... so many pop culture references so little time to blog. Anyway- we are putting some creative fuel in the tank for our December Series & Christmas Eve-type service... So big question here that needs a response... Favorite Christmas Carol - past and present, old school or new school...
What are the carols of Christmas that you love, adore, cherish, revere, ect? And why.
Everyone who responds will be entered into drawing for a special Creative Team Blog Comment prize... Its a secret, but here's a hint: it is worth more than $24.99 & less than $25.01... And can be redeemed locally for goods and/or services. SO blog early and often!
8 comments:
BEST CAROL EVER: O Holy Night. I have five different covers of it by five different artists, each with a unique turn on the carol, but all retaining the feel of the original. And all covers are faithful to the original version. Why do I like it? It's the music. The story. The whole package deal. Just an amazing, amazing song.
MOST OVER-USED CONTEMPORARY CAROLS: Mary, Did You Know? and the Christmas Shoes song. The only way to make them even more over-used would be for Wayne "Watercolor Ponies" Watson to come back and sing them. Good songs both in terms of the stories, but...no. Just no.
BEST COOL-IN-2006-BUT-LET'S-END-IT-NOW, OKAY? CAROL: Alien for Christmas. This song has the potential to become the "Disco Duck" (by Rick Dees) of this generation.
BEST COVER: U2's "It's Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)."
BEST ALBUM IN RECENT YEARS: Last year's entry by Aimee Mann. Good stuff.
I agree that O Holy Night is a wonderful carol, in fact there is a woman in my home church that I grew up with who said it wasn't Christmas until my mother had sung it, but Cartman from South Park has ruined that song for me forever I think. So in the writing style of Sonny:
Best Carol Ever: What Child Is This? I'm going to go a little music nerd here, but I love the way the melody shifts from major to minor throughout the whole song. I love to sing it and the anticipation in the song of a people who had waited hundreds of years for the Messiah to come. Same concepts and thoughts for "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"
Most Over-used: ABSOLUTELY 100% agree with Sonny! When you make a CBS special out of a song, it's time to move on.
Best Rock Band Christmas Song: Happy Christmas (War is Over) by John Lennon. I just love the way Lennon reflects on the year and challenges the listener to improve themselves. (Although I am a huge fan of the U2 song)
Best Christmas Album from 2006: I was a big fan of the 3rd Day Christmas Album, from mixing in new songs to retracing some familiar ones, it was a solid album all around.
Best Old School Christmas Album: "A Christmas Album" by Amy Grant. I just love hearing her voice on the various tracks. It has such a pure quality of tone.
And finally: Christmas Album I listen to in June because I can't wait for the Actual Christmas Season: "When My Heart Finds Christmas" by Harry Connick, Jr. HCJ just has one smoking band on the album and I never get tired of hearing it. Also, the track "I pray on Christmas" is one that I secretly long to do with a men's a cappella group someday.
Now that I've wasted like 30 minutes of my time that I should be spending preparing for a football game, I will depart. This is a fun topic, right up my alley. I'll post more as I get the opportunity!
Didn't we kind of run into a similar discssion like this last year when we found out that for as cutting-edge/emergent/finger-on-the-pulse-of-the-culture as we are, that there's something...sac(RED)...about Christmas that just hits us in the heart?
Agreeing with Nathan (!), "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "What Child Is This?" (adding in "O Holy Night") pretty much sum up the holiday season for me. South Park being the obvious exception to this rule. :)
That, and "Christmastime is Here" from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.
Second nod for Amy Grant's FIRST Christmas album (and I'm in denial just enough about my age to refuse to classify it as "old school"). Her follow-up? Not so much.
Nathan? Sarah McLaughlin covered the Lennon tune on her Christmas album from last year, and dude - she nailed it. iTunes that song if you don't have it already.
Substantive(ness) is in the eye of the beholder. I don't like the ones with high notes as they are hard to sing. I don't really like contemporary Christmas songs and can't figure out for the life of me how one defines a carol versus song. I'm not too into blood either. I kinda dig on Jingle Bell Rock though as "giddy up Jingle Horse" is classic.
I have always loved little dummer boy - it makes me think about what a small young boy did - a gift simply from his heart to our savior. He used his talent! I also like O Holy Night & What child is this. I've got one more but I'll have to get back to you on it.
I have always loved little dummer boy - it makes me think about what a small young boy did - a gift simply from his heart to our savior. He used his talent! I also like O Holy Night & What child is this. I've got one more but I'll have to get back to you on it.
I have to agree that I love little drummer boy, it has that innocence and fight for a pure gift from the heart. I am also a fan of Silver Bells though nothing biblically based i just like the simple pleasure of people watching during the holiday season, enjoying the hustle and bustle of gift giving.
Sonny's 2nd post reminded me of one of my favorites including Sarah McLaughlin and some very talented Canadians (The Barenaked Ladies) and their rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." It's just got a good bounce to the music that only TBL can provide.
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