Advent is here. What's your favorite Chrisrmas carol?

[rug]

This is mine.

O Come O Come Emmanuel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5j9SUzKxTo

[xchrom]

1. That's 1 of my favs! Nt

[MarkCharles]

2. Rudolf the red nosed reindeer! He's my hero, the "ugly duckling" that

turns into the swan of modern American capitalist Christendom, delivering presents and joy to all our children, in a world faced with the storms of adversity.

[marmar]

3. O Come All Ye Faithful was always my fave......

..... and having attended Lutheran schools throughout my childhood, we sang it every year during the Christmas program.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. Once In Royal David City - done full steam - full parts, soloist - UK old church style!

[rug]

6. Wow, I'd like to hear that if you can find a link.

[NRaleighLiberal]

17. try this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RC34N1TfCQ

[rug]

23. Thanks! I was completely unfamiliar with this.

[NRaleighLiberal]

24. I think it is a Christmas hymn particular to the Episcopal church (originally), though

it is much more common now. I became familiar with it when I sang in the choir of my church as a teen. Even now in my mid 50s, it still sends chills.

[roguevalley]

40. ditto

[Maccagirl]

5. Several

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella

[WCGreen]

7. So this is Christmas.....

Do They Know it's Christmas...

I Believe in Father Christmas...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5cX_ncZLls


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXCEdrnaFlY

[roguevalley]

41. fairytale of New York by the Pogues and Kristy McColl is one of

my all time faves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHyuraau4Q

[darkstar3]

8. Well, let's see.

These are a few that bring a smile to my face.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/151728/merry-fing-christmas

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/151727/christmas-tree-pie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4G_qTwgzmk

And here's a medley with a few more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-JjME-XuGE

[rug]

10. I'm not surprised.

[darkstar3]

13. And?

[phasma ex machina]

9. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

[Quartermass]

11. It's definately not the Nutcracker Suite

because I don't see how a guy can see getting his nuts cracked sweet. It's pretty painful to me.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" ("Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWS7CpFHJ8E

Love those classics . . . .

[NRaleighLiberal]

18. I find it hard to sing along with this when in church, it is so beautiful - another of my favorites

[rug]

21. Wonderful. I always forget about this one until I hear those first 7 or 8 notes.

[freshwest]

44. Oh wow, that is wonderful! Thanks. Got any more links like that? I'm checking the page now.

[JDPriestly]

53. Wow! I forgot that one. That is probably the best one.

[boston bean]

14. Home For The Holidays sung by Perry Como

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFHLo93kwHQ

[Iggo]

15. I like the religious ones, ones that can be sung by a huge chorus.

O Come, All Ye Faithful
Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

...and like that.

I also like some of the comparatively modern standards like Blue Christmas, The Christmas Song and especially Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

[freshwest]

47. Check this large choral version out then. I didn't know the history of the Coventry Carol:

Coventry Carol - Westminster Cathedral Choir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIvH5GdY4JE

The "Coventry Carol" is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th Century. The carol was performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod orders all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. It is the only carol that has survived from this play.

(Song description from the link)

[Nihil]

60. The Coventry Carol is probably my favourite ...

... it's certainly the most beautiful to sing and it can get me
quite emotional on occasions ...

Thanks for the link to the Westminster choir version.
In return, try this Hayley Westenra one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjykMVzFd7g&feature=related

:hi:

[NMMNG]

16. A few

Happy Christmas (War is Over)

http://youtu.be/yN4Uu0OlmTg

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12 24

http://youtu.be/MHioIlbnS_A



And just for fun, Weird Al Yankovic's Christmas at Ground Zero

http://youtu.be/t039p6xqutU

Darlene McBride's X-mas album's also a favorite in our family

http://youtu.be/_TW1v78hthk

[WolverineDG]

58. the underlying chorus to Christmas at Ground Zero

sounds (intentionally) like an air raid siren. :)

dg

[Goblinmonger]

19. O Holy Night. n/t

[rug]

22. Yes.

:thumbs up:

Literally awesome.

[Adsos Letter]

59. My favorite.

[jeepnstein]

20. Favorite? I can't really say.

It kind of depends on who's doing it. I have a good friend who has toiled for two years to perfect his version of "Mary Did You Know?". He's a flat-picking guitarist but he's fallen in with a crowd that dabbles in jazz and Spanish guitar and the result is just wonderful. I can't wait for him to do it in front of an audience.

My nine-year-old is doing "Away in a Manger" with me accompanying on guitar in a few weeks. He says the arrangement is boring but that's what we were given. It's one of my favorites when he sings it.

I'm working on "Winter Snow" with a singer who is just such a a joy to hear. I am looking forward to putting the finishing touches on that one.

[Speck Tater]

25. Deck the Halls with Poison Ivy -- Stan Freeburg nt

[rug]

26. Here's my second favorite.

It's less well known but we used to sing it when I was a choirboy. Many years later it was played at my daughter's funeral.

The Virgin's Slumber Song (Max Reger)

Amid the roses Mary sits and rocks her Jesus child,
While among the tree tops, sighs a breeze so warm and mild,
And soft and sweetly, sings a bird upon the bow.
Aaahh baby, dear one, slumber now.

Happy is thy laughter,
Silent is thy holy rest,
Lay thy head in slumber,
Soft upon thy mother's breast.
Aaahh baby, dear one, slumber now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akRLS3LARwI

[cleanhippie]

27. Joss Stone - The Anti-Christmas Carol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41bbtdqtRhs

[struggle4progress]

28. People Look East

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCkqmTMuYEM
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/people_look_east.htm

The Cherry Tree Carol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYaFGSG_x80

The Virgin Mary had a baby boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnMnMDasLxw

Good King Wenceslas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GlNvi7hPY

[trotsky]

29. I don't know any Chrisrmas carols.

What holiday is that?

[immoderate]

30. I like "We Three Kings" by Bobby Timmons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaC9sUblrHw

--imm

[starroute]

31. We Three Kings of Orient Are

When I was never familiar with until I saw it done by the Claymation camels, and then I fell in love with it.

On a lighter note, I'm rather fond of some of the Lovecraftian parodies.

See http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/cdreviews_display.cfm?id=101131

The Carol of the Olde Ones
A multi layered beautiful traditional arrangement of "The Carol of The Bells", except for the lyrics, makes up the mode of this one. This is one of my favorites. "Eons have passed; now then, at last, prison walls break / Old Ones awake! / Madness will reign, terror and pain, woes without end where they extend." . . .

Awake Ye Scary Great Olde Ones
Done with a great choral arrangement, this one is both pretty and powerful. Based on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" the theme here is far different from on that song. "Awake ye scary Great Olde Ones, let everything dismay / Remember Great Cthulhu shall rise up from R'lyeh / To kill us all with Tentacles if we should go his way." . . .

Tentacles
This is a pretty arrangement of female voices, piano and strings that is created on the basis of "Silver Bells." "Tentacles, tentacles: it's Solstice Eve, and it's scary / In my dream hear my screams, soon we shall all see R'lyeh."

[pamela]

32. Couldn't pick just one...

Oh Holy Night
I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Little Drummer Boy

I like the one you picked a lot, too.

[bahrbearian]

33. I'm called a Heathen for a reason.

[tblue37]

34. "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful." I am not religious, I just like the sound of the

song.

Also, mys sister Carol was named after that particular Christmas carol. (My mother loved listening to it when she was pregnant.)

[Warpy]

37. I can still remember it in Latin

It's amazing the kind of stuff that sticks in your head from when you were a kid and you cashed in like crazy over Xmas.

These days, I mostly miss the whole thing because I find myself turning in to Middle Eastern and Asian net radio where Xmas music is not played.

Holiday funk, I have it.

[rug]

43. Here's the full works

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7M2kqbwX0&feature=related

[elocs]

35. Nothing captures the beauty of the night of the birth of Jesus like the simple "Silent Night".

That song takes me back to when I was a little boy when I felt a simple closeness to Jesus before theology complicated that relationship. Today I consider myself at best an agnostic, but I do have the sense of missing that religious innocence I had as a little boy. But hearing "Silent Night" can still bring tears to my eyes in remembrance of that time in my life.

[MADem]

36. Emmanuel means "god with us." A tidbit for the holiday. nt

[jberryhill]

38. Comfortably Numb

[freshwest]

39. Hey, try out this version. I love all this stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS7SsrGazYs&feature=related

Will post some of my favorites in a while. I understand this one and the one you have posted are called 'Advent' music.

Now as far as the American Christmas singers, I love all the ones were done by Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathias.

As far as the classic versions of the music, I enjoy the Robert Shaw Orchestra versions. I've just finished burning disks of youtube videos from choirs and orchestras across the globe.

'Joy to the World' and Handel's 'Messiah' have always given me goosebumps too. People seeking to understand that which is beyond themselves, can be a beautiful thing even if one does not ascribe to all the religious tenets.

[rug]

42. Beautiful version.

[Papillon]

45. O Holy Night

No matter who sings it.

Second best is "Bells of St. Mary's" sung by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLOC-YWmRWY&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLCF783753355624CB

[applegrove]

46. I liked 'little drummer boy' in french when I was a kid. Don't know the words anymore.

[rug]

49. Here you go.

L'enfant au tambour
Sur la route
Pa ra pa pam pam
Petit tambour s'en va
Pa ra pa pam pam
Il s'en son coeur qui bat
Pa ra pa pam pam
Au rythme de ses pas
Pa ra pa pam pam
ra pa pam pam
ra pa pam pam

Oh petit enfant
Pa ra pa pam pam
Où vas-tu

Hier mon père
Pa ra pa pam pam
A suivi le tambour
Pa ra pa pam pam
Le tambour des soldats
Pa ra pa pam pam
Alors je vais au ciel
Pa ra pa pam pam
ra pa pam pam
ra pa pam pam

Moi je veux donner pour son retour
Mon tambour

Tous les anges
Pa ra pa pam pam
On prit leurs beaux tambours
Pa ra pa pam pam
Et on dit à l'enfant
Pa ra pa pam pam
Ton père est de retour
Pa ra pa pam pam
ra pa pam pam
ra pa pam pam

Et l'enfant s'éveille
Sur son tambour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M27JDtM5H8Y&feature=related

Good memories should not be lost.

[applegrove]

50. That is so cool. I sang it the whole way through.

[bananas]

48. I love these Jingle Bell Sticks / Sleigh Bell Rattles

Some carolers had these -
they sounded so good, I asked where they got them ...
technically these are considered percussive instruments,
like piano, guitar, and steel drum ...

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Gifts/tabid/978/CategoryId/121/ProductId/34364/ProductName/Red-Jingle-Bell-Stick/Default.aspx



Red Jingle Bell Stick

NOW $3.37 Orig. $4.50
So you're dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh when suddenly it hits you—it was your turn to bring the jingle bells. Don't ruin everyone's holiday fun. Get your bobtails into Pier 1 now and stock up.

Red
2.36" Dia x 6.97"H
Metal, wood
Super stocking stuffer
Exclusively Pier 1 Imports

SKU: 2537663

[bananas]

51. Carol Asaro, my next door neighbor. nt

[JDPriestly]

52. Toughest question ever. Wow! How could I ever pick.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem maybe or Hark the Herald Angels Sing or Oh Holy Night. There are just so many great ones. I can't choose.

[pnwest]

54. Tie: "Carol of the Bells" and "Father Christmas" by The Kinks :)

[Odin2005]

55. "Come All Ye Faithful", and any "modern" carols sung by Sinatra!

[rug]

56. Classic Sinatra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPdl0StUVs

[Odin2005]

57. Yup, thanks!