Thursday, December 20, 2012
SOME OF THE BEST CHRISTMAS SONGS
Here's (above) a terrific version of "O Holy Night" but you may have to push a "Watch on YouTube" link to see it.
This song reminds me that Christmas is the ultimate philosopher's holiday. This is a day and a season that means something, that condenses two thousand years of thought and experience into a celebration that transmits some of the best ideas of Western Civilization.
This video (above) contains two songs, but the first is the one that interests me. It's amazing that a delicate song like "Silent Night" would work so well on a tin mechanical device that could fit into a jewelry box.
"Ave Maria" is an interesting song. It's full of opportunities for virtuoso singers to show what they can do, yet it's only satisfying when it's entirely devoid of egotism.
This version of "Jingle Bells" (above) is great, but it'll probably vanish in a few days. Sony won't allow it to stay up very long.
In my opinion Jingle Bells is the best of all secular Christmas songs. Who'd have thought that a song about the thrill of a sleigh ride, something that few living people have ever experienced, would make a good subject for a song?
From Phil Spectre's Christmas album, the Ronettes (above). Poor Spectre. He had a lot of talent before he snapped.
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2 comments:
I've always been partial to "Do You Hear What I Hear" among the standards, particularly Bing Crosby's 1963 recording. Something about the lyrical ambiguity towards a familiar subject matter, which distances it from the dogma and focuses on the heart of the story, and the progression in grandeur from a whisper of the wind to the declaration of a king just engages me.
Mattieshoe: Thanks for the tip! I'll include it in a subsequent post!
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