There are three Christmas songs that I'm comfortable listing as favorites:
(1) "Do they Know Its Christmas?" By Band-Aid (1984)
I actually got choked up trying to explain this song to the girls this morning on the way to daycare/kindergarten/work. Musically its strong and unique (as a mid-80s pop song). Whatever we've been able to say about celebrity musicians and activism, there was a desperate honesty to their desire to save lives with this song. Its earnest and haunting.
(2) "Go Tell it on the Mountain" (Traditional Spiritual)
Christianity is sometimes at its best when its faced with slavery. Its easy to imagine African-American slaves drawing hope from the Christmas story in face of horrible oppression. The message of the season can be that strong, despite millions of dollars spent trying to dilute it,
(3) "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (Victorian Carol?)
With or without the "Loo loo loo"s in a Charlie Brown Christmas, this is a great song. I love it in large part because of that program, though.
What are your favorites?
B
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what a great topic! i had been thinking of the same entry... see my blog for more but in short
ReplyDelete-- O Holy Night
-- The Little Drummer Boy
-- Christmas in Killarney (cheese alert)
CC in STL