Christmas music!

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I can’t stand Christmas music before Dec. 1 and sometimes I wait until Dec. 15. I’m an oddity in a town where some people will be putting up their Christmas tree this weekend, after Remembrance Day (Thanksgiving was a month ago up here).

I have my preferred CDs:

Quartette “It’s Christmas!” tops my list. Sylvia Tyson sings a gorgeous a capella “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” supported by Cindy Church, Colleen Peterson and Caitlin Hanford. Then there’s “Hush Baby Jesus” with lead vocals by Caitlin Hanford, who also wrote it.

Time’s Treasury – it has Jim Reeve’s “There’s an Old Christmas Card”, a song that always brings a tear, plus a lot of the songs I grew up with in the 50s and 60s.

Brenda Lee’s album with “Little Blue Bell”

“An East Coast Christmas”: various Atlantic Canadian musicians – this one has “In Night’s Deep Silence”, an English version of a Polish hymn, and Bruce Gouthro’s “The Boy in the Woods”, about a Christmas miracle.

“A Child’s First Christmas Album” with Red Skelton telling the tale of the “Sad Christmas Tree”.

Raffi’s Christmas, a reminder of a Christmas family trip back to our east coast home town when we were posted out west.

Conway Twitty’s Merry Twistmas album – I wore out the first and had to go to eBay for a replacement. “Ding-a-ling, the Christmas bell” always brings a lump to my throat.

Gloriae Dei Cantores Schola “The Chants of Christmas” – my tastes are nothing if not ecclectic.

Then there are all the French songs/hymns I grew up with: Minuit Chrétien (sorry, O Holy Night doesn’t come close), Ca Bergers; Dans le silence de la nuit; Trois Anges; Dans cet étable; Venez, Divin Messie, which just doesn’t have the same impact in English.
 
Arizona_Mike said:
“Walking in the Air” - from “The Snowman,” a very popular short animated Christmas special in England with which Americans are not as familiar. (If you have a young child, buy or rent the DVD - it’s a very sweet, gentle, Christmas animation, and a nice way for your child to wind down before bed.)

Hope you like some of these.
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I think every American under 30 who ever had a substitute teacher has seen “The Snowman”. I’m pretty sure I saw it at least 20 times before the end of grammer school. We had many discussions trying to figure out why the little boy’s mom let him go out to play in the snow without a coat or underwear.
 
Allegra said:
I think every American under 30 who ever had a substitute teacher has seen “The Snowman”. I’m pretty sure I saw it at least 20 times before the end of grammer school. We had many discussions trying to figure out why the little boy’s mom let him go out to play in the snow without a coat or underwear.
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I didn’t know that! (Probably because I’m over 50!) I had the book for my kids but only just saw the movie last year.

I hear they’ve got this thing called “the talkies” that are all the rage, too…
 
Greetings to those posting and or reading this thread,

I got over seven hours of Christmas music today. I do not like the secular Christmas songs, so mine is mostly Traditional Christmas music sung by choir or Instrumental Christmas music.

I got the following CD’s.

Handel’s Messiah
Songs of Angels - Christmas Hymns and carols
Carols From Trinity
Classic Christmas Carols by the Kings College Choir
and Mannheim Steamroller 25th Anniversary CDs.

I have been listening to it all day. How wonderful.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit
 
My Christmas CD starts in the car on the first Sunday of Advent although I do listen to Veni Emmanuel all year round.
 
So, I turned on the Christmas music on the car radio today and am I crazy, or has contemporary Christmas music suddenly gotten really depressing? I listened to about six songs on the way home and I’m not even kidding when I say the most uplifting one was the one about the impoverished kid that doesn’t have enough money to buy shoes for his dying mama! There were two songs about a yuletide breakup, one about starving people in Africa, some lady bemoaning all the social ills of the world, and the stupid one where the guy runs into his old girlfriend and they get drunk in the back of his car and whine about how very disappointing their lives had turned out to be. Good grief! Whatever happened to joy-to-the-world?!
 
I’ve been spared The Christmas Shoes so far this year, although Do They Know It’s Christmas has been getting hourly play on the local station. Our local station has been playing a lot more religious music this year, and is actually calling it Christmas music, which delights me to no end (they always billed themselves as a “holiday music” station in the past, but never did get around to playing any Arbor Day songs). They still get in a good amount of secular music, but today I heard Ave Maria, O Holy Night, Angels We Have Heard on High, Silent Night and Adeste Fidelis all in a row. I was shocked! Thrilled, but shocked.
 
Our Basilica is having an Carols and Lessons service! 😃

Oh, but I can’t wait till the one from King’s in broadcasted!
 
Allegra said:
So, I turned on the Christmas music on the car radio today and am I crazy, or has contemporary Christmas music suddenly gotten really depressing? I listened to about six songs on the way home and I’m not even kidding when I say the most uplifting one was the one about the impoverished kid that doesn’t have enough money to buy shoes for his dying mama! There were two songs about a yuletide breakup, one about starving people in Africa, some lady bemoaning all the social ills of the world, and the stupid one where the guy runs into his old girlfriend and they get drunk in the back of his car and whine about how very disappointing their lives had turned out to be. Good grief! Whatever happened to joy-to-the-world?!
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I’m guessing that was Band Aid’s “Do They Know it’s Christmas Time”. In case you didn’t know, it was recorded by several British entertainers in the mid 80’s to raise money to fight famine in Africa.
 
In our community the “season” starts on Dec. 2 with a reading of “A Christmas Carol” to raise money for the food bank.

Then we have the Base Chapel (P) multilingual carol service;
then the Ministerial Association carol service;
then the local community choir’s “Christmas Suites”, a concert of Christmas music and dessert for everyone.

I have a feeling that I’m not going to be spending many evenings at home.
 
As far as the type of Christmas music I like, it’s traditional. I love the Time Life Treasury of Christmas as well as Bing Crosby. For a modern twist on traditional Christmas music, I love Alan Jackson’s “Let It Be Christmas” CD.
 
I love Christmas music! I’ll listen to it any time of the year. I remember when I was in preschool, my mom thought it was odd that I was singing Christmas music in July. But then she thought about it and realized that there’s nothing wrong with celebrating and remembering Jesus’ birth any time of year! (My favorites to sing at the time were Silent Night and Away in a Manger.)

I do cringe when I see decorations up or hear it on the radio before Thanksgiving. This year, one of our local radio stations switched entirely to Christmas at the beginning of November! (It’s great to be excited about Christmas and all, but I think it’s important that we give Thanksgiving it’s place too.) Now that it’s the week of Thanksgiving, I’m really looking forward to pulling out all the decorations again.
 
Greetings to those posting and or reading this thread,

I added about three more hours of Christmas music. I got some secular in there with the Traditional Hymns, oh well can’t completely root them out, thank God for the skip to next track. 😃

God Bless.
Anathama Sit
 
Anathama_Sit said:
I got some secular in there with the Traditional Hymns, oh well can’t completely root them out, thank God for the skip to next track. 😃
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I’m just as big a fan of the secular stuff as the religious tunes. I figure anything that helps build excitement over the celebration of the birth of our Lord is a good thing. That being said, I know a few people who refuse to listen to any secular Christmas music. At the same time, I also know a few who refuse to listen to any religious Christmas songs. I can’t understand the latter group in the slightest. Not only are they missing out on some wonderful music, but they’re missing the point entirely.
 
Gordon_Sims said:
I’m just as big a fan of the secular stuff as the religious tunes. I figure anything that helps build excitement over the celebration of the birth of our Lord is a good thing. That being said, I know a few people who refuse to listen to any secular Christmas music. At the same time, I also know a few who refuse to listen to any religious Christmas songs. I can’t understand the latter group in the slightest. Not only are they missing out on some wonderful music, but they’re missing the point entirely.
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Greetings Gordon Sims,

Yeah I used to not have a problem with the secular Christmas music. But most of it seldom is from a Christian point of view. I know a lot of the songs talk about having a gay time and let’s party and ride our sleighes and what not through the snow, but Christmas is much more than this. I find it helpful to focus on the real reason for Christmas.

I can understand those who feel the way that I do, however like you the second kind of people that you talk about, I cannot understand where they are coming from. Without Christ and the Church there would be NO Christmas, surely they realize this.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit
 
My favorite is “The Little Drummer Boy” by the Harry Simeone Chorale. This is the song from the Christmas special of the same name that used to come on every year in the 60’s.

DGB
 
Anathama_Sit said:
I can understand those who feel the way that I do, however like you the second kind of people that you talk about, I cannot understand where they are coming from. Without Christ and the Church there would be NO Christmas, surely they realize this.
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I was reading a debate online last year about “Happy Holidays” vs. “Merry Christmas.” It was in the comments of a new website, so you can imagine the mentality of some of the posts. One person was particularly incensed and said something along the lines of how sick they were that “they” [Christians] were trying to take Christmas away from “the rest of us” [non-Christians]. I made a reply that by keeping the focus on Christ, we were actually trying to give the true meaning of Christmas to the rest of “them.” I never checked to see if my comment got any replies.

I try not to focus on the people who are so opposed to Christmas as a religious holiday. I prefer to focus on making sure my kids have a good grasp of what the day is all about. The secular music helps keep things festive, but we spend a great deal of time talking about Jesus, the nativity, and how giving freely and generously means a lot more than anything they receive under the tree.
 
DoGodsBidding said:
My favorite is “The Little Drummer Boy” by the Harry Simeone Chorale. This is the song from the Christmas special of the same name that used to come on every year in the 60’s.

DGB
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I love the song, and it has a fascinating background. Harry Simeone didn’t write it, and one could debate whether he even really did much along the lines of arranging “his” version of it. The song was originally titled “The Carol of the Drum,” and was written by Katherine K. Davis in 1941. She claimed that she transcribed it loosely from a traditional Czech carol, although whatever that original carol may have been, it has never been identified. It was intended to be performed by chorales, without any instrumental accompaniment. It was published as sheet music, but wasn’t recorded until 1952 by the von Trapp Family Singers (the same ones upon whom The Sound of Music was based). This is an a capella version, with a much faster tempo than what most people are used to.

It then caught the attention of Jack Halloran, who re-arranged it and recorded it with his Jack Halloran Singers for what was intended to be their 1957 Christmas album for Dot Records, but it wasn’t completed in time and wasn’t released until the following year. The biggest difference between Halloran’s composition and the one released by the von Trapps is that this version has the same, slower tempo that most everyone is used to. It’s extremely similar to what Harry Simeone would later release. (It was also recorded and released by at least two different choral groups–The Testor Chorus and the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir–but their arrangements are a good deal different than Halloran’s and don’t seem to play into what later went on with Simeone.)

Halloran’s recording caught the attention of Henry Onorati, a Dot Records producer, who brought it to the attention of his friend, Harry Simeone. Onorati encouraged Simeone to get the jump on Halloran and release it before Halloran’s record could come out. Simeone had a contract with 20th Century Fox Records to release a Christmas album. He took Halloran’s arrangement, made some minor changes (most noteworthy being the addition of finger cymbals, changing the line “the ox and *** kept time” to “the ox and lamb kept time,” and retitling it to “The Little Drummer Boy”…oh, and giving writing/composition credit to himself, Onorati and Davis) and recorded it, going so far as to apparently hire the exact same singers Halloran had used. Simeone managed to get his album out before Halloran’s could hit, and it became a huge success.

Simeone’s huge success then caught the attention of Davis, who filed a lawsuit that was settled out of court in 1960. I thought I’d read before that Halloran also sued, but I couldn’t find any reference to that. If I remember right, Davis received royalties on Simeone’s version (and all the other versions that have been recorded since), while Halloran got the shaft.
 
Gordon_Sims said:
I was reading a debate online last year about “Happy Holidays” vs. “Merry Christmas.” It was in the comments of a new website, so you can imagine the mentality of some of the posts. One person was particularly incensed and said something along the lines of how sick they were that “they” [Christians] were trying to take Christmas away from “the rest of us” [non-Christians]. I made a reply that by keeping the focus on Christ, we were actually trying to give the true meaning of Christmas to the rest of “them.” I never checked to see if my comment got any replies.

I try not to focus on the people who are so opposed to Christmas as a religious holiday. I prefer to focus on making sure my kids have a good grasp of what the day is all about. The secular music helps keep things festive, but we spend a great deal of time talking about Jesus, the nativity, and how giving freely and generously means a lot more than anything they receive under the tree.
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Greetings Gordon Sims,

Glad to hear about you and the kids, that is the MOST important part. Jesus is the reason for the season. I am so glad that there are parents out there that are teaching the kids about the real reasons we have Holidays. Kudos. 🙂

God Bless.
Anathama Sit
 
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