From The Telegraph comes a survey of the British to determine their top ten favorite Christmas carols:
Silent Night has been named as the country's favourite Christmas carol of all time.
The festive tune - originally a poem written in German by Austrian priest Father Josef Mohr - came top of a poll of 3,000 British people.It was first performed by organist Franz Gruber during midnight mass at the church of St. Nicola in Oberndorf, Austria on Christmas Eve 1818.
The carol has been translated into more than 300 languages and dialects around the world since then and will be sung by more than two billion people this Christmas.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which originated in the West Country, came second followed by O Come All Ye Faithful which was third.
Fourth place in the poll went to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, while Away in a Manger completed the top five.
Other carols to feature in the top ten include Little Donkey, The Twelve Days of Christmas and Ding Dong Merrily on High.
The poll was carried out to mark the launch of Barbie's first ever Christmas DVD, 'Barbie in A Christmas Carol'.
It's funny how people react to Christmas carols in general, and specific ones in particular. In our house, I don't mind them, and let the girls play them in the background of our schoolroom while they're working by about the second week of Advent or so, even though I've known some traditional Catholics who frown on this sort of thing; but my husband gets pretty sick of them rather quickly, mainly because they're not exactly "driving music" and he gets tired of turning on the radio in the car only to hear music recorded fifty years ago at a tempo suitable for napping surge out of the speakers like a sticky wave of audible marzipan.
I like "Silent Night," but I think "O Holy Night" is probably my favorite. It's hard to think of a carol I don't like, but I believe that my grandmother was seriously annoyed by "Little Drummer Boy" for reasons she never really voiced. How about you? Any carols you love, and will belt out--even if you're not Christian and/or don't celebrate Christmas? Any carols you absolutely hate, to the point of diving across the room to change the channel on the radio if it should come on?
And because no post would be complete without the "dying culture" aspect, here's more from the Telegraph article:
But while 85 per cent of people think carols are an important part of celebrating Christmas, a quarter admitted that they don't actually know the words to most of the well-known songs.And more than half said their children or grandchildren can only sing carols with the lyrics in front of them.
Two thirds even think there is a danger carols could die out altogether, with 62 per cent saying they don't think the Christmas tunes are sung enough in schools nowadays.
Researchers also discovered that 41 per cent of people ignore carol singers when they come to their door.
I don't think that not knowing all the words to multiple verses of some Christmas carols is a sign that carols are dying out, necessarily (and that's without the carol many people sing simply as, "Oh, Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree-eee-eee-eee!" or some such variation.) But in a nation that's actively removing Christian references from children's dictionaries, who knows? Maybe someday in Britain, the phrase "Christmas carol" will only evoke memories of this. [Warning: Serious eighties cultural reference. Proceed with caution.]
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I love old-style Christmas carols, and we have Christmas music on rotation in the CD player, poised to go the minute December arrives. We have to enjoy them as much as possible while we can, because we usually spend the week surrounding Christmas in transit or on duty with my family in Michigan. And if you knew my family, you'd know why I describe it in terms similar to a military operation. It's a Blitzkrieg Weihnachtsfest every year. We're going in . . . .
My favorite Christmas carol is "In Dulci Jubilo." Probably because it's macaronic. ; )
Here's a list of some other slightly off the beaten track Christmas songs I like:
The Holly and the Ivy
The Wexford Lullaby
The Gloucestershire Wassail
The Somerset Wassail
The Rebel Jesus
Brightest and Best
Chariots, by John Kirkpatrick
Glory to the Newborn King, as sung by Chanticleer, is, well, glorious
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, as sung madrigal-style by John Roberts and Tony Barrand, makes me very happy, unlike the normal version.
Past Three O’Clock
"People Look East" is the best Advent carol.
I grudgingly confess that "In the Bleak Midwinter" makes me cry, and so does "The Friendly Beasts," for some reason. Then I have to go take refuge in John Roberts and Tony Barrand singing "The Derby Ram." Heh heh. We used to play that one in the old van while hurtling toward Michigan. The kids thought it was the weirdest thing ever.
Favorites:
O Holy Night
Angels We Have Heard On High
Good King Wenceslas
Don't like:
Little Drummer Boy just grates on my nerves!!!!
I have the perfect anti - sweet Christmas song. Its a novelty song called "The Chimney Song". Its a delighful song about Santa getting stuck up in the chimney - permantly!
I have no favorites since I am overwhelmed by Christmas music from Nov. 1st to Jan. 8th.
Here's a wonderful album I discovered this morning while searching for some of the favorites listed in this discussion. Twenty-three haunting, a capella choral versions of many of the most beautiful and meaningful Christmas songs.
http://www.last.fm/music/Gustav+Holst/Christmas+by+the+Fireside.
Carol of the Bells scares me. Don't know why. Sounds like a bunch of angry bolsheviks coming after me. Yeah I know. Therapy needed.
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