# If you're not ready to talk about Christmas carols, don't read this thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063 "2007-11-02T21:33:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/21 "2007-11-03T17:56:35Z")
I love the Cambridge Singers for their carols. Also, if you haven’t heard Mahalia Jackson sing “I Wonder as I Wander” you’re missing out. She SELLS that song. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/22 "2007-11-03T19:45:09Z")
Resistance is futile. 🙂 [QUOTE=freckafree] Oooh, **pinkfreud,** I’ll have to check that out. I lurves any choral stuff conducted by Robert Shaw! I’d be in heaven if Shaw’s men’s chorus did a Christmas recording. [/QUOTE] They haven’t, AFAIK. But on that CD, the men have a couple of lines of “Carol of the Birds” which are almost insanely beautiful. On another Xmas CD, “Songs of Angels” the men do “Tannenbaum” (wonderful!), “March of the Kings” and “Boar’s Head”. (Non-Xmas 50’s Shaw Chorale: Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Toscanini. Part of the “Libera Me” near the end is sung a capella.) ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/23 "2007-11-03T20:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I love the Monkees’ version of [Riu Chiu](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko94b3I0X0Y) [/QUOTE] Jeezopete. I remember seeing this when it first came on. It’s kinda nice to see it again. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/24 "2007-11-03T20:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=Suse] … on the album is a song I haven’t heard since high school chorus - the Randall Thompson ‘Alleluia’. [/QUOTE] Oh jeez, we sang this in the last choral group I sang with. It still gives me goosebumps when I listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/25 "2007-11-03T23:44:35Z")
Ever since watching Home Alone, I’ve always been quite fond of “Carol of he Bells” ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/26 "2007-11-04T09:19:34Z")
I’m always ready to talk about Christmas carols, and here’s what i always say: Christmas carols are the soundtrack to my own personal hell. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/27 "2007-11-04T14:07:08Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I have no suggestions. I just wanted to note that (if they do like they did last year) our local radio stations start playing 24/7 Christmas music in 17 days! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! [/QUOTE] Be glad you’re not in Chicago, one station went all holiday music on Friday! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/28 "2007-11-04T16:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=Southpaw] Be glad you’re not in Chicago, one station went all holiday music on Friday! :eek: [/QUOTE] No, no, no! The “yay” was NOT sarcastic. I’d absolutely LOVE IT if all the stations went over to 24/7 Christmas tomorrow. I have an almost childlike delight, at least in part because I know it drives **supervenusfreak** to muttering imprecations against the ancestry of Andy Williams, the Ray Coniff Singers, and (gasp!) Barbra Streisand… ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/29 "2007-11-05T00:46:49Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I love the Monkees’ version of [Riu Chiu](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko94b3I0X0Y) [/QUOTE] Wow. That’s gorgeous. I could do with more non-English a capella like that. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/30 "2007-11-05T00:49:06Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I love the Monkees’ version of [Riu Chiu](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko94b3I0X0Y) [/QUOTE] It’s so weird watching the Monkeys sing a song in Spanish, yaknow? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/31 "2007-11-05T01:04:38Z")
I thought I was ready … I really thought I was ready … but I wasn’t. _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/32 "2007-11-12T04:40:43Z")
[QUOTE=Helena] The Barra MacNeils have a fabulous Christmas album–not quite Tabernacle Choir-y, but they do an absolutely dreamy “Taladh Chriosda” and “O Come Divine Messiah.” [/QUOTE] I found a [sample](http://www.cranfordpub.com/mp3s/barramacneils3.mp3). Give it a listen. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/33 "2007-11-12T09:29:25Z")
Here’s an mp3 of a very lovely acoustic version of [“Oh Holy Night.”](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_TheKeep09_OhHolyNight.mp3) (that’s an authorized download, btw, so you can partake guilt-free) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063/34 "2007-11-12T10:33:15Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] Here’s an mp3 of a very lovely acoustic version of [“Oh Holy Night.”](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_TheKeep09_OhHolyNight.mp3) (that’s an authorized download, btw, so you can partake guilt-free) [/QUOTE] JHC that’s awful! For a more traditional set, try [Carols from King’s](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carols-Kings-College-Choir/dp/B0000ADYAX/ref=sr_1_1/203-7174072-7259144?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1194863459&sr=8-1). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-ready-to-talk-about-christmas-carols-dont-read-this-thread/425063.md?page=1)