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What is your favorite Christmas song?

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RouxB:
Non-secular is most definitely O Come O Come Emmanuel
Secular faves would be Santa Baby, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song

And the nostalgic favorite-sung by me, age six, Holy Spirit School Christmas program (I got a little stage fright and just stood there for what seemed like weeks but was more like 37 seconds):

Jolly old Saint Nicholas lean your ear this way
Don't you tell a single soul what I'm going to say
Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man
Whisper what you'll bring to me, tell me if you can.

When the clock is striking twelve, when I'm fast asleep
Down the chimney broad and black
With your pack you'll creap
All the stockings you will find hanging in a row
Mine will be the smallest one you'll be sure to know

Front-Ranger:
I have a weakness for the version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings by the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan but I don't know which album it's on.

Jeff Wrangler:
On this list I had to go with "Silver Bells." My trouble is that I've always been excessively fond of the music of Christmas, to the degree that I have to have two lists of favorites, sacred and secular. And I can't really pick one favorite on either list.

For the secular list, as mentioned, the "top three" would be the aforementioned "Silver Bells," also "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (by Meredith Wilson, who wrote The Music Man), and then "The Christmas Song," aka "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire."

Many would possibly consider "White Christmas" to be the greatest Christmas song ever written, but I'm finding that as I grow older, more and more I would rather not hear it. It's a beautiful song, no doubt, but its lyrics speak of loss and longing. My aversion, I know, is completely related to my own situation: Single middle-aged gay man, only child (no extended family that I'm close to), mother and all grandparents deceased--I won't go on. So I prefer to focus on happier songs, thus "Silver Bells," etc.

As for sacred songs, the top three, actually in the following order, are "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (maybe that has something to do with its use at the conclusion of A Charlie Brown Christmas  ;D ), "O Come, All Ye Faithful," and "Joy to the World" (no, not the Three Dog Night song  ;D ). One thing those carols all have in common, they're easy for a non-musician to belt out.  ;D

Tell you what, I was surprised to read of Del's fondness for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." (Del, if you read this, are you familiar with the version from "A Fresh Aire Christmas" by Mannheim Steamroller? Very haunting.) I've seen this carol described as a medieval Christmas carol that didn't exist in the Middle Ages. As we know it, it was put together in the mid-nineteeth century by John Mason Neale, one of those quirky--and I wouldn't be surprised if he was gay--Oxford Movement Church of England clergymen. Neale created the carol out of antiphons to be sung with the Canticle Magnificat ("My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord") at Vespers from Dec. 17 through Dec. 23. (An antiphon is a little verse, often from the Psalms, appropriate to the season or occasion, that is sung before and usually repeated after a Psalm or Canticle.)

Ellemeno:
Put me in the "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" camp.  Though of course I love others too.

delalluvia:

--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on December 16, 2006, 03:08:29 pm ---
Tell you what, I was surprised to read of Del's fondness for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." (Del, if you read this, are you familiar with the version from "A Fresh Aire Christmas" by Mannheim Steamroller? Very haunting.)
--- End quote ---

Why are you surprised?  OK, I'm surprised I like it too.  No, I'm not familiar with Manheim Steamroller's version.  I'm pretty much a musical grunt.


--- Quote ---I've seen this carol described as a medieval Christmas carol that didn't exist in the Middle Ages. As we know it, it was put together in the mid-nineteeth century by John Mason Neale, one of those quirky--and I wouldn't be surprised if he was gay--Oxford Movement Church of England clergymen. Neale created the carol out of antiphons to be sung with the Canticle Magnificat ("My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord") at Vespers from Dec. 17 through Dec. 23. (An antiphon is a little verse, often from the Psalms, appropriate to the season or occasion, that is sung before and usually repeated after a Psalm or Canticle.)

--- End quote ---

Wow, thanks for the info.  Amazing what histories some carols have.

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