I have a playlist called “Holiday” that contains 379 songs, including a startling number of “O(h) Holy Night”s. One of the things I miss the most about Christmas with my family (probably the only thing, really), is singing. I remember harmonies and piano accompaniment and Spike Jones. Now, I play holiday songs in my car since I know they drive most other people batty. Although, I don’t have a lot of “Jingle Bells” or “Rudoph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Most of my collection is pretty religious, with the occasional exception for flat-out comedy. In that spirit, today’s music monday is a few of my favorite religious holiday songs. The kind that make me want to cry, the kind that make me sing, the kind that make me weak.
O Holy Night, Josh Groban
My favorite part is “fall on your knees”; that’s the part where my heart breaks and I can’t breathe for a moment. If a singer can’t do that part right (I’m looking at you, Jewel), the religiosity of the song simply isn’t worth it for me.
Mary, Did You Know?, Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd
Country singers really know how to do the religious Christmas songs (I actually like Reba’s version better, but can’t find it). Here, the best part is “when you kiss your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of god” (heh, just typing it brought tears to my eyes). When I first started getting into paganism, that was one of the major draws for me: each interaction with a person is interaction with the Divine. Namaste to you all.
Adeste Fideles, Andrea Bocelli
This was one of the few songs we sang in Latin in church and I love the way the slightly-foreign words felt in my mouth. Especially “laeti triumphantes“. I love repeating “venite adoremus!” over and over, building in volume till I could belt “dominum!” “Oh, come let us adore Him” feels decidedly less holy.
Carol of the Bells, Celtic Woman
I don’t know if this counts as religious or not, but I loved singing this one—I had 5 sisters and so amongst all of us, we could get a good few rounds going with harmonies.
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen, Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan
I never really liked this until recently, actually, and this version is I think what did it. Can’t get much more religious than this, really, but the Barenaked Ladies seem to be having so much fun that it’s infectious. Both they and Sarah McLachlan have amazing Christmas songs (and it’s fun to say that I’m listening to “Barenaked for the Holidays”). This version incorporates We Three Kings, which I never really liked but since I was a king in the play one year, it has a special place near my heart (I brought gold, but my favorite verse was myrrh).
Lest this go on until I’ve posted all 379 songs I have, I shall wrap it up with a funny version of my favorite, Cartman’s O Holy Night:
The best part here comes at 1:53 with one cattle prod too many.
May each of you have a merry December 25th, however spend it.
