Friday, December 08, 2006

Fa-La-La-La Friday Five



Today's Friday Five questions for the RevGals are posed by Reverendmother, whose subject is the music of the season. Here are my answers. (By the way, Blogger is acting really funky with the formatting and I'm tired of trying to fix it, so excuse the messy post, thanks.)

1. A favorite secular song.
Twelve Days of Christmas. See answer to #4, below for explanation.

2. Christmas song that chokes you up (maybe even in spite of yourself--the cheesier the better)

Mine's NOT cheesy.
I can never make it through this verse of
Once In Royal David's City:
And our eyes at last shall see him,
through his own redeeming love;
for that child so dear and gentle
is our Lord in heaven above;

and he leads his children on
to the place where he is gone.

This verse and the music (and that descant!!) make me loose it every time.


3. Christmas song that makes you want to stuff your ears with chestnuts roasted on an open fire.

Can't I have more than one? (whine, whine) I can't choose between White Christmas; Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire; and The Little Drummer Boy (parum-pa-pum-pum to you, too!)

4. The Twelve Days of Christmas: is there *any* redeeming value to that song? Discuss.

Yes--little kids LOVE the repetition and are proud of themselves when they memorize it. I'm teaching it to my 4 and 6 year old nieces, just like I taught it to my girls when they were that age. Every Sunday when I see them we learn 3 verses and we'll finish (hopefully) by Christmas Eve in time for a little family concert.

5. A favorite Christmas album.

Messiah as performed by the English Baroque Soloists and the Montiverdi Choir
This version is done in the original style of Handel, not the lush overproduced Mormon Tabernacle Choir and huge orchestra version.

15 comments:

Sue said...

This is a terrific list QG. I also love "Once in Royal David's City" - especially with some really good sopranos to carry the descant.

reverendmother said...

I also love that hymn. Love it love it love it.

And that verse gets me.

I will accept your defense of that song. And I'm *so* glad you did not defend it by saying "And did you know that each gift represents one of the tenets of Christianity?" No no no!!

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

I love your list!

Anonymous said...

This list is almost identical to what mine would be ~

Shawna Atteberry said...

I will have to look for that version of "Messiah." I've never heard it the way Handel composed it--only the over the top orchestrations.

Anonymous said...

I love "Once In David's Royal City" also - esp. when I hear it on the BBC's Lessons and Carols every year... wow..
Deb

Magdalene6127 said...

Hey! I named Once in Royal David's City too, and for the exact same verse! It kills me, just kills me.

Mags

Anonymous said...

Ah, you just haven't heard the right version of "Little Drummer Boy" :)

Anonymous said...

There is no right version of the Little Drummer Boy. I'm reminded of me ol' gramps wisdom regarding small children and drums: If you give a little boy a drum, you also need to give him two other things: a drumstick, so he can beat on the drum with it, and a knife, so he can cut the drum open to see what makes the drum work when he gets tired of beating on it.

As for secular music, I wish this got more airplay:

http://www.citizensedproject.org/trenches.mp3

I don't trust myself to tell this story from the pulpit without losing it.

Anonymous said...

Once in Royal David City chokes me up also! Everytime I hear it! The verse that brings a tear to my eye is the one that talks about Jesus' years here on earth. There is something about that song!

Unknown said...

I love it, too. I was really shocked when we did a congregational hymn survey, and it came back listed as someone's LEAST favorite (and not just among Christmas hymns). Weird.

zorra said...

Amen to everybody on Once in Royal David's City. I'm still sad that we will miss the Lessons and Carols from Kings College this year.

Lori said...

My husband and I have a friend who used to work at Disney who, every year, even now, makes a compilation of Christmas carols and songs as a gift. Every year a different theme: TV Christmas songs, etc. Sacred and profane. Soup to nuts. He's been doing this for more than 10 years. I do believe that we now have a complete collection of every Christmas song ever written along with every arrangement and recording of every Christmas carol and song ever written.

....and poor "White Christmas". Bing is rolling in his grave as we write!! Ooops gotta got......Holiday Inn is on Turner
again!!

Anonymous said...

PS: Just got back from a similar Messiah. INCREDIBLE.

hip2b said...

Songbird:
I wonder if that person just hates crying in church?