Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Blog Caroling!

How do you carol on a blog?  Let's see how Randy Seaver explains it for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

Are you in the Christmas spirit yet?  I love this time of year — and hearing and singing Christmas carols and songs is my favorite holiday pastime.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

(1) Identify your absolute favorite Christmas carol or holiday song.  

(2) Share your favorite Christmas carol or holiday song in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a comment and link here to your post.

(3) For extra credit, post an audio or video of the carol or song (almost all are on YouTube.com) and the words to the song.  Add the background of the song and the artists if you can find them.

(4) Enjoy the memories and feelings that the carol or song brings to your heart and mind, and share them too!

I'm going to double-dip toinght.

First, my absolute favorite Christmas carol is "Do You Hear What I Hear?"  I don't remember the first time I heard it, but I might have actually sung it in junior-high chorus.  My teacher was Miss Foster.

You can find Robert Goulet singing the song here, on YouTube, as Randy predicted.  There's another recording of him singing it that includes this description of the song:

"Do You Hear What I Hear?", the beloved Christmas song was written by Noel Regney, in 1962 with Gloria Shayne, his wife at that time. It was recorded by Bing Crosby and Perry Como, among others, in more than 120 versions, in musical styles ranging from jazz and New Age to funk and reggae. Mr. Regney said in an 1985 interview in The New York, "I wrote it as a clear and plaintive plea for peace at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, in October 1962." His favorite version was Robert Goulet's. "When Mr. Goulet came to the line, ''Pray for peace, people, everywhere,'' he almost shouted the words. I am amazed that people can think they know the song -- and not know it is a prayer for peace. But we are so bombarded by sound and our attention spans are so short that we now listen only to catchy beginnings.''

And the lyrics:

Do You Hear What I Hear? 

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

 

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
(Do you hear what I hear?)
Ringing through the sky. shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
(Do you hear what I hear?)
A song, a song
High above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

 

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know?

(Do you know what I know?)
In your palace warm, mighty king
Do you know what I know?
(Do you know what I know?)
A child, a child
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Let us bring him silver and gold

 

Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say!
(Listen to what I say!)
Pray for peace, people everywhere
Listen to what I say!
(Listen to what I say!)
The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light

 

[Lyrics source:  Musicmatch.  Songwriters:  Noel Regney, Gloria Shayne.  "Do You Hear What I Hear?" lyrics © Jewel Music Publiching Company, Inc.]

 

And second, my favorite Chanukah song is "Light One Candle", the hippie social-protest Chanukah folksong.  (You didn't know there was such a thing?)  It was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary and sung by them many times before Mary passed away.  One of my favorite versions (yes, available on YouTube) is this one from a PBS concert.  And I love it even more than "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

The song has a Wikipedia page with some background information, and here are the lyrics:

Don't Let the Light Go Out

 

Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn't die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand

 

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2)

 

Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
The pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to bind us together
With peace as the song in our hearts 

 

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2) 

 

What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they've not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
And this is why we will not fail! 

 

Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!

 

[Lyrics source:  LyricFind.  Songwriter:  Peter Yarrow.  "Light One Candle" lyrics © Warner Chappell, Inc.]