Christmas Music

[beth]

Hope everyone is having jolly days-before-Christmas .

Post or embed your carols and other festive songs of the season, here.

This is for everyone, but especially for you Gabe. ;D

[♫anna♫]

As requested i'm reposting the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas songs as seen on YouTube. I guess we'll need a lot of threads for the various types and catagories of music.

My favorite Mannheim Steamroller Christmas song is their rendition of "Oh come all ye Faithful!", which is in their album "Christmas in the Aire"! Couldn't find that on YouTube though.

Joy to the World!

The Little Drummer Boy!

Carol of the Bells

Deck the Halls

[beth]

Anna, I hope you don't mind if I embed that Joy to the World clip. It's such a pleasure to watch them perform.



Too bad Oh Come All Ye Faithful isn't available. Here's another I like. Nice video. Hope you like this one, too.

[♫anna♫]

Dearest Beth,
Feel free to post these beautiful song links anyway you wish. Lately i've been mostly just posting the YouTube direct links because the videos are downsized in the forum format presentations, but the sound is identical!

[Liberator]

Funny thing about some of the most famous 'Christmas' music is that it has nothing to do with Christmas. Probably the best known is Prokofiev's wedding troika ride from Lieutenant Kizhe.

This 'speaks'



and this, an early version when Shane McGowan was still coherent enough to remember the words. It is so true of so many people, literally a crying shame



For those who don't know, The Pogues started life as Pogmahon from the pronunciation of Irish Póg mo Thón, Kiss my Arse.

Incidentally, here's the beautiful part from Kizhe



This is not the Troika Ride though the basic theme is recognisable: it's just bloody amazing dancing! Embedding is disabled so you'll have to go there to watch. It is also some of the most ludicrously high camp that Monty Python could not have bettered

Vladimir Vasiliev dances Lieutenant Kije

[beth]

Thank you, Anna. I agree that it's all the same. For some reason, I think people are, maybe, a little more likely to click and listen to an embed than a link. On this thread, I'm embedding a few for a festive look, but don't feel additions have to be that way. I try to listen to all of it - if not, we don't know what we might be missing.

Four years ago this Christmas eve, I got this in email from a friend. Now, I send it out.

Gotta love it.

[fretslider]

I'm surprised no one has posted these!







Pax

[beth]

wow

Nobody can say this is just a boring ol' holiday thread. ;D

F3, your 4th entry is an embed-disabled. You might just take out the embed and leave the link on that one.

Good ones, Fret. I posted the JL one on Muzak Dec. 8, but it belongs here as well.

Since we're not holding to the conventional here, I'll add this one - which is not a Christmas song, but which always (to me anyway) seems like one.

For a long time, it was not available on YouTube. Glad to see it back, but it may not last long.

[♫anna♫]

Mannheim Steamroller's peppy, upbeat rendition of "Angels We have heard on High" is also a favorite. I'm posting the link both ways cuz i see your point Beth!

[fretslider]

This has to be the most played of them all




I can make an exception for Dolly, beth!

[beth]

In the midst of all this nice mix, I'm going to add something traditional - George Winston at the piano. The Windham Hill Christmas albums have been part of our holiday celebrations for a very long time.



and this one, Peace, is from Winston's "December" album.

[fretslider]

Got time for Brenda Lee???

[beth]

In the same vein - another that's light, secular and traditional.

[♫anna♫]

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[♫anna♫]

[toby]

Toby comments.:- This is a Medieval song done extremely well by Bruce Cockburn
Simple but evocative, my favourite Carol by miles !!

[toby]

Fret posted.:-I can make an exception for Dolly, beth!

Toby comments.;- So could I, both !

[jean]

My favourite version of this:

[Deleted]

Echoes of a Steelye Span arrangement in that one, Jean.

Both very different versions, aren't they? Both lovely, though I had to play the Bruce Cockburn one twice before realising just how haunting it is.

[toby]

skylark posted.:-Both very different versions, aren't they? Both lovely, though I had to play the Bruce Cockburn one twice before realising just how haunting it is.

Toby comments.:- The Bruce Cockburn song is of great age, definately medieval and possibly even older ! It has been covered by others but Cockburn keeps it simple which to my mind properly does it justice.

[jean]

Of course the song is very old, and is known in a number of different versions. The one Shirley Collins sings was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams I believe.

Skylark is right to be reminded of Steeleye Span, because they recorded it, too. But they didn't make it up.

[Deleted]

Steeleye Span had (has?) a fairly distinctive sound. Our singing group tried putting "Teach me my God and King" to their arrangement of "Searching for Lambs."

After recording it, the tutor said "Ah well, you got the words right"

Huh.

[toby]

Jean posted.;-My favourite version of this:

Toby comments.:- It's good, Jean !

[Deleted]

I tried to find the Steeleye Span arrangement but (along with many of their other songs) it is not on You Tube; perhaps the band is very strict about copyright infringment.

I'd like to hear the song as sung three or four hundred years ago - but alas, we will never get the chance. At least, not unless neutrinos get very, very clever.

[♫anna♫]