behind the christmas songs
ORIGINALS:
All the World Awaits - Chris Tomlin
Baby Boy - For King & Country
Baby King - Jason Gray
Because it's Christmas - Sidewalk Prophets
Because of Bethlehem - Matthew West
Be Born In Me - Francesca Battistelli
Behold - Bella & Aerie Camp
Breath of Heaven - Leanna Crawford
Christ is Come - Big Daddy Weave
Christmas Day - Michael W. Smith & Mandisa
Christmas Dreamin' - Leanna Crawford
Christmas Eve - Jordan St. Cyr
Christmas is all in the Heart - Steven Curtis Chapman
Christmas with You - Cochran & Co.
Come on Christmas - Matthew West
Glory (Let There be Peace) - Matt Maher
Grown-Up Christmas List - CAIN
Heavenly Hosts - For King & Country
Here with Us - Joy Williams
How Many Kings - Downhere
It's Finally Christmas - Casting Crowns
Joy! He Shall Reign - Big Daddy Weave
Just a Girl - Brandon Heath
Light of the Stable - Selah
Make Room - Casting Crowns (ft. Matt Maher)
Noel - Lauren Daigle & Chris Tomlin
Someday at Christmas - Jon Reddick
Still Can't Sleep on Christmas Eve - We the Kingdom
Thanks Giver - Crowder
The Elf Song - Crowder
The Heart of Christmas - Matthew West
The Holly and the Ivy - Andrew Peterson
The Prayer - Danny Gokey & Natalie Grant
This Christmas - Koryn Hawthorne
This is Christmas - Kutless
Twelve Days of Christmas - Jamie Jamgochian
Welcome to our World - Michael W. Smith
CAROLS:
~O Come All Ye Faithful - This favorite Christmas hymn appears to be the result of a collaboration of several people. What we sing is a 19th-century version of a hymn written in the 18th century. The invitation to “come, all ye faithful . . . to Bethlehem” places us among the shepherds who rushed to see the Christ child, and in the long procession of the “faithful” that have journeyed to Bethlehem in their hearts for over 2,000 years. Are you among the faithful tonight?
~God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen”--whose author is unknown -- is mentioned in Charles Dickens’s classic, A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, where the singing of this song so annoyed the miser that “Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror.”
~“Silent Night” was penned in 1818 by a young Austrian priest who asked the church organist to write a melody to be played on the guitar. Why would an organist who barely knew how to play guitar use that instrument for Christmas Mass? It would seem the church organ was out of commission. Whether it was damaged by flooding or hungry church mice is unknown, but the result was a simple, touching song that became one of the most frequently recorded Christmas carols.
~In 1847, a French parish priest asked a local poet to write a Christmas carol, which quickly spread throughout France. The hauntingly beautiful “O, Holy Night” was an instant hit, but the French church soon banned it when they discovered the author was a socialist and the composer Jewish. But people continued to sing it, and in 1871, on Christmas Eve during the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier ran out of his trench unarmed and began to sing this carol. Silence fell and when he was finished, a German soldier came out and sang a favorite German carol. A Christmas ceasefire followed.
~“What Child Is This?” was written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix, a manager at an insurance company. He was bedridden with a life-threatening illness that had re-ignited his faith. When the hymn was finally published in 1871, it was set to the tune of “Greensleeves.”
~“Away in a Manger,” written around 1885, was likely composed by German Lutherans in Pennsylvania. Most sources note the hymn first appeared with two stanzas in the Little Children’s Book for Schools and Families, a Sunday school collection published in 1885 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America.
~“The Little Drummer Boy” is an American original—maybe. Written in 1940 by a schoolteacher, Katherine Kennicott Davis, she noted on her manuscript, “Czech carol freely transcribed by K.K.D.,” but did not specify the carol. The song is similar in story to a twelfth-century legend, “The Juggler of Notre Dame.” In the story, the old, poor juggler had no gift for Jesus so he went to church on Christmas night, and in front of the statue of Mary holding baby Jesus, he juggled the best he’d ever juggled, and when he was finished, Jesus was smiling.
~Written by American songwriter James Lord Pierpont in 1850, "Jingle Bells" was originally called "The One Horse Open Sleigh." Possibly, the most popular and recognized Christmas song, it was originally meant for Thanksgiving! All the same, it has now become well and truly an entrenched part of Christmas celebrations.
~"Jingle Bells" was the first song to be played in space! It was on December 16, 1965 during NASA’s Gemini 6A space flight that astronauts from Gemini 6 and 7 played a prank on NASA mission control. They claimed to have seen an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) referring to Santa Claus on his sleigh! To the wondering audience at the base, they then played this famous carol!
~Carol singing was banned in England. Carols were sung in secret at one time as there was a ban on celebration of Christmas. This happened in 1644 in England when an Act of Parliament made carol singing illegal! This was enacted by the Puritans, who were ruling then, who felt that it was a frivolous practice very much against their beliefs. Thankfully, it was restored in 1660!
~Carols were actually dances. Today, carols are understood to be religious hymns and folk songs sung during Christmas time. But, the word ‘carol’ is believed to have been derived from the French word carole meaning a dance accompanied by singing, which in turn might have been derived from the Latin ‘carula’ meaning circular dance. So, carols were actually dance songs between the mid-twelfth and fourteenth centuries.
All the World Awaits - Chris Tomlin
Baby Boy - For King & Country
Baby King - Jason Gray
Because it's Christmas - Sidewalk Prophets
Because of Bethlehem - Matthew West
Be Born In Me - Francesca Battistelli
Behold - Bella & Aerie Camp
Breath of Heaven - Leanna Crawford
Christ is Come - Big Daddy Weave
Christmas Day - Michael W. Smith & Mandisa
Christmas Dreamin' - Leanna Crawford
Christmas Eve - Jordan St. Cyr
Christmas is all in the Heart - Steven Curtis Chapman
Christmas with You - Cochran & Co.
Come on Christmas - Matthew West
Glory (Let There be Peace) - Matt Maher
Grown-Up Christmas List - CAIN
Heavenly Hosts - For King & Country
Here with Us - Joy Williams
How Many Kings - Downhere
It's Finally Christmas - Casting Crowns
Joy! He Shall Reign - Big Daddy Weave
Just a Girl - Brandon Heath
Light of the Stable - Selah
Make Room - Casting Crowns (ft. Matt Maher)
Noel - Lauren Daigle & Chris Tomlin
Someday at Christmas - Jon Reddick
Still Can't Sleep on Christmas Eve - We the Kingdom
Thanks Giver - Crowder
The Elf Song - Crowder
The Heart of Christmas - Matthew West
The Holly and the Ivy - Andrew Peterson
The Prayer - Danny Gokey & Natalie Grant
This Christmas - Koryn Hawthorne
This is Christmas - Kutless
Twelve Days of Christmas - Jamie Jamgochian
Welcome to our World - Michael W. Smith
CAROLS:
~O Come All Ye Faithful - This favorite Christmas hymn appears to be the result of a collaboration of several people. What we sing is a 19th-century version of a hymn written in the 18th century. The invitation to “come, all ye faithful . . . to Bethlehem” places us among the shepherds who rushed to see the Christ child, and in the long procession of the “faithful” that have journeyed to Bethlehem in their hearts for over 2,000 years. Are you among the faithful tonight?
~God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen”--whose author is unknown -- is mentioned in Charles Dickens’s classic, A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, where the singing of this song so annoyed the miser that “Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror.”
~“Silent Night” was penned in 1818 by a young Austrian priest who asked the church organist to write a melody to be played on the guitar. Why would an organist who barely knew how to play guitar use that instrument for Christmas Mass? It would seem the church organ was out of commission. Whether it was damaged by flooding or hungry church mice is unknown, but the result was a simple, touching song that became one of the most frequently recorded Christmas carols.
~In 1847, a French parish priest asked a local poet to write a Christmas carol, which quickly spread throughout France. The hauntingly beautiful “O, Holy Night” was an instant hit, but the French church soon banned it when they discovered the author was a socialist and the composer Jewish. But people continued to sing it, and in 1871, on Christmas Eve during the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier ran out of his trench unarmed and began to sing this carol. Silence fell and when he was finished, a German soldier came out and sang a favorite German carol. A Christmas ceasefire followed.
~“What Child Is This?” was written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix, a manager at an insurance company. He was bedridden with a life-threatening illness that had re-ignited his faith. When the hymn was finally published in 1871, it was set to the tune of “Greensleeves.”
~“Away in a Manger,” written around 1885, was likely composed by German Lutherans in Pennsylvania. Most sources note the hymn first appeared with two stanzas in the Little Children’s Book for Schools and Families, a Sunday school collection published in 1885 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America.
~“The Little Drummer Boy” is an American original—maybe. Written in 1940 by a schoolteacher, Katherine Kennicott Davis, she noted on her manuscript, “Czech carol freely transcribed by K.K.D.,” but did not specify the carol. The song is similar in story to a twelfth-century legend, “The Juggler of Notre Dame.” In the story, the old, poor juggler had no gift for Jesus so he went to church on Christmas night, and in front of the statue of Mary holding baby Jesus, he juggled the best he’d ever juggled, and when he was finished, Jesus was smiling.
~Written by American songwriter James Lord Pierpont in 1850, "Jingle Bells" was originally called "The One Horse Open Sleigh." Possibly, the most popular and recognized Christmas song, it was originally meant for Thanksgiving! All the same, it has now become well and truly an entrenched part of Christmas celebrations.
~"Jingle Bells" was the first song to be played in space! It was on December 16, 1965 during NASA’s Gemini 6A space flight that astronauts from Gemini 6 and 7 played a prank on NASA mission control. They claimed to have seen an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) referring to Santa Claus on his sleigh! To the wondering audience at the base, they then played this famous carol!
~Carol singing was banned in England. Carols were sung in secret at one time as there was a ban on celebration of Christmas. This happened in 1644 in England when an Act of Parliament made carol singing illegal! This was enacted by the Puritans, who were ruling then, who felt that it was a frivolous practice very much against their beliefs. Thankfully, it was restored in 1660!
~Carols were actually dances. Today, carols are understood to be religious hymns and folk songs sung during Christmas time. But, the word ‘carol’ is believed to have been derived from the French word carole meaning a dance accompanied by singing, which in turn might have been derived from the Latin ‘carula’ meaning circular dance. So, carols were actually dance songs between the mid-twelfth and fourteenth centuries.
