Mine is "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" from 1739.

No other hymn is seeing the melody and cadence on that refrain.

Sorry but there's nothing traditional about me whatsoever. "Silent Night" (the 1980 version) by The Temptations is about as traditional as I get.

I'm surprised you haven't gotten any other responses though. I know there are some Shitney fans on this site. What's up, they don't like her horrible version of "Do You Hear What I Hear"?
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[Edited 12/23/08 12:34pm]

vainandy said:

I know, right? You're the LAST person I expected to see on this thread.

I miss the old Mariah that could actually sing.

I love the message and lyrics of this carol.

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is a Christmas hymn or carol written by Charles Wesley, the brother of John Wesley. It first appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1739. The original opening couplet was "Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings". The version known today is the result of alterations by various hands, most notably George Whitefield, Wesley's co-worker, who changed the opening couplet to the familiar one we know today.

One of the tunes originally used for the carol was also used as a tune for Amazing Grace.[citation needed] Wesley himself, however, envisaged his lyrics sung to the same tune as his Easter hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today.[citation needed]

The tune that is now almost always used for this carol is based on a chorus composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840, part of his cantata Festgesang an die Künstler ("Festival Song") to commemorate the printer Johann Gutenberg and the invention of his printing press. The cantata was first presented at the great festival held at Leipzig. Festgesang's second chorus, "Vaterland, in deinem Gauen", was adapted in 1855 by William Hayman Cummings. Mendelssohn said of the song that it could be used with many different choruses but that it should not be used for sacred music. This may be because the melodic and harmonic structure of the tune are similar to the Gavotte of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 4; indeed Mendelssohn (who has always been linked with the music of Bach) may simply have adapted Bach's music for his chorus, as was proposed by Nigel Poole with his (transposed) arrangement of the Gavotte as Bach's Christmas Carol[1].

VERSE 1:
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled."
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th' angelic host proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem."
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!

(The following verse is NOT sung on the Boney M Version)

VERSE 2:
Christ, by highest heav'n adored:
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the favored one.
Veil'd in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail, th'incarnate Deity:
Pleased, as man, with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!

VERSE 3:
Hail! the heav'n-born Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sone of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!
[Edited 12/23/08 13:31pm]

"Stille Nacht" it's called in it's original language, and english men probably know it as Silent Night.
Such a beautiful, gentle melody from the 19ths century. It was written in Austria I believe...
In fact it looses all his charm in English.

graecophilos said:

Mahalia Jackson...



...Silent Night or Stille Nacht


Still sounds mighty charming from her.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Here's mine. I've always loved this song, but this version blows me away. Vanessa Williams is an artist that does not get her due all of the time...


[Edited 12/23/08 16:26pm]
[Edited 12/23/08 16:26pm]

JackieBlue said:

Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy (from Nutcracker Suite)

Ho, give me my money, by rapper Santa Gangsta. lol

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Loreena Mckennitt doing her Abdelli mix

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (or God rest you merry, gentlemen) is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is in a minor key and is in common time or cut time. The composer is unknown; it is often attributed as English traditional.
Like so many early Christmas songs, this carol was written as a direct reaction to the music of the fifteenth century church," writes Ace Collins, in Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. It was the most popular of the early carols, sung for centuries before being published in Britain in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by William B. Sandys, though its incipit was in William Hone's "List of Christmas carols now annually printed" in Ancient Mysteries Described, 1823. The author is unknown.

It is referred to in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, 1843: "...at the first sound of "God bless you merry, gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!"Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost."

This carol also features in the second movement of the Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson

God rest ye merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's powers
When we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy!

"Fear not," then said the angel
"Let nothing you affright
This day is born a saviour
Of a pure virgin bright
To free all those who trust in him
From Satan's pow'rs and might"

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind
And went to Bethlehem straightaway
This blessed babe to find

But when to Bethlehem they came
Whereat this infant lay
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray

Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace
The holy tide of Christmas
All others doth deface

vainandy said:

i am with you on that. xmas songs suk and are so cheesy!

dancerella said:

That "Christmas Song" and "Do You Hear What I Hear" do be getting on my damn nerves. "This Christmas" and the Tempts' "Silent Night" are about as far as I go too, lol.

To be honest I never liked Christmas carols or hymns, lol. I did when I was a kid tho. Then again after Dec. 25, I stopped wanting to hear it!

R.Kelly- (I'm Dreaming Of) A Yellow Christmas
Method Man-Jingle Deez Nuts
[Edited 12/23/08 22:43pm]

bboy87 said:

"River" by Joni Mitchell
I know it's not exactly traditional but...

I love

"Holy Night" by Mariah Carey.
It's just very royal and rich.
A bit in your face, but I guess that's the idea.
It gives me chills every time.
And the high note is just perfect.

And I've always liked "Silent Night"

But I also like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Hark!"

Polish carols: "Dzisiaj w Betlejem" and my favorite

"Lulaj ze Jezuniu"
http://www.youtube.com/wa...UCPTj39X-U

The Little Drummer Boy