Okey-dokey, it’s time for One of Those Christmas Songs. Yes, the ones that top every list of The Christmas Songs the Entire World Universally Loathes.
I’m talking “Little Drummer Boy” here.
So—without further ado, here is Walk Off the Earth, an Ontario,
Canada-based indie pop band. With some friends.
You’re welcome.
Along with Joni Mitchell, singer-actress-activist Bette Midler received Kennedy Center Honors last week.
From her early, manic days as the Divine Miss M, Midler has given us a range of performances. Onscreen she’s been a drug-addicted rock singer, a first wife, a USO entertainer, a wife kidnapped by her own husband, a witch and so many others. On Broadway, she won raves for her take on Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! In recordings, she’s won Grammys for everything from big band classics to Randy Newman.
One of her biggest hits was “From a Distance”, the Julie Gold song first recorded by Nanci Griffith.
Today’s Advent piece is a Christmas version of “From a Distance”, which Middler released on her Cool Yule album.
We in the District They Call Columbia have had quite the weather rollercoaster this year. Well, since October, anyhow; summer was the gawdawful steambath it always is. But lately, it’s just been bonkers.
By way of example, when I went for my morning walk on Friday, it
was 29F. Saturday morning it was 51F (with the temperature going up to 70F during
the day) and yesterday it was 39F, climbing to the high 40s. Flowers and shrubs
do not know whether to bloom or overwinter.
Still, I’ve been able to walk every day, even if some mornings my pace is super brisk to keep me warm. And I’m grateful for that mobility, and for all the peace my walks bring me. Viz: this sight when I got home:
Today is Saint Lucy Day, honoring the martyr of the Diocletian persecutions in the Third Century. The name Lucy is derived from the Latin “lux”, “light”. So today’s Advent piece is Edward Elgar’s “Lux Aeterna”. You'll recognize the melody as Elgar's "Nimrod". Voces8 are the performers.
This is not specifically for Christmas, but a song about eternal light
seems appropriate to this season. Here are the lyrics:
Lux aeterna
luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis
tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
Requiem
aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux
perpetua luceat eis.
May eternal
light shine upon them, O Lord,
with your
saints in eternity, for you are merciful.
Grant them
eternal rest,
O Lord, and
let eternal light shine upon them.
Huh—we’re all the way to Gaudete Sunday, the third in Advent. This is the day that Christians can shake loose some of the somber reflection and revel for a bit in joyful anticipation of the birth of the Messiah.
So today’s selection is “How Great Our Joy”, which dates back to 16th
Century Germany; unknown author. It’s the Nativity told from the perspective of
the shepherds.
I have to say that it’s dang near impossible to find a version in
English that hasn’t been tinkled on by John Rutter; the only other arrangement,
by Craig Courtney, sounds like a dirge. What’s up with that? So I went back to
the original German. (And I have to say that it’s still a challenge finding a
decent performance.)
Here are a bunch of choirs and choral societies performing it at
Sint-Pieterskerk, in Antwerp.
And here’s the only passable English version I could find, by Liana D. A. Lloyd.
Mike Nesmith, singer-songwriter and one of The Monkees died yesterday. He was 78. In his honor, today’s Advent piece is the quartet singing “RÃu RÃu ChÃu” a Capella. I’ve heard other versions, but I still keep coming back to theirs.
“RÃu RÃu ChÃu” is a villancico, a Spanish poetic/musical form; it dates from the 16th Century. “RÃu” means river in Catalan; the refrain could also refer to the sound of the kingfisher bird. The song speaks of Mary and the Christ child being protected from the wolf.
Here they come.
We might be getting a little ahead of ourselves in the Advent cycle—the Glorias and Hosannas should rightly be closer to Christmas itself, but I came across this video, "Gloria", from a performance by choirs of Luther College, and it spoke to me.
I know nothing about Luther College, except that it’s in Iowa and Lutheran. (I appear to have been hitting the Lutherans rather hard this year, but—dagnabit, they own a good part of the Christmas music market share.) I also do not know who this Randol Bass is, but he writes a good Gloria.
Crank up the volume.
