Last week I devoted The Lens to bashing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day festivities. Despite genuinely excessive corporate sponsorship, the poor parade probably didn’t deserve it. And worse, last year right around this time I took a swing at Christmas carols. Though at least some of them actually did have it coming, it still wasn’t exactly in keeping with the spirit of the season.
With that in mind, I’d like to end this year on a more positive note. The following eight Christmas carols really work for me. They represent the holiday season the way I see it or at least the way I’d like to see it.
Adeste Fidelis (or really honestly anything in Latin) – Jewish people have Hebrew. Muslims have Arabic. But one of the big factors behind the successful spread of Christianity – not to mention a key element of both the Protestant Reformation and Vatican 2 – is the use of scripture and service rendered in the languages of the congregation in order to make God’s word easier to understand. It’s a decision long on logic but short on magic, as this song ably demonstrates. As I noted last year, this is a beautiful song when sung in the ancient language of the early church, even though in English it leaves something to be desired. And that goes for just about any Latin carol. Frankly, I’d rather listen to some old Gregorian chants than 90% of the seasonal music out there.
O Little Town of Bethlehem – Peace and quiet for Christmas? What a concept! In a world full of frantically ringing bells, pushy wassailers, desperate shopping and all the other manic trappings of Yuletide, this song is a refreshing reminder that the real spirit of the season is best understood in moments peaceful enough for the Divine to get a word in edgewise. It brings me mindful of the words of Psalm 46: “Be still and know that I am.”
Silent Night – First a disclaimer: this one features one of the all-time worst Christmas carol lyrics: “Holy Infant so tender and mild.” It makes Jesus sound like an ad for roast beef. That aside, this one reflects the same quiet majesty that can be found in “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” I also have nice childhood memories of this song. Further, if you’d like a little internationalism worked into your holiday, this is one of the few exceptions to the observation by the Kapelmeister in Amadeus that “German is too brutal for singing.”
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas – Okay, now let’s lighten up for a couple of songs. The gift-giving-and-receiving aspect of the holidays can’t go completely unacknowledged, but we can at least have a little fun with it. This one puts Santa’s largesse to its ultimate challenge. On the other hand, it would have been cool to get a hippo for Christmas.
Santa Baby – This one gives seasonal avarice a sarcastic sexuality. The sex-for-Xmas-presents offer is so dramatically inappropriate that it’s almost enough to remind us that such exchanges – though a key component of our economy – aren’t really any better on the other 364 days of the year. Plus it’s a nice, disrespectful remedy to the selfishness and treacle of some other Santa songs (especially the one that made last year’s “naughty” list).
In the Bleak Midwinter – I suppose technically this isn’t a Christmas carol, because the middle of winter wouldn’t be for a month and a half after Christmas. But in the middle of February everyone’s going to be sick of seasonal cheer, hung over from Valentine’s Day, and generally not in a festive mood. So let’s go ahead and celebrate it now. Plus it’s genuinely seasonal if “midwinter” means the solstice rather than the center of the season. I like this one for many of the same reasons I prefer my all-time favorite carol, which is coming up next.
The Holly and the Ivy – Anyone who knows anything about the history of Christmas knows that it isn’t a purely Christian holiday. Even the date itself is a compromise between the church’s desire to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the older, nature-based beliefs of pre-Christian faiths. I enjoy songs that can interweave the two spirits of the season, acknowledging the importance of both the nativity and respect for nature. And I think this one does the best job of achieving a balance between a manger in Bethlehem and the snow-filled woods of Northern Europe.
Halleluiah Chorus – This final entry is the only song on the list that has to be a specific recording. Performances of Handel’s most famous work tend to be exactly what the composer had in mind: loud, grandiose, dramatic to the verge of histrionics, exactly the sort of thing for which audiences would be expected to stand up. I never cared much for it when it was sung according to the score. But then years ago I saw the Roches sing it on Saturday Night Live. Just three women, completely a cappella, beautifully harmonized. It was a poignant reminder that Christianity – at least as described in the Gospels – doesn’t depend on giant cathedrals full of gilded ornamentation, marble statues and stained glass. It’s a faith of street corners and soup kitchens, of living rooms and open fields, of Whos gathered in the town square to sing even after the Grinch steals all their presents, of joyful tidings that shall be unto all people.
Plus the Roches also do a terrific version of “Frosty the Snowman,” probably the only time the song has ever ended with a line or two from “Easter Parade.”
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