Some of my faves:
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming: This song isn't very popular or well known, but it is lovely. Here is a version I found on Youtube. Ignore the nerdy-ness of the choir. They sound pretty good, I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyuOIYCERc4
Oh Holy Night: This is a very popular song and many people list it as their favorite. It has a beautiful melody and conjures Christmas Eve imagery that make people reflect on Christmas. However, I like it for other reasons as well. Has anyone paid attention to the later verse in the song that goes:
His law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,
And in his name all oppression shall cease."
The song, all three verses, originated as a poem by a French wine merchant named Placide Cappeau in 1847, when he was asked by a local priest to write a poem for Christmas. Cappeau had a composer write a melody to match the poem and it was introduced at a mass service that Christmas. It caught on quickly with the French people, but soon religious leaders in France tried to ban the song due to Cappeau's social views. He was known as a liberal freethinker and a non-Christian, and many people opposed his anti-slavery views and the anti-slavery message in the song. The song continued to grow in poplularity, however, and eventually an American minister in the "North" translated the French version and was moved by the abolishionist, "slave is our brother" message. So anyway. . .I remember reading something about this story in a newspaper or magazine a few years ago and was interested enough to look it up, which is where I learned about Mr. Cappeau. I liked "Oh Holy Night" before, but this made me like it even more. It is actually kind of hard to find a popular recorded version with the "Truly he taught us" verse, but it is in most church piano hymals I have seen.
Good King Wenceslas: This is the first Christmas song I learned on the piano in third grade that actually had chords and wasn't just a single line of notes. It made me feel very grown up! This song has an uplifting message about how the king and his servent went out into a bitter cold day and walked a long distance to bring food and firewood to the poor. It was so cold the servant almost gave in to exhaustion but was able to make it by walking in the footprints left by Wenceslas in the snow. Wenceslas was a real person (according to Wikipedia he was Saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, who lived from 907-935, and was known as a good worker who gave charity, actually working in person, to orphans and widows, as well as those seen wretched by most others, such as prisoners and those with disabilities and mental illnesses). He died at age 28, which means all of his good works were done as a young man. Hmmm. . .kind of makes me feel like a pile of crap. . .sitting here on my computer watching TV. . .
Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord: This song isn't strictly a Christmas song. It is from the musical Godspell (which I've never seen). I associate it with Christmas because when I was in middle and high school it was a yearly tradition to sing this as the closing of our Christmas concerts. We would dim the lights, and the middle school and the band students who weren't also in the choir would form a circle around the gym and hold a candle. People loved it so we kept doing it every year. When I was in high school, I was the piano accompanist as well (which is much better than me singing!) I loved the piano arrangement. It was loud and full sounding with big chords. I tried to find a version on youtube, but all I found was the 1970's Godspell clip which isnt' a Christmas theme and is actually pretty cheesy. So look if you want. . .
Let it Be Christmas: This song doesn't have some long winded historical reason for my liking it. It is by Allan Jackson, and usually I don't like "contemporary" Christmas songs because they are usually annoying and cheesy (Can we say "Christmas Shoes" anyone?"). This one is really good though. Roommate and I listened to it all the time in College.
The Coventry Carol: This song was on a "Stars Come Out For Christmas" cd my family had (still has) when I was growing up. I liked the song, so I looked it up (I know this is nerdy, but I was lucky enough to have the internet become available just when I got old enough to start wanting to know more about everything! I had a endless, uncensored reference library at my fingertips! Lucky you, right?). It actually has a pretty violent background and refers to the Holy Innocents, the children in the Bible that King Herrod slaughtered when he was trying to eliminate the newborn Jesus. But, there is more to Christmas that just the beautiful, idealistic part, and it's all part of the story. So on December 27th, which is the traditional Feast of the Holy Innocents, think of what it would be like to live in those lawless days. . .
Garth Brooks' cd "Beyond the Season": I love the whole thing. . .ahhh. . .
A Mighty Fortress/Angels We Have Heard on High (the Amy Grant recording): I really don't like any of Amy Grant's music that much, except for her Christmas songs. They are some of my favorites. I love this version because I grew up in a traditional Lutheran Church and "A Mighty Fortress" was composed by Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation as a rallying song for reformers. Although I don't claim to be devout in my religious practices during the last few years, I have always been inpsired by the huge undertaking that was the Reformation and how it was an important turning point for religious freedom in western cultures (And no, I didn't get that idea from church. I learned about the far reaching implications of the Reformation it in Western Civilization class at NDSU.) What would the world be like if no one had ever questioned the way something was done? In the musical arrangment I am referring to, the song begins with a loud and assertive instrumental version of "A Mighty Fortress" and then bursts into a joyful sounding "Angels We Have Heard on High". Thank you Amy!
What Child is This: I love it because the melody sounds so mysterious and really Christmas is a mystery. . .wouldn't it have been amazing to have been there, whenever it happened? (Some people believe, based on scriptures, that it could have happened in the spring or fall. It is also speculated that early Christian clergy placed Christmas on December 25th to distract from Pagan festivals that happened at the same time.) Who cares when it really happened, though, as long as it is observed and celebrated!
Had enough yet? OK, sorry, this went on forever. . .
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