Alright here’s the deal. I’m burning a Christmas CD and I want Christmas songs. Not just good Christmas songs. I want the best. And yes, I want Christmas songs that are actually about the birth of our Lord. Imagine that. What’s passing for Christmas songs on the radio today is actually pretty weird. When did that song, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” become a Christmas song? I mean, other than its inclusion in the movie Elf, it has zero Christmas relevance. It’s about a guy trying to get a girl drunk so she’ll stay over, for goodness sake!
So I’m trying to think of the best Christmas song but I’m having a bad brain day. Maybe it’s because I just read the news story about Boy George being found guilty of falsely imprisoning a Norwegian male escort by handcuffing him to a wall. I mean, who could’ve seen that coming?
Alright. Back on target. I’m looking for a little aid here for the creation of the perfect Christmas CD. So some obvious ones to start:
Bing’s Silent Night
Nat King Cole’s “O Holy Night”
But there are a thousand version of all the good Christmas songs like “Come all Ye Faithful” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” so if you guys have any favorites that are particularly good or just move you in some way please let me know. Or I’d love to get wind of songs I’ve never heard of which are great.
Now, of course, if anyone suggests any version of Jingle Bell Rock, they’ll be officially banned from the blog and handcuffed to a wall like a Norwegian man-whore pending further review at our annual CMR executive session held yearly in the basement of the Vatican.
Be warned, this is the Christmas CD the Archbold children will listen to their entire childhood so if we fail to inspire in my children some semblance of awe at Christmas, it’ll be all your fault. No pressure.
December 5, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Nightfly,
I’m a Brian Wilson fanatic but I’m afraid “Little Saint Nick” doesn’t make the cut.
December 5, 2008 at 10:37 pm
What about these?:
“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”
“Gesù bambino”
“I Wonder as I Wander”
“Sicut Locutus Est” (From Bach’s arrangement of the Magnificat)
December 5, 2008 at 10:37 pm
You really do have some great ideas from all your commenters. How is it that the best songs have been written about this Holiday? In fact, you could make up a good CD just on variations of O Come O Come Emmanuel. Brass, organ, brass and organ, other instruments, solo guy, solo girl, small group, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, etc, etc etc. I go over my collection of Xmas CD and pick out what I think will be an amusing variety for my kids. The grandkids like them the best.
December 5, 2008 at 10:39 pm
“In the Bleak Midwinter” is good too…
December 5, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Darn, you got off to such a great start with:
Bing’s Silent Night
Nat King Cole’s “O Holy Night”
Those would have been my first two, for sure. Here’s some more. I think they’re just as good or even better than your selections!
Wonderful Christmas Time, Paul McCartney
Christmas Shoes, NewSong
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, Dr. Elmo
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Gayla Peevey
White Christmas, Michael Bolton
Christmas Time, Backstreet Boys
The Christmas Song, Alvin and the Chipmunks
Jingle Bells, The Barking Dogs
Dominick the Christmas Donkey, Lou Monte
Santa Baby, Madonna
I Wish Every Day Could Be Like Christmas, Bon Jovi
I only wish that William Shatner had done a Christmas album.
December 5, 2008 at 11:05 pm
You mean he didn’t?
December 5, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Chanticleer’s album,”Sing We Christmas” has some excellent songs that I listen to every Christmas.
Tracks:
1. Es Ist Ein Ros’ Entsprungen
2. O Magnum Mysterium
3. In Dulci Iubilo
4. O Virgo Virginum
5. O Jesulein Süß, O Jesulein Mild
6. Hodie Christus Natus Est
7. Mirabile Mysterium
8. Verbum Caro Factum Est: Y La Virgen le Dezia
9. A un Niño Llorando
10. Here Is the Little Door
11. Noel Canon
12. Quelle Est Cette Odeur
13. El Noi de La Mare
14. A Christmas Carol
15. A Virgin Unspotted
16. In the Bleak Mid-Winter
17. Glory to the Newborn King
18. Stille Nacht/Douce Nuit/Silent Night
God bless!
December 6, 2008 at 3:19 am
johnclubvec, you win the prize! Been a long time since I’ve laughed this hard!
Back to business….my new favorite is “Mary Did You Know?”. Pretty awesome. Also awesome is “Silent Night” sung in tandem with “Night of Silence”. Just doesn’t get any better than that.
Hey, Matthew, is there a way we could get our own copies of your perfect Christmas CD?
December 6, 2008 at 4:42 am
“Gentle Mary Laid Her Child”
Gentle Mary laid her child
Lowly in a manger
There he laid the undefiled
To the world a stranger
Such a babe in such a place
Can he be the Savior?
Ask the saved of all the race
Who have found his favor.
Angels sang about his birth
Wisemen sought and found Him
etc.
(sung to Good King Wenceslas)
Google under the first line
December 6, 2008 at 11:46 am
do German songs count?
These are children's choirs singing.You can scroll down and listen to samples, and then possibly download some version of it at iTunes…..
http://www.amazon.de/Kinder-Singen-Weihnachtslieder-O-Tannenbaum/dp/B000CCB3PW/ref=pd_sim_m_5
Here you can listen to the Wiener Saengerknaben (world famous Vienna Boychoir) http://www.amazon.de/Die-sch%C3%B6nsten-Weihnachtslieder/dp/B000025GY2/ref=pd_krex_po_t
And then, of course one of the best, Luciano Pavarotti: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Luciano-Pavarotti-Special-Deluxe/dp/B000B8I8SM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1228563849&sr=1-1
Enjoy!
Mum26
December 6, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Actually, now that I think of it, I think iTunes et al. have the von Trapp family recordings, and they have some BEAUTIFUL Christmas songs.
December 6, 2008 at 2:39 pm
The christian band, Go Fish, has some good Christmas songs!
December 6, 2008 at 3:09 pm
For the ten best (and 10 worst) go here
http://isthistripreallynecessary.blogspot.com/
December 6, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I am sure I heard a version of Carol of the Bells with Christ-based lyrics, and it was beautiful; everything I find online now is secular. Anyone know who I might have been listening to? All my favorites have been mentioned here: Point of Grace singing Emmanual/God With Us, Mary Did You Know? (although a recording by the Daughters of St. Paul is a MUCH different song than one by Micheal English, who first sang it, or any other pop artist), and everyone’s favorite O Holy Night. I would only add the insrumental version of The Christmas Song from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Vince Guaraldi was a genius.
December 6, 2008 at 3:46 pm
The Boar’s Head carol
Estampie Natalis
December 6, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Michael W. Smith’s album It’s A Wonderful Christmas has many songs on it that bring me to tears of joy and praise, and a few of them are instrumental! Can’t say enough good things about the album. The only track I could do without is #5.
December 6, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Already mentioned…. “Mary did you know?” Beautiful.
December 6, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Question.
In the hymn “Mary Did You Know?”
Does the statement that Jesus came to soon deliver Mary conflict with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception? What about the part where it says that Jesus has come to make her new?
Also, did she totally disregard the part about Him being conceived by the Holy Spirit?
December 6, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Try Sarah McLachlan’s rendition of “The First Noel”. True, she is an unbeliever, but it’s unbelievably good nonetheless, and completely reverent.
December 6, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Of a Father’s Love Begotten