OT..What's your favourite Christmas Carol?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

With a Cold Christmas on the Cards, my thoughts often turn to how the guys in the Trenches must have felt.

Which song would have warmed you for a While, if you had been there?

 

My Favourite is this, beautifully played on guitar by this guy

 

[Olham 164]

"Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" is for me the Christmas song.

I have searched for 20 minutes now, and found lots of terribly "schmaltzy" and "candy-coated" versions.

This one is still not perfect, but the best I could find - a recording from the late 50s or early 60s,

when I was a child. Enjoy!

 

Edited November 28, 2010 by Olham

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

A beautiful song indeed Olham

[+daddyairplanes 9,004]

this song has always hit me since being in iraq christmas 04 (rained all but 10 mins of the whole day) but saw this episode of jag after i got home hit a lil extra hard

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=UnNXrsiashM

 

(I'll Be Home for Christmas, sung by Catherine Bell at the end of a Christmas episode of JAG)

 

sorry i know its not great war but this theme applies to soldiers round the world in all ages

Edited November 28, 2010 by daddyairplanes

[Hasse Wind 46]

I'll go with Olham in this one. Silent Night, Holy Night is one of the most beautiful Christmas carols ever composed. But there are a number of other beautiful carols I could have chosen, like En etsi valtaa loistoa (Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt in Swedish) composed by Jean Sibelius in 1895.

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Those are all beautiful and I love them all, but my personal favorite is still "O Holy Night", and here is a wonderful rendition of it by Celine:

 

"O Holy Night", Celine Dion

 

.

[Olham 164]

A pity, Lou - but I can't have it. What I get is this:

 

Dieses Video enthält Content von Sony Music Entertainment. Es ist in deinem Land nicht verfügbar.

[von Baur 54]

Thank you for that, Widowmaker. "We Three Kings" is awonderful song and classic guitar only makes it better.

 

Olham, I took German for two years in high school and learned some Christmas Carols then. Knowing that, and that I played guitar a little, the pastor at my church in 1982 (a man of Pennsylvania Dutch[Deutsch] background) offered me the honor for our Chrismas Eve Candlelight Service of recounting the story behind "Stille Nacht" and then playing and singing it as it was first done.

 

I know it's a relatively recent addition to the list of Christmas music, but I'm surprised no one's mentioned Garth Brooks's "Belleau Wood" yet.

 

My favorite, though, is any song my mother is singing. She has a beautiful soprano voice, strong and clear, and when she passes away there will be a lot of angels looking for new jobs.

[Dej 17]

Again, not a true carol but these days my Christmas doesn't properly start until I hear 'Es ist ein Ros' Entsprungen' on Classic FM.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDVpHZZAzZo

 

But if we were to stick to true carols then 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' is probably my favourite, although 'Past Three O'Clock', 'In Dulci Jubilo' and 'I saw Three Ships' are very close runners.

[Burning Beard 14]

I used to like Christmas Carols until the local radio stations started playing them non-stop beginning the week before Thanksgiving.

 

Beard

[Olham 164]

Didn't know yours, Widowmaker; I like it; it's feels unpretentious and pure - almost medieval.

 

Von Baur, Dutch and Deutsch isn't the same - the Dutch live in the Netherlands.

But far back in time, in the "Holy Roman Empire of German Nations", it was all belonging together, that's true.

I only read the story behind "Stille Nacht" some years ago.

I remember it was written in Austria by a priest and a teacher, to be performed at Christmas mess for poor

and desperate people; accompanied really only by one guitar? Perhaps you can tell the story?

 

Dej, your's is a fine choice too! The title would mean in English: "A Rose has arisen" (more or less).

 

Burning Beard, I know what you mean. Every shopping mall plays them too.

I don't know Walmart, UncleAl.

[NS13Jarhead 6]

In addition to the ones previously mentioned, there are three that I seem to have an affinity toward. The first two are not really considered "standards, but both are quite powerful in their own ways. The third is a reinterpretation of a couple of the classics.

 

First is "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", which is based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow written during the American Civil War. He had recently lost his wife in a fire and had just found out that his son had been seriously wounded in battle. If you read/listen to all the verses, the emotion flows from dispair to hope. Very powerful if you understand the context.

 

Second is "

" written by Mark Lowrey and Buddy Phillips. Buddy is something of a showman with his chosen musical instrument, as shown in

video.

 

Third is "

" by TSO. It's sort of a metal-ized version of Good King Wenceslas/Carol of the Bells that makes the rounds on most of the radio stations here.

[Wayfarer 5]

By a whisker, mine is 'O little Town of Bethlehem', but I like all the old traditional English carols - plus some of the fine borrowings such as 'Silent Night'.

What this has put me in mind of though is, does anyone know the name of a comparatively recent film dealing with the Christmas Truce of 1914? I think one of the German soldiers is supposed to have been an opera singer. I remember being impressed by the fact that the French were depicted in their 1914 uniforms of blue coats, kepis and red trousers. It was on British terrestrial television a year or two ago but I can't remember the name. I don't think it was a British film.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Wayfarer

[Olham 164]

I think you mean the French film "Joyeux Noel" ("Merry Christmas"), Wayfarer. Here is the Wikipedia link to it:

http://en.wikipedia....oyeux_No%C3%ABl

 

And here are two more songs I like a lot: "Oh du Fröhliche" and "Little Drummer Boy".

 

 

Edited November 29, 2010 by Olham

[Wayfarer 5]

Thank you Olham, that's the one.

[Olham 164]

For Wayfarer, and all - here is the scene with the Christmas song.

If only they had been victorious with it....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5iDz8Ul_AQ&feature=related

[Wayfarer 5]

Thanks again Olham. Bagpipes as well ... another favourite of mine, although I understand many people regard that as an aberration! Plus 'O Come All Ye Faithful' in latin. That's a nice reminder of my Dad who learnt the latin version at school and could still remember some of it . He died just this September so we won't hear it this Christmas. His enthusiasm for aeroplanes, and collection of aviation books, are directly responsible for me being part of this forum.

[carrick58 23]

I would pick

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUHYnOTJ_uk

Edited November 30, 2010 by carrick58

[Olham 164]

Sorry to hear that, Wayfarer - I wish you a Merry Christmas despite his death.

From where he is looking at you, he wouldn't want to see you unhappy.

My dad died 1991 - a bit too young; but we cannot tell when and why.

 

Bagpipes as well ... another favourite of mine, although I understand many people regard that as an aberration!

In this film, they do even mix with the opera singer, and the singer with them.

Music is the direct expression of emotions, I believe, and how could these bagpipes not express

the pride, and the sentiments of their players.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Olham

[Bullethead 12]

Here's mine, which hits home in so many ways: <A href="http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/50355-Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Christmas-At-Sea">http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/50355-Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Christmas-At-Sea</A>

Edited November 30, 2010 by Bullethead

[Olham 164]

A very good one about the harsh reality of sailors, from a great writer! I didn't know it - thank you.

Going out on the sea in the days of sailing ships, must have often been similar to flying another

sortie in the Great War.

That reminds me very much of Sidney Perley's "Historic Storms of New England".

I borrowed it to a friend, so I can only recite from memory a small excerpt which contains it all.

It's about a ship thrown on the rocks very close to the coast.

"The men on the ship saw those on the shore, and those on the shore could only look over

to the men on on the ship, and they all knew, how unimportant they really were."

Also a very good read about modern fishermen getting lost in the raise of the elements: "The Perfect Storm".

Very different to the movie, the book is a great documentary, written in a very good and well readable style.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Olham

[Bullethead 12]

A very good one about the harsh reality of sailors, from a great writer! I didn't know it - thank you.

 

It means a lot to me because this Xmas I'm on duty at the fire station both the 24th and 25th and my folks are growing old. But also, 20 years ago this year, I flew out of Cherry Point on a C-141 early on 24 December and landed in Jubail, Saudi Arabia on Xmas moring. We nearly crashed in Torejon, Spain en route, got chased by Libyan MiGs all the way from Marsailles to Sicily, flew over the Pyramids, and finally made a very rough assault landing at our destination just over the heads of surrounding terrorists with SA-7s. Then I spent all the rest of the day trying to get a ride to my unit, which didn't know I was coming, so totally missed the big Xmas dinner laid on for the troops. As such, I figure the ghosts will be out in force this time around...

 

 

"The men on the ship saw those on the shore, and those on the shore could only look over

to the men on on the ship, and they all knew, how unimportant they really were."

That's a good one :)

[carrick58 23]

Bullethead: U have an interesting life:tumbleweed:

[Wayfarer 5]

Bullethead. Just 10 minutes ago we had got ourselves mithered about how exactly we were going to put my mom up for Christmas - thanks for putting things in perspective!

[von Baur 54]

Olham:

Yes, I know that Dutch and Deutsch are two different people. What I meant by that was that the term 'Pennsylvania Dutch' actually refers to German immigrants who settled in the southeastern part of that state. They referred to themselves as Deutsch, obviously, but the English-speaking inhabitants (through ignorance, arrogance or a combination of the two) said 'Dutch'. In those days the people who came here wanted to fit in and become Americans, not try to make everyone else cowtow to them, so they didn't correct their neighbors and that's what stuck.

 

As far as "Silent Night", what I've heard is that the cathedral's organ broke on Christmas Eve and couldn't be repaired before the service. The priest (I don't remember anything about a teacher, although I can't say one wan't involved) wrote it for guitar because that was the only musical instrument available. He probably had no idea it would become arguably the greatest Christmas carol ever. Rather symbolic of the story of Christmas itself...the humble origins of someone who would change the world. (I'm also reminded of Lincoln's modest assessment of The Gettysburg Address when he said in it, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here...")

 

Finally, thank you for reminding me of "Oh du Frohliche". That was one of the songs our 9th-grade German class sang when we carolled my hometown of Bloomsburg, PA 41 years ago (although it struck me at the time that we were singing to a lot of men who had fought in WWI and WWII...I can imagine some of them were not thrilled). Being uniquely German I don't hear it any more, but what I remember of it still pops into my old gray head from time to time. I've always enjoyed the happy feeling of the song.

 

 

Jarhead:

"Mary, Did You Know?" is also a fantastic song. I don't believe I've ever heard other than Dolly Parton's rendition, but to be honest...I can't imagine anyone doing it better or making it more powerful.

 

 

uncleal:

You and I don't agree on a lot, but there's no arguement at all about Mannheim Steamroller...I could listen to them all day. If I create a Christmas Music folder on my cell phone (now that I've made the move into portable electronic music storage) I'm sure they'll find their way into it.

 

 

Wayfarer:

Sorry to hear about your father . This will be the 21st Christmas since my dad passed away. As beautifully as my mother sings, he was the opposite end of the musical spectrum. He always said, "I may not be able to sing but I can damned well make a joyful noise." He, too, liked to make that noise to "Adeste Fideles". (Back to Olham for a sec...I would sing "Herbei, O Ihr Glaubigen" under my breath )