Favorite Christmas carols?

[Lyric]

I'm not the least bit religious, but I absolutely LOVE some of the religious Christmas carols. My favorites are:

O Holy Night
Angels We Have Heard On High
O Come All Ye Faithful/Adeste Fideles
The First Noel
The Little Drummer Boy
Carol Of The Bells

I am repulsed by people who do "contemporary", jazzed-up versions though. I love them best when performed by a good choir with a talented soloist for certain songs, like O Holy Night--as as traditionally done as possible. So what kind of Christmas carols are your favorites, and how do you like them performed?

[begin_within]

1. I think "O Holy Night" is the best one and I recently heard

Celine Dion's version of it on the radio, and it was a knockout. One of thoese "driveway moments" where you are driving home and you have to sit in the car and listen to the rest of it before getting out. I also like "Drummer Boy" and "Carol of the Bells." Manheim Steamroller did a fascinating version of "Drummer Boy," I think it was on their first album.

[GCP]

2. Silent Night

Or Stille Nacht in the original German.

[Phillycat]

3. O Holy Night is my favorite. The soaring melody, ah.

I just saw a handbell group do Carol of the Bells last night. It was AMAZING.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Did you know that Carol of the Bells is based on a Ukrainian song

that has nothing to do with either Christmas or bells?

The original song is about a farmer going out into his farmyard on the eve of the Epiphany and encountering a swallow who flies around telling him that he will have a prosperous year and that he will find a wife.

[Phillycat]

8. In fact, I did!

Carol of the Bells is actually called something like "Ukranian Bell Choral Fantasy", heh. :) You can hear the Russian elements in it if you're listening for it.

But I didn't know the specific story. Very cool! :thumbsup:

[mopinko]

4. there is another one with the same tune as o holy night.

i do not remember, i have never heard it except at the midnight mass that we went to when i was a kid. maybe it was just more verses to o holy night. i do not remember a word. i just remember that a woman that my mom worked with sang it, and no one sang with her. she had the most beautiful voice i ever heard. all be herself. it was just transporting.
i do like o holy night, but it is like a diet pop, just making me wish for that real thing.

[Lyric]

7. Are you thinking perhaps of the original French version?

It's called Cantique de Noel. Here's a snippet from the Wiki article:

"O Holy Night" ("Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), a wine merchant and poet. Cappeau was asked to write a Christmas poem by a parish priest. It has become a standard modern carol for solo performance with an operatic finish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Holy_Night

The original French version is beautiful, and well worth listening to.

[supernova]

10. My Dad had a really fantastic tenor voice

It was jawdroppingly awe inspiring to watch him sing O Holy Night.

I do miss him this time of year.

[mopinko]

12. it was definitely english

maybe just rarely heard verses. i can sort of levitate just thinking about it, tho. just took you away.

[laurelbunny]

5. WInter Wonderland

I don't know why, I just like that song

[supernova]

9. Lot's of favorites

Carol of the Bells
O Holy Night
Oh Come Emmanuel
Stille Nacht (Silent Night)
Angels We Have Heard On High
O Come All Ye Faithful
We Three Kings


Oddly Kenny Rogers' Mary Did You Know? is good too. Didn't expect that.

Strange to me but a lot of my favorite carols are bittersweet and feature minor chords in the melody.

[Lyric]

11. I'm the same way

Songs with lots of minor chords get and hold my attention more intensely than others. They just sound more beautiful somehow. I can't explain it.

I think it's a "liberal" thing. ;)

[distantearlywarning]

13. O Holy Night is my favorite.

I also like Gabriel's Message, and Come Ye Merry Gentlemen.

[_testify_]

14. O Holy Night is one of my favorites too.

Also:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
We Three Kings

I like them traditionally performed as well.