Christmas Carols: a Poll

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As CAF’s (un)official pollster, I have decided that it is my utmost duty to determine what Christmas carol is the overall favourite here on CAF. 😛

It is November, yes indeed, but only a month and an half until Christmas and I’d like to keep the poll open until then.

Besides all that, I LOVE carols and I am already listening to them year-round. If you have a favourite rendition of a carol, do post it and we’ll have a holly-jolly thread in preparation for the celebration of the blessed birth of Our Lord, and the motherhood of the Blessed Virgin to the Saviour of the World.
 
:hmmm::whistle::harp:

Undecidedly; I’d probably pick any one of them on the list. The more stronger the lyrics speak of Christ Birth and paying Him homage the better.

One Carol not on the list is a favorite of mine.

A Cradle In Bethlehem sung by Nat King Cole
youtube.com/watch?v=u99schV5GaA&feature=related
 
It’s hard to say what my favorite is because all of them are beautiful, but I chose “Silent Night”. It was the first Christmas carol I remember singing as a very little girl and having my mother teach it to me for a Christmas concert we did in Pre-K. One choice that was not on the list, but I think is tied with “Silent Night” is “Once in Royal David’s City”. I lose it almost every time I sing it.

youtube.com/watch?v=1RC34N1TfCQ
 
I voted for God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, because that is one of my favorites. I would have votes for The Holly and the Ivy, but it depends on the the version, there are different tunes. I like this one. Oh Sarabande, I love Once in Royal David’s City, But Lo How a Rose ere Blooming is my favorite. ;)😛

I also like, What Child is This, the Coventry Carol, Good King Wenceslas is always a classic, and Angels from the Realm of Glory. (I heard the bells on Christmas day, is first in my second favorites category).
 
I like’em all; I have no favorites. I do have a favorite secular Christmas song (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”), but when it comes to religious Christmas songs, I have no favorites. And I’m about to start listening to them again.
 
I did O Holy Night. It just beat out Stille Nacht. Both are so beautiful. Adeste Fideles was not there, but that’s not quite as good as the other two. O Little Town of Bethlehem is really good as well.

Top 5

O Holy Night
Stille Nacht (just edging out O Little Town of Bethlehem)
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Adeste Fideles
Ave Maria
 
I WISH I could say O Holy Night, but my parish got the new edition of the Saint Michael Hymnal earlier this year, and its NOT IN THERE :eek: (and we never sung it anyway at Christmas time).

I like Silent Night, What Child is this (rarely sung at my parish), Away in a Manager, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, We Three Kings and O Come All Ye Faithful!
 
jilly4ski said:
I voted for God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, because that is one of my favorites. I would have votes for The Holly and the Ivy, but it depends on the the version, there are different tunes. I like this one. Oh Sarabande, I love Once in Royal David’s City, But Lo How a Rose ere Blooming is my favorite. ;)😛

I also like, What Child is This, the Coventry Carol, Good King Wenceslas is always a classic, and Angels from the Realm of Glory. (I heard the bells on Christmas day, is first in my second favorites category).
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How could I forget “Lo! How A Rose ere Blooming”?!?! Another one of my favorites up there. I always loved singing the alto line to it. All of the others you mentioned: YES! YES! YES! All wonderful. See, it really is difficult to choose one favorite! 😛
 
What a lovely thread! Thanks!

I love all of them, except for Santa Baby, which I think is really kind of stupid.

I never get tired of them. As a pianist, I’m in big demand during the month of December to play for choirs, soloists, churches, etc., and that means that I often play the same Christmas carols several times in a day. But I love it.

I do have a soft spot for Silent Night–so beautiful and the origin of the song makes it even more so.

I love O Holy Night, too.

But I think my top favorite traditional carol is O Come All Ye Faithful. Our madrigal group in college opened our Madrigal Dinners with this piece–we sang it (Latin and English) while we strolled about the ballroom welcoming the sell-out crowds. (Back then, Madrigal Dinners were extremely popular, and we sold out weeks in advance for 9 nights of Madrigal Dinners.) Such a beautiful way to open the show, and such a great message in the hymn.

Great, great thread. So positive and happy.
 
DaveBj said:
I like’em all; I have no favorites. I do have a favorite secular Christmas song (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”), but when it comes to religious Christmas songs, I have no favorites. And I’m about to start listening to them again.
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I usually start playing Christmas music after the first Sunday of Advent. Invariably its hard to listen exclusively to the religious inspired Christmas Carols without hearing a few well know secular ones. Seemingly one has to fight the secular side of the Christmas observance far more than one would at Easter. And that’s just uncanny to me considering Easter is the pinnicle of the Catholic Christian Church year. Increasingly I find most often its not until Christmas Eve Mass that I feel like I’m in the “Real” Christmas mood.
Perhaps “mood” is not quite the right frame of mind to look at. Rather the wonder of contemplating the profound spiritual significance on the “True Meaning” of Christmas is where its really at its greatest importance. Advent meditations help at lot.

But its a real fight against the secular side of it all. I wish Christmas was celebrated more like Easter with far less secular fanfare even if both religious observances have their distinct uniqueness. Aside from Jesus being the Reason for the Season its odd that Christmas happens to be the saddest time of the year for many. But I understand this especially with the poor and families who have loved ones who are ill.
Having celebrated my father’s Requiem Mass on Christmas Eve morning in 2007 I know what bittersweet memories of melancholy are like. But I do make the most of the profound spiritual side of Christmas while always thinking of Easter remembering Archbishop Fulton Sheen who said; “the wood of the Christ-Child creche would one day become the wood of His Cross”. Its a monumental blessing for those of us who have families to go to at Christmas. Something I should humbly never take for granted.

Peace
Chris
 
I voted for “Huron Carol” but it really all depends on who’s singing it. My favorite version is by Tom Jackson.

In reality, my favorite carols are French, the ones I grew up singing at school and hearing at church.
Il est né le divin enfant

Dans cette étable

Ça bergers

Dans le silence de la nuit

and first and foremost, the French version of “O Holy Night”, “Minuit, Chrétiens!” which can bring me to my knees in a way that the English version can’t. The singer in the version I’ve linked ‘gets it’. It’s not just words for him.

I usually don’t play carols in my home until around Dec. 15 although it’s difficult not to hear them when you have the radio on all the time. I like secular ones too, and to everyone’s dismay, I like ‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas’.
 
Phemie said:
I voted for “Huron Carol” but it really all depends on who’s singing it. My favorite version is by Tom Jackson.

In reality, my favorite carols are French, the ones I grew up singing at school and hearing at church.
Il est né le divin enfant

Dans cette étable

Ça bergers

Dans le silence de la nuit

and first and foremost, the French version of “O Holy Night”, “Minuit, Chrétiens!” which can bring me to my knees in a way that the English version can’t. The singer in the version I’ve linked ‘gets it’. It’s not just words for him.

I usually don’t play carols in my home until around Dec. 15 although it’s difficult not to hear them when you have the radio on all the time. I like secular ones too, and to everyone’s dismay, I like ‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas’.
Click to expand...
(“Il est né le divin enfant”) is one of my favorites too whether sung or by instrumental.

Translated:

He Is Born, The Holy Child

Refrain
He is born, the holy Child,
Play the oboe and bagpipes merrily!
He is born, the holy Child,
Sing we all of the Savior mild.

Through long ages of the past,
Prophets have foretold His coming;
Through long ages of the past,
Now the time has come at last! Refrain

O how lovely, O how pure
Is this perfect Child of heaven;
O how lovely, O how pure
Gracious gift of God to man! Refrain

Jesus, Lord of all the world,
Coming as a Child among us,
Jesus, Lord of all the world,
Grant to us Thy heavenly peace. Refrain
 
Love all those plus It came upon a midnight clear, O little town and While Shepherds watched.

But I think Advent Carols are even better:

O come, o come Emmanuel
Lo He comes with clouds descending
On Jordon’s Bank
Hark the glad Sound
Come thou long expected Jesus
Wake, O wake
 
liturgyluver said:
Love all those plus It came upon a midnight clear, O little town and While Shepherds watched.

But I think Advent Carols are even better:

O come, o come Emmanuel
Lo He comes with clouds descending
On Jordon’s Bank
Hark the glad Sound
Come thou long expected Jesus
Wake, O wake
Click to expand...
Here’s another beautiful carol that can be sung during Advent or Christmas
The Angel Gabriel
youtube.com/watch?v=pliqObTHxUQ&feature=related
 
Phemie said:
and first and foremost, the French version of “O Holy Night”, “Minuit, Chrétiens!” which can bring me to my knees in a way that the English version can’t. The singer in the version I’ve linked ‘gets it’. It’s not just words for him.
Click to expand...
Well he is an opera singer, I think that gives him an advantage. But I do really like Roberto Alagna, especially in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
 
liturgyluver said:
Love all those plus It came upon a midnight clear, O little town and While Shepherds watched.

But I think Advent Carols are even better:

O come, o come Emmanuel
Lo He comes with clouds descending
On Jordon’s Bank
Hark the glad Sound
Come thou long expected Jesus
Wake, O wake
Click to expand...
My favorite traditional Advent song is People Look East. My favorite new one is My Soul in Stillness Wait.
 
Cider said:
Well he is an opera singer, I think that gives him an advantage. But I do really like Roberto Alagna, especially in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
Click to expand...
True, but I’ve heard Pavarotti sing it andI don’t get the same impression. I’d never heard of this guy before.
 
liturgyluver said:
Love all those plus It came upon a midnight clear, O little town and While Shepherds watched.

But I think Advent Carols are even better:

O come, o come Emmanuel
Lo He comes with clouds descending
On Jordon’s Bank
Hark the glad Sound
Come thou long expected Jesus
Wake, O wake
Click to expand...
I could listen to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” day in and day out. That plays in my home from the First Sunday of Advent.
 
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