As some may know, I'm kind of picky about my music, especially Christmas music, being far more fond of Hymns and Religious Carols than of normal ordinary Christmas Songs. Why? Because Christmas is a religious thing, dontcha know.
One day earlier this season I was driving around, and had the radio on. What to choose from? Talk Radio (currently on a commercial and news break) or more rerun Oldie Rock or bad NPR (currently playing neo-classical ) or... the Christian channel. Joy FM. Let's try them.
And came across this beautiful tune. Sung beautifully. "Be Born in Me" by Franchesca Battisteli. Seriously beautiful song, very religious for being not hymn nor carol, and, well, just give it a listen. From the movie/tv show "The Story."
The 'official' music video
"Be Born In Me" by Bernie Herms and Nicole NordemanEverything inside me cries for orderEverything inside me wants to hideIs this shadow an angel or a warrior?If God is pleased with me, why am I so terrified?Someone tell me I am only dreamingSomehow help me see with Heaven's eyesAnd before my head agrees, my heart is on its kneesHoly is He; blessed am I
Be born in me, be born in me
Trembling heart, somehow I believe that You chose me
I'll hold You in the beginning, You will hold me in the end
Every moment in the middle, make my heart Your Bethlehem
Be born in me
All this time we've waited for the promise
All this time You've waited for my arms
Did You wrap yourself inside the unexpected
So we might know that Love would go that far?
Be born in me, be born in me
Trembling heart, somehow I believe that You chose me
I'll hold You in the beginning, You will hold me in the end
Every moment in the middle, make my heart Your Bethlehem
Be born in me
I am not brave
I'll never be
The only thing my heart can offer is a vacancy
I'm just a girl
Nothing more
But I am willing, I am Yours
Be born in me, be born in me
I'll hold You in the beginning, You will hold me in the end
Every moment in the middle, make my heart Your Bethlehem
Be born in me
Okay, I had to admit, this teared me up. "I'll hold You in the beginning, You will hold me in the end." And the 'I am so not ready for this' feeling imparted in the story, the doubt, the acceptance and the resolve. Oh, yeah, crying like I just watched a good romance movie (yes, I am a weeper. I can kick your buttocks but sappy gets me tearing. I also tear hearing the National Anthem, so get over it.)
I had to take a picture of the radio (one of those new-fangled ones that can 'read' the song info being broadcasted and show it on the faceplate, I know, so 2000's) and went home and told Mrs. Andrew about my discovery, crowing like Tom Hanks in "Castaway" when he made fire, and... she already had it. Just not on a playlist that we were listening to.
Again, brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it or READ THE LYRICS (wipes eyes, blows nose, Mrs. Andrew looks at me strangely, I explain, she calls me a wuss, I say "I'm your wuss" and we laugh.
And then, on the new playlist, Mrs. Andrew had... Dan Fogelberg's Christmas Album. Dan Fogelberg? DAN FOGELBERG? Well, surprisingly, it is a very loving album full of very good versions of very good Carols and Hymns.
And contains... "In the Bleak Midwinter." A song made from a poem by Christina Rossetti, written at the behest of the editor of Scribner’s Monthly for the January edition of the publication in 1872. It was eventually to become one of the most loved English Christmas carols.
And so, well, here's The Fogelberg singing "In the Bleak Midwinter."
The DF Christmas album was recorded at his house.
Amazing album.
Dan changed it to a ballad format and it works so well.
Dangit. Tears to my eyes again.
In the Bleak Midwinter
In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter, long ago
Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ
Angels and archangels may have gathered there
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His Mother only, in Her maiden bliss
Worshiped the Beloved with a kiss
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart
If you guess I'm weeping, well, duh.
And anyone who's paid attention to my rantings/postings about Christmas Carols/Hymns know my absolute favorite by far is "Oh Holy Night." Done properly, the line "Fall to your knees, O hear the Angels voices." And I do mean done properly, as I have heard butchered versions that make me want to go postal to the radio station playing such abominations.
Originally the poem was written in France by Placide Cappeau in 1843 to celebrate the renovation of his town's pipe organ. It was put to music in 1847 by Adolphe Adam, and became something of a revolutionary song in the 1860s in France.
English version was written and modified by John Sullivan Dwight, a Unitarian minister, in 1855.
Josh Groban does it correctly.
He actually puts feeling and emotion into this song, which brings tears to my eyes and stops me from moving when I hear it.
That's the power of good music. And, yeah, crying.
OH, HOLY NIGHT
O Holy night! The stars ar brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O Holy night, O night divine!
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here come the Wise Men from Orient land
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is Peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name, all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us Praise His Holy name
Christ is the Lord; O praise His name forever!
His power and glory evermore proclaim
His power and glory evermore proclaim
Yep. Crying. And totally amazed. Can you imagine the moment He was born, how that must have been? Every bell in heaven rang, which must have been one heck of a sound. So powerful that, well, it made men fall to their knees. I am sure evil people felt a hand on the back of their necks, and actual demons and devils (of which I do believe exist, having met at least 3 people who were meat skins for said evil creatures, long story, not going to tell it.) I mean, what a changing event that was, which ties into all three of the above songs.
Other than that, I hope you and yours have all had a wonderful Christmas. Stay warm and safe.
Beans, Great minds think (sing?) alike. My absolute favorite Christmas Carol is “Oh, Holy Night”. My maternal Grand Father would sing that just before bed time on Christmas Eve. He had a fabulous baritone singing voice that was perfect for the song and he used it well.Every time I hear it played now, I hear him singing it. Fond memories.
ReplyDeletejuvat
I have fond memories of singing carols at mass on Kwajalein. Something about military people makes for better singers.
DeleteExcellent choices Beans, excellent.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteDan Fogelberg. Wow, that is a blast from the past. Wonderful songs all, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete(For the record, my favorites are Good King Wenceslaus, God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, and The Boar's Head Carol)
Good King Wenceslaus is a Stephensmas Carol...it say so in the first line ;-). That Stephensmas is the day after Christmas is neither here nor there.
DeleteGood choices, all. Throw in a few of the Wassailing songs, and the rollicking Christmas In Carrick - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZlaibxqITU
Don't recognize BHC, so will have to look that one up. I've probably heard it but don't recognize it.
DeleteAnd GKW, GRYMG are also excellent ones.
In real life, Good King Wenceslaus was a good Christian king.
Any song that involves Latin, a Boar's Head, and Christmas always has my vote!
DeleteLatin makes the world better. I mean, "Adeste Fidelis" just sounds so much better than "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and OCAYF is a fantastic hymn/carol.
DeleteAdding traditional food (like boar's head) just makes it better better.
Well said. I break Xmas Music (Yes, Xmas - dates way back, as in ICXC NIKA Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νικᾷ X for ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ), into 4 categories. Orthodox Nativity Hymnography, Western Hymnology and Religious Carols, Respectful Popular Xmas stuff, and 80% of the trash played on the radio. Of the Orthodox Hymnography I much prefer the Slavonic arrangements to the Greek . The verbiage is the same, but the music is differnt.
ReplyDelete"Thy Nativity, O Christ our God,
has shone to the world the light of wisdom!
For by it, those who worshipped the stars,
were taught by a star to adore Thee,
the Sun of Righteousness,
and to know Thee, the Orient from on high.
O Lord, glory to Thee."
==========================
A short explanation of some of the Orthodox hymns: https://catalog.obitel-minsk.com/blog/2021/12/7-main-hymns-of-christmas-and-their-meaning
In general, emotionally I prefer the Western Hymnology and Religious Carols, as for me they satisfy rational, spiritual, and emotional needs, where the Orthodox, while long on theology, are usually short of pure emotionalism. Yes, I too can cry (men cry at appropriate times, usually on subjects of God, Family, Honor, and Country, and freely admit it.) at well done renditions.
Some of your favorites I have trouble with, because I've hard too many horrible renderings, rendered and crisped to coal black, of them.
The lyrics of the first song you mentioned almost lost me at the opening "Is this shadow an angel or a warrior?" GRUMP! Angels, especially archangels, ARE warriors!
Some are warriors, others watchers, others messengers. There are whole choirs of angels that do nothing but weird angel things, unfathomable by man. Just the warrior angels get all the spectacular press, and everyone knows about the watchers and messengers. Watcher angels will sit/stand/float around and let us make fools of ourselves without lifting one darned finger.
DeleteAs to horrible renditions, yes, way too many, either commercially produced or sung by bad singers at church or elsewhere. Mrs. Andrew and I have an extensive collection of Christmas music and other music and the rules are:
No live music (because people suck and scream and holler during the performance.) Subrule of this one is especially no recordings by audience members because those recordings are horrible and are more about the recorder screaming and talking during the performance than the actual performance.
No flat or sharp professional singers, as that kills the joy more than anything.
No jazzing or lounge lizarding up songs not meant to be jazzed or lounge lizarded up. This means Christmas music by Barbara Streisand or Neil Diamond (we like ND a lot, but... well, his Xmas music sucks.)
Must be a relatively well-balanced recording. It amazes me that there are still pieces professionally produced where the balancing is horrid, especially with saxophones and flutes. Though there are lots of guitar artists who squeak the strings on simple pieces (somewhat forgivable on complex Spanish guitar pieces, but...)
Either of us can call a flag on the piece, wherein it may stay in Mrs. Andrew's extensive collection but is taken off of any playlist.
Yeah, we've totally embraced the modern combonculator storage and play thingy.
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Happy Boxing Day! Today is the Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr. And, in English tradition, Boxing Day, where the NCO's trade places with the officers in the Regiments. Quite a jolly good tradition, that one.
ReplyDeleteAs for Christmas seasonal music, this is the one that stirs the soul for me. The Coventry Carol, done by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LawxEPfHniE
Boxing Day, where the Nobility and the People who have Staff, Servants and Tenants gift to said Staff, Servants and Tenants (original meaning of Boxing Day.) That whole Noblesse Oblige thingy that seems to be so missing amongst modern Nobility and People who have Staff, or any type of Underling.
DeleteHa, Coventry Carol, you may be slightly psychic on that one. Ramblings working in my head. I also love that one, for different reasons.
Great post Beans. groban does it well. That is a powerful piece of music when put in the right hands, er...voice. I could comment further but I believe I will save it for a post as you have been my muse for it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to be a musing. Get it? Get it? I make myself laugh sometimes...
DeleteWife introduced me to Groban many years ago, and we actually had the chance to see him perform live. Which was interesting as the venue had rather steep steps in the balcony seating area (so as to not block views from every seat) and it really got my vertigo going. And the hanging catwalk from elevator to the balcony seating was really bad, like really really bad. Some architects just need to be beat to death when designing things like a narrow catwalk 4 stories above a huge atrium. Singing was great, getting in and out was definitely not. Only thing that could have made the experience worse was wind or movement of the catwalk. But enough about vertigo, Josh Baby sang/sings like, well, an angel. Clear voice, powerful voice, excellent enunciation, excellent emoting. I don't think I've heard a single piece sung by him that he has messed up. Some of his duets, on the other hand, the other partner was/is definitely not up to his level and that drags the piece down, sadly. (worse example of this is Boccelli and Reba McIntire singing a Christmas piece. I like Reba in "Tremors" but her voice ain't made for being anywhere near Boccelli's.)
Nice selections!
ReplyDeleteCommercialism notwithstanding, Christmas does not end on Christmas day, but continues to be celebrated and observed until Epiphany on 6 January. That's when the three Wise Arabs identifying as males showed up with their gifts. In some cultures, the Birthday and the Gift Day are observed appropriately and separately.
So, let's continue to enjoy celebratory sounds until 6 Jan, then we can revert to our favorite (or least obnoxious) every day music preferences.
Ho, ho ho!
JB
Well, maybe not Arabs. Persians, probably. That's one of those things, don't call a Persian an Arab, as that's a killing offense. Persians are good warrior people, have even the concept of heavy cavalry (but not heavy infantry for some strange reason) but Arabs are light cavalry, more raider than warrior.
DeleteBut, yeah, 12 days and then some of Christmas, especially if you add in the weeks of Advent.
Very nice follow-up to the Blessed Day.
ReplyDeleteAs JB pointed out, it's still the Christmas Season. So we can still listen to the good songs.
ReplyDeleteGlad to make a nice follow-up. There may be more coming, and I may have awoken Tuna's Kraken... Muse., which is always awesome in its depth and power.
https://youtu.be/vtk3kyHlmfo?si=7dD1uQoJL5ezhNkv
ReplyDeleteI hope every of you had Merry Christmas with your families.
Myself I had a great meeting with my father, brother, sister, niece and nephew.
Nothing like pure joy seen on the faces of kids unpacking gifts!
It was a good Christmas, though wife and I were sick, so a quiet Christmas. We survived, live on, good times.
Delete