# What are the best classic, religious Christmas songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100 "2008-12-07T05:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/41 "2008-12-09T04:55:18Z")
In his master’s step he trod Where the snow lay dinted Heat was in the very sod Which the Saint had printed ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/42 "2008-12-09T05:17:11Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > Not a classic, exactly, since it’s by a living composer, but Morten Lauridsen’s setting of “O Magnum Mysterium” is one of the most gorgeous pieces of choral music I’ve ever heard, Christmas song or not. It’s lovely, isn’t it? We practised it last night. It’s on the program for a series of concerts we’re doing in January: [Dawn Chorus](http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2009/Music/_item/event/DAWN_CHORUS). For four consecutive Saturdays we’ll be singing at dawn at beaches around Sydney as part of the annual summer festival. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/43 "2008-12-09T05:28:24Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Of course it’s also great sung to the tune of “Gilligan’s Island.” > > Or maybe “Yellow Rose of Texas.” > > 😃 Also “Amazing Grace” or “The House of the Rising Sun” or the Australian National Anthem (I could go on like this all day. My husband and I used to collect these…) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/44 "2008-12-09T07:00:58Z")
Seconding about 75% of the recommendations, and adding: Love Came Down at Christmas – like In the Bleak Midwinter, another Christina Rossetti Venite Adoremus (“The snow lay on the ground”) – playful and lively Duermete, Niño Lindo (A la Ru) The Huron Carol (“Twas in the moon of wintertime”, to the tune Une Jeune Pucelle) There’s a really nice little piece I cannot find that I think is known by the terms Polish Carol and W Zlobie Lezy. Anyone with a collection that includes it? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/45 "2008-12-09T08:19:44Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > There’s a really nice little piece I cannot find that I think is known by the terms Polish Carol and W Zlobie Lezy. Anyone with a collection that includes it? Yep, I’ve got it on a collection done by the MoTab, called just plain “Noel,” under the title “Stars Were Gleaming.” It’s only in English, though. (And incidentally, my girls are learning it in church to sing for Christmas with all the other kids; it’s a fairly popular carol in the children’s hymnal. Though I suspect the words are better in Polish.) ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/46 "2008-12-09T12:09:37Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > There’s a really nice little piece I cannot find that I think is known by the terms Polish Carol and W Zlobie Lezy. Anyone with a collection that includes it? Isn’t this the tune for “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”? ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/47 "2008-12-09T13:15:04Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > And then you have your “Hallelujah Chorus.” Not, technically, a Christmas song. From the files of the sublimely obscure: _Forunderligt at sige_ by Carl Nielsen. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/48 "2008-12-09T14:24:38Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > [“What Child is This.”](http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/h/whatcist.htm) Make sure you get a rendition with all the lyrics, rather than one that repeats “This, this is Christ the King…” as a refrain for each verse. Amen to that. My church, the Assembly of God, of all churches, uses the edited version in it’s official hymnal- and we revel in Cross & Blood songs! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/49 "2008-12-10T03:11:08Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > There’s a really nice little piece I cannot find that I think is known by the terms Polish Carol and W Zlobie Lezy. Anyone with a collection that includes it? It turns out I also have this carol in a very nice classical guitar version with no words, on a CD called “A Timeless Christmas” by Geslison and Groberg. It’s one of our favorite CDs, but I’m not finding it on Amazon. [Here it is.](http://www.geslisongroberg.com/Music/timeless-christmas.php) Again, the title is listed as “Stars were gleaming.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/50 "2008-12-10T05:12:50Z")
There’s a nice story (possibly apocryphal) that during the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and his followers were throwing out ancient Catholic songs left and right, in favor of newly composed stuff. However, there were a handful of songs so beautiful that they decided to keep them anyways, Catholic or not. **In Dulci Jubilo** is supposedly one of these. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/51 "2008-12-10T05:38:32Z")
Here’s a [sample](http://www.cranfordpub.com/mp3s/barramacneils3.mp3) (not the whole song, but a good long clip) of the Barra MacNeils singing “O Come Divine Messiah.” Gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/52 "2008-12-10T15:47:19Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > In his master’s step he trod > Where the snow lay dinted > Heat was in the very sod > Which the Saint had printed Yea, so the page was warmer because he didn’t have to slog through snow drifts but could stand behind the king and use him for a windbreak. Those are normal footprints…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/53 "2008-12-10T23:31:30Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Yea, so the page was warmer because he didn’t have to slog through snow drifts but could stand behind the king and use him for a windbreak. Those are normal footprints…🙂 **blows whistle** Thweeeeet!! If an end is not called to this right now, I suspect that “Did St. Wenceslas III Have Miraculous Footprints?” will become the Yuletide equivalent of “Do Balrogs Have Wings?” around these parts. ‘Tain’t happenin’, y’hear me?! 😃 ---
**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:** [December 10, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/54 "2008-12-10T23:34:36Z")
But did Wenceslas shoot first? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/55 "2008-12-11T00:13:45Z")
he could have thrown the first stone (st. stephen reference). ---
**Author:** ![Sanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanders)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/56 "2008-12-11T01:54:17Z")
Thank you so much for all these. I have my work cut out for me now, tracking all these songs down! ---
**Author:** ![MerryMagdalen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/57 "2008-12-11T02:23:03Z")
[The Carol Album](http://www.amazon.com/The-Carol-Album/dp/B000TEMRZS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1228961589&sr=8-1) is my favorite Christmas CD. Some songs you know, some songs you won’t, all gorgeous. I also love the [Weihnachtshistorie](http://www.amazon.com/Sch%C3%BCtz-Weihnachtshistorie-Christmas-Praetorius-Motets/dp/B000005GO7/ref=sr_1_39?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1228961925&sr=8-39) of Heinrich Schutz. And finally, Christmas With the Clancy Brothers, but that’s long out of print. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100/58 "2008-12-11T12:08:20Z")
Come on… Heat was in the very sod Which the Saint had printed It’s winter- the ground would probably have been very cold if not frozen. The lyrics say nothing about St/Kg W blocking the wind but very clearly say that heat came up from the Earth where he had stepped. Another vote for Miracle Footprints! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-classic-religious-christmas-songs/476100.md?page=2)