Seasonal Quiz 03 (Carols)

1. Which Christmas carol includes the line And glory shone around?
A O come all ye faithful
B God rest ye merry gentlemen
C While shepherds watched

2. In which country was the carol Silent night written?
A Austria
B Germany
C Switzerland

3. St Wenceslas is celebrated in the carol Good King Wenceslas (he was actually a duke not a king and should not be confused with King Wenceslas who lived three centuries later). There is an equestrian statue of him in which European city?
A Brno
B Bratislava
C Prague

4. Winchester old, Cranbrook, Martyrdom, Lyngham, Sherburne - these tunes are all commonly used for which carol?
A O come all ye faithful
B While shepherds watched
C God rest ye merry gentlemen

5. Which is the only Christmas carol that actually appears by name in Dickens A Christmas Carol?
A O come all ye faithful
B God rest ye merry gentlemen
C Hark the herald angels

6. Carols from Kings Chapel, Cambridge, is an annual broadcast event. The opening carol is always the same, what is it?
A O come all ye faithful
B Once in royal David's City
C God rest ye merry gentlemen

7. What is the only other carol that always features in carols from Kings? 
A Hark the herald
B O come all ye faithful
C While shepherds watched

8. Which carol originally written in Latin has these words for its second verse - Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, gestant puellae viscera. Deum verum, genitum non factum?
A Good Christian men rejoice
B Veni veni Emmanuel
C O come all ye faithful

9. Infant holy, infant lowly was originally written in what language?
A German
B French
C Polish

10. Child in the manger was originally written in what language?
A Gaelic
B Welsh
C Cornish

11. Entre le bœuf et l'âne gris is a very old French hymn. What does the opening line mean in English?
A Between the ox and the grey donkey
B Between the beef and the later course
C Come in the longed for new year

12. Which Christmas carol includes the words O holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray
A Away in a manger
B O little town of Bethlehem
C Once in Royal David's City

Answers CACBBBACCAAB

Musical Christmas Gem 12

To round this series off with a decent total (12 not 11)

12. 2000 miles by The pretenders. I like the Pretenders in general (even though Chrissie Hind can't quite sing in tune) and this track with its jangly guitars. that very attractive arpeggio, the distant voice and the oblique and melancholic Christmas theme has been a fave over the years. It first appeared in 1983. More recently a version was issued by Coldplay. A single it was on their album Learning to crawl.

On Youtube there is a nice version here

Musical Christmas Gem 11

11. Christmas wrapping by the Waitresses. I suppose a song with a pun in it is bound to attract me. The quirkiness and interesting musicianship plus a story also helps I guess. I know it from a compilation album and indeed that is how it first surfaced in 1981 - on a punk compilation. Like most of these songs it was recorded in a hot August.

Musical Christmas Gem 10

10. Happy Xmas (War is over) by John Lennon with Yoko Ono. One of my Christmas rituals is to praise this song and to moan about Paul McCartney's execrable attempt at a Christmas number (Wonderful Christmas time). Actually as songs they are equal. The real difference is in the production and the sentiment. McCartney's features a tinny eighties synthesizer and sleigh bells and is all about having a nice time at Christmas. Lennon, on the other hand, has got Phil Spector in to do a massive production number with mandolins and children and choirs and who knows what else and with the genuine if naive aim of bringing the Vietnam War and indeed all wars to an end. As is apparent already I like a bit of seriousness in my holiday music (cf Greg Lake, The Pogues, also Jackson Browne's The Rebel Jesus on the Chieftains album I mentioned) and this one gives it in bucketfuls. Even Yoko Ono is bearable on this track. Here on wikipedia there is some more info, including the fact that at the beginning of the song the whispered words are not "Happy Christmas, Yoko. Happy Christmas, John" as I'd always assumed (giving it a rather self-indulgent flavour) but "Happy Christmas, Kyoko. Happy Christmas, Julian" ie to their kids.

Musical Christmas Gem 09

9. Fairytale of New York by the Pogues featuring Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl. This song has been in the news recently because of its questionable lyrics. I have both the original and an instrumental version. Against the odds Tunbridge Wells-born Shane McGowan will be 50 come Christmas Day and the Pogues are back together touring. Kirsty MacColl is sadly no longer with us following a holiday accident in December 2000 when she was 41. This is the only Pogues song I know. Its strength comes from its bitter sweet portrayal of Christmas on the seamier side. It succeeds where Blue Christmas and Lonely this Christmas do not (IMHO) by a good balance of realism and sentimentality plus a good tune and well written words.

Musical Christmas Gem 08

8. The magic of the night by Enya is one of several bonus tracks on certain special Christmas versions of the 2006 album Amarantine. This is one of four tracks still available on i-tunes that line up with Oiche Chiun (an Irish version of Silent Night also on i-tunes - her sister Moya Brennan does the same track elsewhere) to form Enya's Christmas output. This and Christmas Secret are originals. Enya works to a certain formula and these songs all work if you are willing to accept that. I must confess that it is difficult to take We wish you a Merry Christmas wholly seriously, especially when she sings 'We want some figgy pudding' in such earnest tones! She talks about the songs here. Here she makes reference to the joy of snow as a child. Perhaps her best 'Christmas' song is the marvellously evocative Amid the falling snow on Amarantine (How I remember sleepless nights When we would read by candlelight And on the windowpane outside A new world made of snow A million feathers falling down A million stars that touch the ground So many secrets to be found Amid the falling snow, etc). The track does occur with the other five I notice on an American Collector's CD illustrated here Sounds of the Season.

Musical Christmas Gem 07

7. Ring out, solstice bells is by Jethro Tull and was a 1976 single. This is a straight pagan take on the season but very attractive for all that, with that flute and bells, etc. The above is a rare promo animation from the time found on youtube. There is a whole album of Christmas fare from JT, which is well worth hearing.

A canal in winter van Ostade 1645

A canal in winter by Isaac van Ostade, Kenwood House, London