angels we have heard on high...I remember a bunch of drunk geologists doing Silent Night in full throttle once..very moving..

mg

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:19 PM

"In the Bleak Mid-Winter" is my favourite. Strangely, this song somehow passed me by in my younger days. I was first made aware of it by the singing of Barbara Dickson in the great play " John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert" by the wonderful Willy Russell ( he used to perform in folk clubs).

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: DonMeixner
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:26 PM

Are we talking popular songs or Christmas carols or either one?

Don

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: mack/misophist
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:36 PM

Lyke Wake Dirge

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Amergin
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:42 PM

santa bloody claus...

hey santa claus you cunt where's me fucking bike?

i'm the man who slits the turkey's throats at christmas.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: s6k
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:52 PM

santa clause wheres my bike... lol..

Id go for John Lennon - Happy XMas

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Ely
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 08:46 PM

"Hot Buttered Rum" if that counts, and the Carol of the Bells (or whatever it's called; my fourth-grade teacher called it the Ukranian Bell Carol but nobody seems to know what I'm talking about when I call it that).

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 08:58 PM

for just musical taste, I like to hear the grandeur of "Oh Holy Night"...for general listening, I have an old tape of a radio program of British/Celtic carols and songs that are not your usual fare. (I ought to go find it and write down what's on it)

...and, as you might expect, I also like Frankie Armstrong's "Anti-Carol"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: DonMeixner
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:00 PM

Bill,

Oh Holy Night is the song I measure the soloists by. My favorite Christmas Anthem. I also Like Oh, Come Emmanuel.

Don

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:06 PM

and here are the words and an MP3 of "Anti-Carol" sung by a fellow named Ben Weiss, who does a lot of other stuff!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:44 PM

'When Father was Pantomime Dame' and 'I Hate Christmas'

sound like two interesting songs I would like to have...

Robin

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: mg
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:02 PM

check out Capri-Uni's solstice song that she wrote last year...it should be in the search. mg

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Kudzuman
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 11:06 PM

"Down in Yon Forest","Quem Pastores","Christ was Born in Bethelehem","Noel Nouvelet", and so many more. It's not a religious thing at all, but I can do without the modern songs, especially the gutter eighth grade humor kind. I love the season as a time of reflection and a time of stillness.....of course I haven't been to a Mall in about 15 years so I miss out on the crass commercialisation to some extent. Not disabled, just won't subject myself to the Mall mentality by choice. My shopping is finished for this year so I can relax and enjoy the season. Been doing that for about 15 years and I find it so much better that way.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: richlmo
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 11:09 PM

"Mary Did You Know", What a powerful song!
"The Christmas Song", What a classic!
"Little Sandy Sleighfoot",What an obscure memory from childhood! and
"Christmas In Carolina" (The Squirrel Nut Zippers), What a Hoot!.

I love Christmas music.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Cluin
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 11:40 PM

One made from a poem I got from the internet a few years ago and adapted for song by altering it a bit and setting it to music: The Ballad of Scaly Otis, The Christmas Rat.

But I always have to preface it when there are young kids around by saying it isn't true. Gave one of my nieces a nightmare once.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: PoppaGator
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 11:45 PM

At my mall-Santa job, I sometimes pick out carols and seasonal favorites on the one-octave toy xylophone during the rare moments when I'm not occupied with visitors. I don't sing, I just pick out the melodies.

"Rudolph" is of course a big fave among the kids; I always start off with the introductory "verse" since one little guy insisted that I not leave it out. ("You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen / Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen / But do you recall / the most famous reindeer of all?")

"Joy to the World" fits perfectly in tht one little major-key octave. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (a personal favorite) can be faked, with a couple of notes "jumped" an octave, in the relative minor key (i.e, Am, assuming that the xylophone in tuned in C).

But my far-and-away favorite, the one tune that almost always draws a fresh supply of little kids and young mothers, is "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." This particular tune, far more than any other, really seems to have an immeidate effect whenever I play it -- I call it my "subliminal advertising." One slow Saturday morning last year, nice and early, before the masses descended upon us, I picked up my little mallet and got about two measures into this one when my photographer co-worker piped up: "Don't summon them!"

I went ahead and called them on in; what the hell, Christmas comes but once a year, right?

************************

You traditionalists: anyone know this old one, that my late father passed along to us from his Irish-immigrant parents?

"Christmas is coming / the goose is getting fat
Who'll put a penny in the old man's hat?
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, God bless you!"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,anastasia
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 12:05 AM

what is a good idea for buddhists to sing. I'm not against christmas, but does any one know any christmas songs that are more compataible with buddhism?

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Joybell
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 12:08 AM

I'm with the mystery Guest - "The Cherry Tree Carol". I love the image of Joseph being chastised by the unborn Baby Jesus! Poor man he just ventured to point out that the baby wasn't his. It was obviously on his mind and he was very pissed off!
The other favourite of mine was also a great favourite of the Victorians - "The Mistletoe Bough". Creepy!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 12:20 AM

Stan Rogers' "First Christmas Away From Home" and John McCutcheon's "Christmas In the Trenches."

Mary Katherine

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Cluin
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 04:18 PM

Yeah, trot those two out when everyone's feeling too happy. Then do Jethro Tull's "A Christmas Song" or "Jack Frost and The Hooded Crow".

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Dramatist
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 04:19 PM

I love the 'Gloucestershire Wassail'
(Wassail, wassail all over the town,
Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown,
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree,
With our wassailing bowl we'll drink health to thee.)

My other standards - with guitar - are 'Silent Night' (which was originally composed for guitar), 'The Twelve days of Christmas', 'The Little Drummer Boy' and for a bit of frivolous fun, Tom Lehrer's 'Christmas Carol'.
Jonathan. (UK)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Sooz
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 06:51 AM

Thanks for all the suggestions! At the moment I'm torn between Christmas Eve 1914 and Fairy Tale of New York but I also love First Christmas and In the Bleak Midwinter. My brain won't cope with more than one - unless I take a leaf from my daughters book. When she was two and a half she learned Away in a Manger and when Christmas was over she realised how much effort had been expended so she sang the song regularly throughout the next year, usually when sitting in the pushchair, bored while we were queuing for something!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Midchuck
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:28 AM

I'm afraid mine is "The Rebel Jesus," by Jackson Browne, I think.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: John P
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 09:29 AM

Cherry Tree Carol
The Salutation of the Angel
Personet Hodie
The March of the Kings
Entre le buef et l'ane gris
Pat-a-pan
Star of the East
Veni, Veni Emanuel

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Firecat
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 03:28 PM

Not sure about traditional Christmas songs, but as far as I'm concerned, it's not Christmas till I've heard Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody"! Cheesy, I know, but that's the fun thing!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Peace
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 03:55 PM

Silent Night is it for me. I also really enjoy (The First) Noel. And, Simon and Garfunkle's Silent Night with the radio overdub gets me in the pump.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Jenny Islander
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 01:07 AM

PoppaGator--John Denver recorded "Christmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat" as a round with the Muppets. Miss Piggy gets a bit too much into her part. Still cracks me up.

The Cherry Tree Carol--great proto-feminist storyline
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel--sing it for Advent in plainsong mode
Lo, How a Rose (NOT the modernized version, which scans like a lump of bread dough kicked down a flight of stairs)--a quiet, beautiful song for a Christmas Eve service
The Hills are Bare at Bethlehem--explores the metaphor of hope born in winter with minimal schmaltz (Fun Fact: we celebrate Christmas in winter, but Jesus was born at lambing time; He died and rose around lambing time too, so we had to spread the feasts around the calendar a bit, and besides people need a midwinter feast in northern latitudes, witness Saturnalia and Yule.)
Away in a Manger--always chokes me up
The Holly and the Ivy--another proto-feminist traditional carol
Last song for Christmas eve: Silent Night, softly, with candles
First song for Christmas morning: Joy To the World, with all the stops pulled out!

Feminism aside, Joseph tends to get short shrift. He made a huge leap of faith, after all, and was good to Mary even when he thought she had slept around on him--he could have humiliated her publicly but chose not to. Anybody know any good carols about Joseph?

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: denise:^)
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 03:01 AM

Gotta agree with Padre--it's the "Wexford Carol" this year...
:^)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 04:22 AM

'Fairytale of New York'.
And 'Arthur McBride' to underline how tragic events can occur on that day like any other. Perhaps more so. Remember Afghanistan?

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: HuwG
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 10:38 AM

"Stop the Cavalry" (Jona Lewie)

Perhaps this is a bit too topical this year, so like Countess Richard I'll go with "Fairytale of New York". I'm also fond of "Ring out, Solstice Bells" (Jethro Tull / Ian Anderson), and some of the old favourite hymns, especially "O come, O come, Emmanuel".


However, and this should really be on a separate thread, I have a long list of most hateful Christmas songs, those which shops blast out non-stop from the end of October to Christmas Eve. Slade's "Merry Christmas, everybody", tops the list. Wizzard's "I wish it could be Christmas every day", trails by a nose, the Jackson 5's "Santa Claus is coming to town", is a close third. No doubt I shall add others to the list next month. It isn't necessarily that any of these songs are instrinsically bad, but if I hear the volume of Slade's ditty being turned up to drown out the Salvation Army Band again, I will be tempted to violence.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 04:50 PM

Extremes -
Eric Bogle's "Santa Bloody Claus"(sod him, his reindeer and his elves...) for what it says about the rapacious b******s who have turned the entire calendar into one long marketing opportunity.

"Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree" for its stunning beauty, simplicity and what it says about spirituality, even though I don't purport to be a Christian.

And just about any carol which can be played, sung and danced to with its original vigour...

Keep well,
Chris

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Barb'ry
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 05:15 PM

I like the Elvis Costello one which starts 'I knew of 2 sisters whose name it was Christmas, and one was called Dawn of course....' Cant remember the title, and I also like Fairytale of New York and Rebel Jesus and for a bit of tradition, O Come O come Emmanuel.
I only know one verse of a particularly rude song which makes me laugh 'ho, ho fuckin' ho, what a crock of shit.....' A friend sent me an animated version with a santa with a broad Australian accent and it still cracks me up! (I'll send it on if you pm me with your email address but it is a tad rude!)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 07:34 PM

Another vote for "Oh Holy Night", especially nice that it is a Christmas song and not a secular one.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 08:02 PM

I probably love the Sussex Carol best for complex reasons(!), but the Boar's Head Carol, Good King Wenceslas, The Holly and the Ivy, the Gloucestershire Wassail and the Wexford Carol all rank high on my short list as well.

Hard to believe we're *talking* about Christmas music, innit?

D.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Hrothgar
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 08:23 PM

I must be too old-fashioned, or something - it's a draw betweeh "Come, O Ye Faithful (Adeste Fidelis)" and "Silent Night."

Christmas carols at my place on Saturday 20th December.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Amergin
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 08:36 PM

youre a mean one, mr. grinch...

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Cluin
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 08:47 PM

My take on that last one. (crappy little RealAudio sample)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: robinia
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 10:42 PM

"Jesus, Jesus rest your head" (written by J.J. Niles) is one of my family's favorites. Ît goes on with "you has got a manger bed; all the evil folk on earth sleep in feathers at their birth . . ."
Not strictly true perhaps, but a lovely carol. . .

Subject: Lyr Add: WE'RE GONNA SING and COWBOY CHRISTMAS
From: open mike
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 01:40 AM

Connie Kaldor and Bim do one on their New songs for an old celebration
called We're Gonna Sing, which includes titles of many carols..all
rolled into one...
it goes thusly:
WE'RE GONNA SING
From Connie Kaldor and Bim
New Songs for an Old Season

If you see us coming up the walk,
Better run & open the door,
Put the shortbread on the plate,
Get the eggog ready to pour,
And get your voices ready,
Cuz you're gonna want to sing along,
When you hear those neighborhood carollers,
Sing your favorite Christmas songs.

CHORUS
We're gonna sing Joy to the World,
We're gonna sing Hark the Herald,
We're gonna sing Deck the Halls,
And It Came Upon a Midnite Clear,
We're gonna sing every Christmas Carol,
That we can remember,
We're gonna end with a Merry Christmas,
and a Happy New Year.

Some of us can sing in tune,
The others sing loud and clear,
We've got a version of We Three Kings,
You've really got to hear.

Bless the house that has welcomed us,
And shared its Christmas cheer,
Joy to all of the hearts within,
All throughout the year.
Good luck to all of us carollers,
As down the road we go,
May we be warmed by the toddy,
And the joys of the mistletoe.

CHORUS

also (this is my favorite holilday collection of music)
they do another one on teh same album:

COWBOY CHRISTMAS

BY CONNIE KALDOR AND ROY (BIM) FORBES

Christmas can be lonely for the cowboy,
The nearest neighbor is miles away,
If the night is clear you put a jingle in the harness,
And hitch old Nellie to the one horse sleigh.

    CHORUS
    So sing me Ki Yi yippee yippee yi yippee yay
    Wish me well if you are able
    Ki Yi yippee yippee yi yippee yay
    Remember that our Savior was born in a stable
    Ki Yi yippee yippee yi yippee yay
    I wish you all a Cowboy Christmas

Now when Mary and Joseph came into the city,
Rich folks didn't have room for them to stay;
So Mary had her baby in a lowly stable,
Cattle and horses wouldn't turn the Lord away.

    CHORUS

Now there's some that turn their noses up at Cowboys,
We're rowdy and we're scruffy, we're not high society,
But remember that the angels chose to sing for shepherds,
And shepherds were the cowboys of Galilee.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 04:08 PM

Among the more common classic Christmas songs, Oh Come Emmanuel, Bleak Mid Winter, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Here a Torch Jennette, Isabella. Some least common, Lord of the Dance, Sweet Lamb, There Was A Pig Went Out to Dig, Twas On A Night Like This, Make My Christmas Small, and Sussex Mummer's Carol. And for a good laugh during the holidays, Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas From the Family" and John Williamson's "Christmas Photo"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,DD
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 07:24 PM

I WONDER AS I WANDER. I believe it was "collected" by John Jacob Niles. Beautiful tune

Subject: Lyr Add: CHILD IN THE MANGER
From: Strupag
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 08:06 PM

It's just got to be this one. The tune was used by an english lady for the words "Morning Has Broken", recorded by Kat Stephens, but here are the details for the original: -
Words: Mary M. Macdonald (1789-1872); translated from Gaelic to English by Lachlan Macbean in Songs and Hymns of the Gael (Edinburgh, Scotland: 1888).

Music: "Bunessan," traditional Gaelic melody (MIDI, score).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Child in the manger, Infant of Mary,
Outcast and Stranger, Lord of all,
Child Who inherits all our transgressions,
All our demerits on Him fall.

Once the most holy Child of salvation
Gently and lowly lived below.
Now as our glorious mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious o'er each foe.

Prophets foretold Him, Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him on His throne.
Worthy our Savior of all our praises;
Happy forever are His own

I always thought that this Carol stood out for both the words and tune.

Try this website http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/h/childman.htm

Andy

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 09:01 PM

Some that reflect the fact that for lots of us it's the HOTTEST part of the year....

"The Borning Day" (Fred Hellerman & Fran Minkoff)
""Red and Green Christmas" (Nadia Cattouse)
"Christmas Day" (..the North wind is tossing the leaves..") by Australians William James & John Wheeler

plus all songs as sung in the original "BLACK NATIVITY" (now available on CD, and featuring the stunning Marion Williams and the brilliant Prof Alex Bradford)

and that intiguing "Jewish" Xmas song, also by Fred 'n' Fran, "Sweetest Dreams Be Thine".....

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,banjoman
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 07:35 AM

Nobody mentioned "The little boy that Santa Claus forgot"
Would welcome the words if anyone has them.
used to sing this as a threat? to my kids if they misbehaved - they didn't believe me anyhow but loved the song (I know only the first couple of lines)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Cluin
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 03:35 PM

Guess we forgot him too.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Poppa Gator, cookieless at work
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 04:28 PM

Jenny -- thanks for the info on John Denver and Miss Piggy; hardly what I expected as a reference for such an oldie as "The Goose Is Getting Fat"!

To the Buddhist looking for appropriate carols: Yuletide was celebrated thoughout the northern hemisphere *long* before the time of Christ, and a good-sized subset of our traditional "Christmas" songbook actually celebrates this secular/pagan festival marking the winter solstice -- or, more precisely, the immediate aftermath of the solstice, when we can observe that the days are finally starting to get longer rather than shorter, and that the sun is not dying, but resurrecting.

"Deck the Halls" is probably the most obvious and most popular example; also, anything about "wassail," eating and drinking, etc.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 04:28 PM

refresh

Was it something I said? I hate to see this thread disappear, just as the holiday season is approaching.

Pops

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 10:33 PM

iHobo's Christmas

Sung by Jimmie Rodger with the yodel section

Sincerely

Gargoyle

A selection made....to want you cry

Subject: Lyr Add: THE REBEL JESUS (Jackson Browne)
From: open mike
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 01:58 PM

yes i came across this one and now want to learn it..
`THE REBEL JESUS by Jackson Browne
Original recording from the Chieftain's album The Bells Of Dublin
also on the best-ever collection "The Next Voice You Hear"

The streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for all God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

They call him by the "Prince of Peace"
And they call him by "The Saviour"
And they pray to him upon the sea
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,HelenJ.
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 03:03 PM

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,chris
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 05:28 PM

Chocolate Jesus by Tom Waits for me.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,anais
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 08:22 PM

my personal favorites are the wessex carol and hairy mary- hey, it useta be a christmas carol
the seven joys of mary- i'm not sure if it's a christmas carol per se, but what a beauty, especially as sung by maddy and june
"river"- joni mitchel is damn good at melancholy, and while we're on the subject, "christmas in the trenches" has got to be among the saddest. but a favorite.
two good pagan carols from maddy prior's song cycle "year"
"red and green" and "long shadows"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Sooz
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 06:08 AM

Must refresh this thread to mention the "Bah Humbug" CD from Greentrax. Some great alternative songs! I particularly like "Mary Christmas" from His Worship and the Pig in which Santa's wife Mary has left him for the man from Toys R us and Robin Laing's "The man that slits the turkeys throats at Christmas. (But then I am a vegetarian!)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: postman
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 10:06 AM

Mine is Nat King Cole's version of 'The Christmas Song'.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 12:00 PM

Enoch Kent wrote a great Christmas satire to the tune of 'Mary's Boy Child'. The lyrics would need a little updating now, but not by much. Unfortunately I can't remember then all but it had lines like 'So a Merry Christmas everyone, Although the greeting's stale. If you don't get the gift you wanted, Youcan get it in our January sale'.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 12:02 PM

That last line should of course be 'You can getit in our January sale'
not 'Youcan'.   I've no idea what a Youcan is. Suggestions anyone?

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Sooz
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 12:49 PM

Enoch Kent's Christmas satire to the tune of 'Mary's Boy Child' is on the Bah Humbug album as well! Another good reason for getting it.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 01:10 PM

I'm singing Seamus Kennedy's 'Good Will to Men', from the album of the same name. Good song.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: breezy
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 01:44 PM

'I'm the man who slits the turkey's throats at Christmas' by Robin Laing

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 02:44 PM

Two favorites here: O Come All Ye Faithful. A magnificent song. Big chorus and orchestra version. Good King Wenceslas, sung with a small group, or solo.

Chanteyranger

Subject: Lyr Add: OVER THE HILL AND OVER THE DALE (Neale)
From: GUEST,William Pint
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 03:36 PM

J.M. Neale, The author of 'Good King Wenceslas,' also wrote a terrific song "Over the Hill and Over the Dale". It's the best song ever about the Three Kings.

OVER THE HILL AND OVER THE DALE

Over the hill and over the dale, Came three kings together
Caring naught for snow and hail, Cold and wind and weather.
Now on Persia's sandy plane, Now where Tigris swells with rain
They their camels tether.
Now through Syrian lands they go, Now through Moab faint and slow
Now o'r Edam's heather.

Over the hill and over the dale, Each king bears a present
Wise men go a child to hale, Monarchs seek a peasant.
And in front a star proceeds, Over rocks and rivers leads
Shines with beams incessant.
Therefore onward, onward still, Ford the stream and climb the hill
Love makes all things pleasant.

He is god ye go to meet, Therefore incense proffer
He is king ye go to greet, Gold is in your coffer.
Also man he comes to share, Every woe that man can bear
Tempter, railer, scoffer.
Therefore now against the day, In the grave when him they lay
Myrrh ye also offer.

Over the hill and over the dale, Riding east together
Caring naught for snow and hail, Naught for wind and weather
Warned by God from Herod's door, Each king turns for home once more
Hearts and footsteps lighter.
Now behind them shines the star, Which they followed from afar,
Shining ever brighter.

We recorded it on our 'When I See Winter Return' CD and it's also on one of John Roberts & Tony Barrand's fine "Noel" CDs.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 06:27 PM

"I Want A Hippotamus For Christmas!"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 06:53 PM

Correction to my 17 Nov post
- "Sweetest Dreams be Thine" is by Jim Friedman (not Fred Hellerman & Fran Minkoff)

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 07:02 PM

"I'm Getting Nuttin' For Christmas!"

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: akenaton
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 07:12 PM

"Thank Christ for Christmas"
   Written and performed by Enoch Kent,on "Freedom come all ye"
   Sleeve notes say..."Enoch Kent wrote this song to be sung accompanied on the cash register ,by those big store owners for whom the Holy Trinity has become the three point plug"...Ake

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Bloke in the Corner
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 07:38 PM

Fairytale of new york

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 11:38 PM

Brightest and Best.

I sang it in church today, first day of Advent. Perfect song.

The organist said it gave her goosebumps, I had that same experience the first time I heard it.

Lovely, lovely song, thanks kytrad.

CB

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From:
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 11:01 PM

I have the old 45RPM record and the sheet music to Little Sandy Sleighfoot as well as a storybook about the song..

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 09:18 AM

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing



Those are the ones that take me back best. And please, a chorus, not a crooner, and good oldfashioned chord progressions, not sophisticated dissonances.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Swave N. Deboner
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 10:22 AM

My mother had an old LP with Christmas songs by various artists. One was "A Cradle in Bethlehem" sung by Nat King Cole. I've always loved the song. Beautiful words and lovely melody. If you want to listen to a really nice version, go to the link below, scroll down till you see the song title, click on that, and then click the icon you'll see for the demonstration (complete song). This is the arrangement Vince Gill does on his Christmas album (but it isn't him singing it here). It's absolutely beautiful. I'm singing it tonight in my Christmas Showcase that I'm hosting at the open mic club I hang at.

http://praisehymn.com/info.aspx?page=labelhome.aspx&label=PH

I'd love to say "Merry Christmas", but wouldn't want to offend anyone, so I'll just say Happy Hol.....Oh, what the hell!

I hope you all enjoy the merriest Christmas season possible in these troubled times. Be well and safe.

SND

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: EagleWing
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 11:20 AM

Difficult - but I think I'd go for "Brightest and Best" ~ the version with the mixolydian tune which I have always assumed comes from the Apalacians.

Frank L.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: goodbar
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 02:58 PM

"fairytale of new york" by the pogues and kristy maccoll.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: ev
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 11:45 PM

I'm a big fan of the Christmas Revels recordings -- one of my favorites is the Christ Child's Lullaby; the liner notes say it's translated from the traditional Gaelic song "Taladh Chriosta" from the isle of Eriskay. it's performed with Northumbrian pipes, concertina with a solo vocal -- positively haunting.

"My love, my pride, my treasure -- oh,
My wonder, new and pleasure -- oh,
My son, my beauty ever you,
Who am I to bear you here?.."

I don't know what the general feelings are towards the Revels around here -- might be like the Andrew Lang Fairy Tale collections, lol.
but -- there's at least a half dozen discs totaling approximately 6 hours of not-so-common songs of the season to break up the incessant repeats of "Sleigh Ride", "Winter Wonderland", and "Jingle Bells" which seem to be the non-denominational songs everyone covers and all muzak tapes are required by law to pump out in malls, I reckon.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 09:54 AM

Christmas Revels songs are by far the best!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 09:58 AM

Probably my favorite songs (from Revels, of course!) would be Sussex Mummer's Carol and Lord of the Dance. However, that might just be because our local Revels (which I just joined last winter) does them so wonderfully, or it might be because I love Revels! Revels is kind of an obsession...

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Mark Clark
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 03:14 PM

Several people mentioned The Cherry Tree Carol (also one of my favorites) because of its depiction of an angry Joseph. This in fact one of the earliest characterizations of Joseph. The traditional and ancient Orthodox Icon of the Nativity shows a very troubled and pissed-off Joseph sitting on sidelines wondering what happened. Some versions of the Icon also include a representation of Satan tempting Joseph to react in this way.

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Amos
Date: 02 Feb 08 - 03:48 PM

A good recording of The Rebel Jesus by Stew Replogle, billed as "the man of 1000 voices".


A

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Rog Peek
Date: 02 Feb 08 - 04:32 PM

Barb'ry, the Elvis Costello song was actually a collaboration between him and Paddy Maloney of The Chieftains called "The St. Stephen's Day Murders". It is on a cd called The Dublin Bells, as is another favourite of mine, The Rebel Jesus, in this case sung by Jackson Browne himself. It's a great CD, especially around Christmas.

Another favoutite of mine is "No Christmas in Kentucky" by Phil ochs. lyrics

Rog

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: GUEST,Diane
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 07:51 PM

Can someone give me the guitar chords to this? (Jackson Browne's "The Rebel Jesus". I've been searching everywhere! email to [e-mail]. Thank you!

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 08:04 PM

fary tale of new york. nufff said

Subject: RE: Your favourite Christmas song
From: Artful Codger
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 04:37 PM

"Monday We Saw on TV" (A Toy to Buy for Christmas), (sung) by the Smothers Brothers.

"The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy" (He Come from the Glorious Kingdom), sung by Harry Belafonte.

Tau garço, la durundena (Catalan)

Someone asked for songs about Joseph. Here's a nice one:
Joseph est bien marié