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a couple classics the first maybe technically not a Christmas song, but a great song anyway and the best version of Hallelujah
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Serious question: Why do some people think Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is a Christmas song?
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Definitely not a Christmas song. I’m with you, why? Probably the same people that think Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie.
This is a beautiful rendition of a traditional carol. Chip Davis wrote that he heard the song performed and decided it sounded like a Gregorian chant, so he’d try to record it as one, in Latin. He then learned that it in fact was a Gregorian chant (well, it began as one) so he went ahead and recorded it in Latin:
The lyrics:
Veni, veni Emmanuel;
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui gemit in exilio,
Privatus Dei Filio.
Veni, veni, O Oriens;
Solare nos adveniens,
Noctis depelle nebulas,
Dirasque noctis tenebras.
Refrain:
Gaude, gaude, Emanuel!
Nascetur pro te Israel
Veni, Clavis Davidica!
Regna reclude caelica;
Fac iter tutum superum,
Et claude vias inferum.
Refrain
Veni, veni Adonai!
Qui populo in Sinai,
Legem dedisti vertice,
In maiestate gloriae.
Refrain
Here’s what one critic said about this track:
Veni, Veni (O Come, Come Emmanuel)
What I most appreciate about Mannheim Steamroller is that they just get it. Every artist with more than one album has a Christmas album. The never-satisfied God Of Novelty has his talons in the back of all our talents and so we end up with the most brutal musical carnage to ever hit the American airwaves.
Yes, Rebecca St. James, I’m looking at you.
I mean, I don’t mind if an artiest wants to write something totally awful to pay homage to the long line of awful that plays in the mall. Go for it. Just leave the history-rich material to people who will care about it.
Like Chip Davis and crew.
Veni, Veni demonstrates what this literacy looks like in action. Veni, Veni , commonly known as “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel”, is a text that dates back to the 8th century and a melody that goes back to the 15th century.
But that’s not where I fell in love with it.
Every time I hear this song, I’m transported back to my parents living room, where the advent candles (one for each day) stood lit and we sang this psalm in unison (Thanks Mom). In my opinion, that’s the only way to perform Veni Veni: a plain-song mystically trenched in ancient paths.
To hear Mannheim Steamroller express it, I find that same reverence.
Appropriately, the number begins with a unison, male vocal introduction and a clear church bell ring, a fitting call to the monastic.
After the opening stanza, the higher voices take it, again in unison, joined by a block chords accompaniment.
All of that is a respectful tribute to this ancient text and medieval melody. But what happens next is magical.
If you’ve ever performed this piece, you know how much rubatto there is. Technically, it’s in 4/4, but everybody takes their time and just goes with what feels good. When the Mannheim Steamroller version pivots to a more metronomical verse, it doesn’t go with a 4/4 time signature; it moves to 6/8 and then plays the melody over it in a hemiola
That’s genius.
As if it weren’t enough, this fresh-yet-reverent juxtaposition of melody and accompaniment is then filled out by a feminine choir:
This is not just good Mannheim Steamroller, this is great Mannheim Steamroller.
Most importantly, it’s good Mannheim Steamroller that actually airs on the radio.
I know that most of my complaint about the good Mannheim steamroller is that I never surfaces in the popular consciousness. This is a (if not the ) exception to the rule. And just to show how fickle I am, that’s actually a little disappointing. I love this arrangement and I really hate to hear it played as background music at a Safeway. But, I guess I can’t have my snobby cake and eat it, too.
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Yoko ruins everything.
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That’s probably my favorite Christmas album (was just listening to it today, in fact), but the beginning of that song always reminds me of the monks from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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One of the funniest scenes from that movie. When I first watched “The Holy Grail” in the theater, I was already in tears of laughter during the opening credits.
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So we are doing moose outfits this year? I thought that idea was scrapped for llamas and a trip to Sweden.
here are a couple good Jazz Christmas songs for when you tired of the same old ones
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Most underrated Christmas song of all time.
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Here you go rocker:
Maybe it’s just my family’s roots but this one is the most underrated:
I was asked to be on the board of the proposed initial St. George Jazz Festival. The person who was the driving force said that he had signed Mel as the headliner. Because it was scheduled in October one of the things the promoter was pushing was that it would be the first time in the holiday season people would hear The Christmas Song ad the only time they would hear it from its author, Mel.
After a few planning meetings there were more than a few questions. Unfortunately the whole thing fell apart when Mel had the first of the strokes that would signal the beginning of the end of his career.
That being said, while I always thought Mel was vastly underappreciated through most of his career, give me Nat King Cole’s arrangement over Mel’s any day. Nat’s voice was just once in a lifetime.
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Well, I appreciate your thoughts and I must say, it’s hard to try to find anyone that can sing better than that King Cole, after all.
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I forgot about another horrible Xmas song: 12 Days of Christmas.
Now here’s a song I really like.
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Excellent.
A few of the really good ones posted here have been lost. Those of you who posted them, if you can recall the music you posted, please bring it back!
I saw this one today. I like singing in choirs and enjoy really high-quality choral music; but I don’t follow the Tabernacle Choir much. They do some very nice things, and Mack Wilberg does some brilliant arrangements. This is a beautiful one, and the video leaves out the usual pending shots of the choir members singing, and instead shows the lyrics. There are some words to this version of this carol that I had not seen before. I hope you all enjoy it.
