Twelve days to go, here's a provisional top 12 Christmas Carols... what are your thoughts?
12. Once in Royal David’s City
11. While Shepherds Watched
10. O Come All Ye Faithful
9. Child in a Manger Born
8. O Come O Come Emmanuel
7. From the Squalor (Stuart Townend)
6. See Amid the Winter’s Snow
5. Angels From the Realms of Glory
4. Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
3. Hark The Herald
2. Thou Who Wast Rich
1. For Unto Us a Child Is Born (Handel)
I was going to promise to post up a decent video of each before Christmas, but it's proving hard to find some of these...
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Perhaps hasn't got the heritage of some of the others here but I'd have From the Squalor at #1. "He fights for breath, He fights for me." Can't tell you how many times I've almost lost it there!
Hi Rich - I'm glad it's made it to Canada. A true classic. Though no decent Youtube versions :(
Joy to the world is up there for me. A Watts classic, though it benefits from the (usually omitted) 3rd verse:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
"Then the bride will run to her lover's arm" is the bit that gets me!
But I think for the moment, O Come O Come Emmanuel is my favourite!
No 'In the bleak midwinter?' Well... you are an Aussie so singing "snow was falling snow on snow, snow on snow" might not have the same heart-moving capability that it does in the Northern hemisphere.
I like joy to the world too, but here are a couple that would make my list:
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Sussex Carol
They're both appropriately lively and with reasonable lyrics. Lots of the main carols (which have 'once' in the title) are a bit same-y for me, musically.
And there's always this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSlpCBek1_M (great Ukelele version on Youtube too).
Hmmm. So many to pick from.
In no particular order:
Handel's For Us a Child...
From The Squalor, with a big celtic swing,
Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel
Coventry Carol.
What grinds my gears is carols that are really popular, but suck - Away in a Manger for instance. And then there's odd line or half line that makes me shiver with the iffyness, or even the odd verse in carols that otherwise are great.
Why's the Hallelujah Chorus Christmassy? I guess it's Adventy, but Advent is basically Christmas extended forward, rather than Advent, now. It's heard far more than "For unto us..." which is just great!
I like "Mary did you know?", but don't think it works as a congregational song (not that I've heard it done like that).
The Calypso Carol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Yukt2LiI8 is rather good as a more modern carol, but there's the un-Christmassy nature of Steel Drums and such to us north Europeans.
I feel that the Sovereign Grace Music Christmas CD ( http://www.sovereigngracemusic.org/albums/category/sovereign_grace_music/savior_celebrating_the_mystery_of_god_become_man ) is great - solid carols, Christmassy tunes and hopefully some will actually get momentum behind them. Ditto "From the Squalor"
Anyway, some favourites of mine that haven't been mentioned:
We Three Kings
O Little Town
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
What Child is This?
Christ the Lord is Born Today (Sovereign Grace)
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Come O Long Expected Jesus (more Advent than Christmas)
@Leon Love that part too bro! @Glen - From the Squalor has indeed made it to Canada - I heard it most recently as a solo at a Christmas concert on Saturday night. Beautiful. @Si Thanks for that list - some new ones there, for me anyway!
In addition to those already mentioned, I include these on my list of favorites:
Angels We Have Heard on High
Go, Tell It on the Mountain
How Great Our Joy
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
My favourite is Hark the Herald Angels, however rapidly flying up the charts is "O Holy Night" I see it isn't mentioned yet and I have to admit I had never heard it until it appeared on the West Wing Christmas episode, the one where Toby's father turns up and we see why Toby is an all round Grinch.
O Holy Night is sung a cappella as we see the stress/pain of Christmas in the West Wing.
Anyway since moving to North America I have discovered that this song is much more popular here and is a very moving piece.
here is America's Got Talent runner up singing it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqDawGfn2xQ&feature=related
O Holy Night is hands down the best tune. But it fails on words I'm afraid - all over the place.
Hey Rich! Is this Rich as in Hicken? We sang that a bit in Uganda didn't we? How are things? Should probably drop you an email or something... love to the bird from us! Sorry... I meant Robin.
"O Holy Night is hands down the best tune."
DISAGREE. Boring/random harmony mixed with meandering tune and irregular metre.
Leon - have you found somewhere to watch the Ashes yet?
Glen - have you found away to avoid watching the Ashes yet?
I love Wesley's "Glory Be to God on High" :)
@Leon yeh that's where I first heard it! Will send you an email in a bit.
Hey Paul! Nope... am hoping to catch at least one whole night of it at some point! Maybe I'll be thick-skinned and ask the congregation as part of the notices this Sunday!