O sing Nowell

So, we’ve seen the farm girls hurrying to the stable; let’s have some of the other observers of the Nativity. Namely: we need sheep. And shepherds.

First the sheep. Which we’ll round up from Messiah. Yes, they’re not real baa-baas. It’s a simile for sinners who have strayed from righteousness. “We have turned every one to his own way.” See a lot of that these days, don’t we? So, let’s listen to the Bratislava City Choir knock it out.

(Fun fact: I've listened to "All We Like Sheep" for...decades. It wasn't until I started singing it, from an actual score, that I realized it wasn't "Oh, We Like Sheep". Which is a whole other thing.)

But the shepherds were out watching over their flocks, probably huddling close to the fire and taking a well-deserved snooze. The dogs are out making sure the sheep don’t get into trouble—why not drop off for the night?

So, picture this: they’re drifting off (possibly after a few slurps of wine), and all of a sudden, boom! Some angel appears and yells at them, telling them to hot-foot it to…a stable! In Bethlehem! How will they ever explain this one to the guys?

Well, this carol, from Besançon, in eastern France, is all about the angel-shepherd experience. The melody is probably from the 17^th Century; the carol was first published in 1842.

Here’s the choir of New College, Oxford, singing “Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep”: