10 Carols From Different Countries

1. Silent night (Austria)
2. Infant holy (Poland)
3. Child in the manger (Scotland)
4. All poor men and humble (Wales)
5. While shepherds watched (England)
6. All my heart this night rejoices (Germany)
7. O little town of Bethlehem (USA)
8. O holy night (French)
9. The virgin Mary had a baby boy (Trinidad)
10. O come all ye faithful (Portugal?)

Mary had the Little Lamb

Mary had the little Lamb, who lived before His birth;
Self-existent Son of God, from Heaven He came to Earth. (Micah 5:2)

Mary had the little Lamb; see Him in yonder stall - 

Virgin-born Son of God, to save man from the Fall. (Isaiah 7:14)

Mary had the little Lamb, obedient Son of God;
Everywhere the Father led, His feet were sure to trod. (John 6:38)

Mary had the little Lamb, crucified on the tree
The rejected Son of God, He died to set men free. (1 Peter 1:18)

Mary had the little Lamb - men placed Him in the grave,
Thinking they were done with Him; to death He was no slave! (Matthew 28:6)

Mary had the little Lamb, ascended now is He;
All work on Earth is ended, our Advocate to be. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Mary had the little Lame - mystery to behold!
From the Lamb of Calvary, a Lion will unfold. (Revelation 5: 5,6)

When the Day Star comes again, of this be very sure:
It won’t be Lamb-like silence, but with the Lion’s roar. (Psalm 2:12; Revelation 19:11-16)

Marv & Marbeth Rosenthal

Copies of this poem may be used without written permission from the authors.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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6. Il Est Né / Ca Berger is by Anna McGarrigle, Kate McGarrigle & The Chieftains and is on the 1991 Chieftains album The Bells of Dublin.

I've long been a Chieftains fan and actually saw them perform once when I was a student in Aberystwyth. At some point they decided that instrumental music could be a bit boring and so they saw the way forward was to have just about anyone they fancied sing with them. On this their only (?) Christmas album they drag in not only the McGarrigle sisters but the Renaissance Singers of Belfast, Elvis Costello, Burgess Meredith, Marianne Faithfull, Nolwen Monjarret, The Voice Squad, Nanci Griffith, Jackson Browne, Rickie Lee Jones and Suzie Katayama. They also perform with the Northumbrian Pipe of Kathryn Tickell and the accordion of Brendan Begley and on their own. It's mostly carols and Christmas airs but some of it is not necessarily Christmassy. There are 23 tracks altogether, all good fun. The bells of Dublin themselves also feature. I got mine off i-tunes. The Wren in the Furze is another favourite.

The virgin birth

The Pulpit Commentary

“Christianity starts with a miracle. It is a miracle altogether so stupendous and so unique that its reception settles the whole question of the possibility of the miraculous. He who can believe that God shadowed himself to our apprehension in the likeness of a man, he who can recognise in the Babe of Bethlehem, both the Son of God and the Son of Mary, will find that no equal demand is ever afterwards made upon his faculty of faith. Both Testaments begin with a miracle. A world of order and beauty arising out of chaos is a miracle as truly as is the birth of a divinely human Saviour by the Divine overshadowing of Mary.”

(see here)

James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000)

“It is significant that the life of the Lord Jesus is bracketed by two great miracles. At the beginning is the virgin birth; He came into being without benefit of a human father, and so was the Son of God and son of man in a unique way. At the end is the resurrection: He conquers and transcends the greatest of all enemies, death. What clearer way did God have of drawing attention to this one who is unique in human history?”

(see here)

Silent night

I love these dream paintings. This one has it all - moonlight, snow, stars (one shooting), chimney smoke, glowing lights, a Christmas tree, a snowman, a steepled church,, etc, etc.

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5. In the bleak midwinter by Bert Jansch.

This 1974 single is a very pleasant rendition of Christina Rossetti's hymn by the well respected Scots folk guitarist who first came to prominence in the sixties with the group Pentangle (Light flight, etc). Also see here

I discovered this version of the hymn on tape 2 of the cassette version of The Best Christmas Album in the World ... Ever!

Death of Greg Lake December 2016

The death of Keith Emerson in March is followed now by the death of Greg Lake and just when his most famous song is being played everywhere. I love this arrangement of what is after all a partly anti-Christmas song and so in rather a strange place in some ways. I love Ian Andersn and his flute. Greg Lake once said "when you can buy anything you want and do anything you want, you soon discover that you don't actually want any of it".

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4. I believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake on an Emerson Lake and Palmer EP.

This Greg Lake single first came out in 1975. Each Christmas that I heard it I was drawn to it. Then one Christmas I saw the 1995 EP with this and other tracks in a big record store. I didn't buy it at the time (I show restraint sometimes) but sent for it from Amazon another Christmas. It has 5 tracks - 2 versions of IBIFC, a version of Prokofiev's Troika (by Keith Emerson and the tune that provides the musical theme for IBIFC), Humbug (B-side of IBIFC single - delightful, jazzy, near-instrumental) and Nutrocker - encore from the ELP album of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (based on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker so a Christmas number too).

The second version of IBIFC is a stripped down ELP version of the masterful Greg Lake single. This latter track has everything going for it as a Christmas single. First you get a beautiful 12-string guitar, a pleasant voice singing a pleasant tune. Then there's a distant choir, sleigh bells, some sort of bell/horn synthesiser to give atmosphere. Next, as we approach the final minute, timpani start, a large choir, an orchestra, military drums - all moving to a dramatic and powerful close. These are what hit you at first. Then you realise that the words (by one Pete Sinfield) are totally cynical. Poor old Pete has seen through the whole sham. No snow - only rain; no Father Christmas and (for him) no Jesus either. He tries to rescue it by wishing everyone a hopeful Christmas and a brave new year. This is highly post-modern - a song that makes you feel all "Christmassy" but that points out that the whole thing is a sham. I do believe in "the Israelite" but moaning about Christmas and enjoying it at the same time is great fun.

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3. Joy to the world by Peter Green and The Men in Blue on the 1997 album I Got the Blues for Christmas.

A Peter Green played guitar in Fleetwood Mac Mark 1 (Albatross, Man of the world, etc). I found this on i-tunes and assumed it was him but apparrently no.

It is a very nice bluesy instrumental nevertheless. I downloaded 5 of the 12 tracks. These are the instrumental ones I think. I'm not so convinced about the vocal offerings. The tune Antioch is a Lowell Mason arranged thing that is just brilliant anyway. Watts's words are not really on the incarnation but it seems to be very much associated with this time of year.

Personnel: Peter Green (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, acoustic & electric slide guitars, organ, synthesizer, bass); Brian "Bugs" Moran (vocals, keyboards, organ); Neil Burgett (vocals, synthesizer, drums); John Leddermann, Joe DeMaio (guitar); Bruce Kapler (saxophone); Frank Latorre (harmonica); Leighton Delgado (bass); Bill Fernande (drums); Tyronne Wisdom (background vocals).

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2. Er Is Een Kindeke Geboren op Aarde by Thijs Van Leer and others on the 1976 album Music per la Notte di Natale.

This beautiful track features Louis Van Dijk on piano, Thijs Van Leer on flute and an orchestra conducted by the late Rogier Van Otterloo. I came across the old vinyl version in a record shop in Cwmbran when I was back home there some time after 1976. It got rather scratched at some stage but I replaced it with a CD bought at a Focus concert here in London. The track on i-tunes I seem to have from an album called Wereldsterren wensen u een Vrolijk Kerstfeest (famous stars wish you a happy Christmas time, I guess) which includes tracks from Andy Williams, Doris Day, Ray Conniff, etc! I suppose the title means There is a child born on the earth.

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One of the joys of Christmas for me is listening to music I don't hear for the rest of the year. Some of it is on CDs that are locked away for 11 months before being brought out with the tree, etc. Others are on my i-tunes but remain unticked for most of the year. Let me tell you some things that are there.

1. Good King Wenceslas by The Roches from the 1994 album We Three Kings

Thanks to Terry Wogan this LP is no longer a secret nor are the unique Roche sisters, who I assumed were Irish at first but are in fact New Yorkers (Maggie, Suzzy and Terre).

The hymn is a Christmas favourite (outside church). J M Neale thought it up in 

the Victorian period basing it on the legend but making a good application at the end. (I quote it in my commentary on Proverbs).

This pleasant version is enhanced by the bright strings and the pleasant harmonies.

"THE ROCHES came into being one Christmas season on the streets of New York City singing these very songs. And every year when the hassles and tensions of Christmas set in, we rediscover the joyful, peaceful spirit of Christmas through these carols. This record is a dream come true for us. We send it out into the world with best wishes for everyone!"

Five Christmas Films

1. Arthur Christmas (2011)

2. Elf (2003)

3. Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

4. Millions (2004)

5. Nativity (2006)

I seemed to have watched more Christmas movies than usual a few years go (2011).

1. There was Arthur Christmas with two of my (older) boys who hadn't seen it either at the cinema. Highly competent it was a fine film though it could have benefited from being 10 or 20 minutes shorter. As is so often done the Christmas myth has been taken up and adapted to produce a heart warming and fun story in impossible cartoon style. If only life was so simple. No high spots in this film but quite a spectacle in some ways.

2. A couple of weeks before that I had watched our Elf DVD with two of the boys. It's often been on in the background but I'd never watched it properly until then. It's an excellent comedy exploring the oft visited theme of an innocent abroad, an elf in New York on this occasion. Great fun. I love Will Ferrell's reaction when told that his father is on the naughty list. Arthur does show a similar spirit with his "A child's been missed!" but not as funny.
3. More recently I'd joined the boys watching Christmas with the Kranks on DVD. I have a soft spot for this as I read the book first - John Grisham's Skipping Christmas and on that basis we all saw it in the cinema when it came out. It's okay and very Christmassy with the usual Hollywood optimism thrown in but hardly a great film, I guess. It got panned at the time. I liked Tim Allen's botox scene.

4. Then another time my son Dylan was looking for a film and found Danny Boyle's film Millions on BBC iplayer. This is technically not a Christmas film but no doubt was on TV for its Christmas content. Coming out of a Roman Catholic milieu and raising various ethical issues it was a great alternative Christmas film and as a comedy is as good as anything in this list. Well worth seeking out. Apparently the screenplay was written in response to an interview remark by Martin Scorsese about reading the lives of the saints. The book "Six O'Clock Saints" from the fifties is very much at the heart of the story. (Perhaps the worst scene in the film features St Peter supposedly giving that old liberal rubbish about the feeding of the 5000 being just a matter of sharing).

5. Nativity was on TV that Christmas. We may have the DVD somewhere. I've still never watched it all the way through. It looks like fun.

Christmas Grotto

Kids still get to see Santa at Christmas but it's not like the old days. They all go in together these days. Often they don't even ask what you want for Christmas. They just encourage kids to leave mince pies out for Santa!

When I was a boy it was quite different. Little boys sat on Santa's knee for their photo. For various reasons that doesn't happen today.

So here's a snap of me in the corner of a sixties supermarket sat on some bloke's knee. I wonder who he was. (Assuming it wasn't the real one).

In the bleak midwinter

I was once preaching when I tried to describe how bleak things were in Israel just before Christ came. As I was trying to conjure it up, the hymn by Christian Rossetti (1830-1894), sister of the Pre-Raphaelite Rossetti brothers, came to mind. It begins

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty 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 time ago.

I like the hymn I must confess (I have a favourite version by Bert Jansch) but disliked the emphasis on the weather. Who knows whether it was snowing anyway? On reflection, I guess that Rossetti's point is not meteorological but metaphorical. She is using the ice and snow to picture the hardness and sin that characterised those times in Israel.

It is the same in C S Lewis's first Narnia story where the faun Mr Tumnus speaks to Lucy about the evil witch and famously says 'It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!'
(Rossetti's poem was written before 1872 and published posthumously in her Poetic Works (1904). It appeared in The English Hymnal 1906. She apparently wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner’s Monthly for a Christmas poem.
Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the series and the first to be published. It appeared in 1950. The quote is from Chapter 2).