# What's your favourite Christmas carol? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271 "2018-12-17T14:53:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/41 "2018-12-18T06:54:45Z")
Get dressed ye Merry Gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! For it is Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Day! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/42 "2018-12-18T06:56:05Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Another version of [Carol of the Bells,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSUFzC6_fp8) by Pentatonix. No thank you. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/43 "2018-12-18T07:18:46Z")
1. Silent Night 2. O Holy Night 3. The Little Drummer Boy ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/44 "2018-12-18T07:30:46Z")
For actual carols, I always like Once In Royal David’s City. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/45 "2018-12-18T08:37:17Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > For actual carols, I always like Once In Royal David’s City. I think [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHLy6bu955M) is the best version of Once in Royal David’s City I’ve seen. To me _real_ carols means the annual Christmas Eve carol service from King’s College, Cambridge. Non-commercialised, non-Americanised, no Christmas trees, no decorations, no songs about Santa, no pop versions. The gentleness and sweetness and exceptional musical skill of the choir, founded in 1441, and the magnificent setting of the Henry VI’s chapel. Here’s the best version of [In the Bleak Midwinter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPpy3XSk6c0) from King’s. And the best version of [O Holy Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTFG_nvreoI). And a promotional video of [I saw Three Ships](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4FptgN2B4) for their latest CD of carols. _The Shepherd’s Carol_,\* Gabriel’s Message\* and the _Sussex Carol_ are also high on my list. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/46 "2018-12-18T14:30:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > A couple/few months ago I watched _The Greatest Gift_ (1942) on TCM. It’s a retelling of _Le Jongleur de Notre Dame_, first published in 1892, and based on a medieval French legend. _The Little Drummer Boy_ is the same story, except that the ‘original’ involves a juggler-turned-monk who didn’t have a gift for the statue of the Virgin Mary. All he had was his ability to juggle. After fervently juggling for the statue (much to the consternation of the other monks), the statue comes to life and blesses him. I had no idea! Thanks for sharing that. > [@Balance](#): > > This. It’s one of the few pieces of Christmas music I actually like. I’m particularly fond of [TSO’s “Sarajevo” interpretation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHioIlbnS_A), but I like a lot of others, both traditional and nontraditional interpretations. TSO’s Christmas CD’s (Christmas Eve and Other Stories and The Ghosts of Christmas Eve especially) are my favorite Christmas albums, bar none. > [@Thelma Lou](#): > > TSO sounds kind of Mannheim Steamroller-ish, amirite? (In a good way.) I’d say more Moody Blues - a full orchestra fronted by a rock band. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/47 "2018-12-18T14:30:26Z")
They also did [the other version of _In the Bleak Midwinter_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFca8sTbbkg) two years later (the Holst version). I find the contrast interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/48 "2018-12-18T15:57:49Z")
The Roches did a great cover of “We Three Kings” with a Tex-klezmer kick: [We Three Kings - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4SJcWCQavo) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/49 "2018-12-18T15:58:39Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > Hark, The Herald Angels Sing is number one, followed closely by O Holy Night (sung by a tenor). Same here but in the reversed order. This old Jew loves her some Christmas carols. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/50 "2018-12-18T16:53:17Z")
_Il est né, le divin Enfant_ is by far my favorite Christmas carol. [This version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUoFIG8YvmE) I’m particularly partial to. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/51 "2018-12-18T17:13:34Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > I think [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHLy6bu955M) is the best version of Once in Royal David’s City I’ve seen. > > To me _real_ carols means the annual Christmas Eve carol service from King’s College, Cambridge. Non-commercialised, non-Americanised, no Christmas trees, no decorations, no songs about Santa, no pop versions. The gentleness and sweetness and exceptional musical skill of the choir, founded in 1441, and the magnificent setting of the Henry VI’s chapel. I love Carols from King’s. And I agree - I love other christmas music as well, but for _carols_ I prefer the classics. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/52 "2018-12-18T17:36:09Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > You keep missing the point. The things we sing aren’t carols. They aren’t carols because they don’t meet the definition. And you haven’t offered a definition that would make White Christmas a carol. You just appear to want to call White Christmas (and songs like it) carols because, well, I don’t really know why, because you’ve failed entirely to articulate that. :rolleyes: This has to be the only message board that can turn a thread about Christmas carols into a trainwreck. Next up: “Fuck those puppies and their cute antics!” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/53 "2018-12-18T17:59:02Z")
Apropos of nothing: my mother liked to supply her own words to popular songs, to wit: "Children roasting on an open fire, “Jack Frost nipping at their toes.” Is it any wonder I turned out like I did? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/54 "2018-12-18T18:21:37Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > You keep missing the point. You keep missing the point. I **said** that by definition they are not carols. **But** in general usage, they are. _Jingle Bells_ is not a carol, and yet carolers sing it. The vast majority of people would say that _Jingle Bells_, _Frosty The Snowman_ and the like are carols. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/55 "2018-12-18T22:14:36Z")
Silent Night. I have a collection of thousands of Christmas songs and sheet music, but it’s still _Stille Nacht_ for me. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/56 "2018-12-18T22:32:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Apropos of nothing: my mother liked to supply her own words to popular songs, to wit: > "Children roasting on an open fire, > “Jack Frost nipping at their toes.” > > Is it any wonder I turned out like I did? One of the last gifts my dad gave me was: _Raindrops on snowflakes and nipples on kittens_ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/57 "2018-12-19T01:32:29Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Silent Night. > > I have a collection of thousands of Christmas songs and sheet music, but it’s still _Stille Nacht_ for me. Also, **[Stille, Stille, Stille](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yrqyyz8nWI)** by the Vienna Boys Choir. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/58 "2018-12-20T04:59:36Z")
I really like “I Saw Three Ships” as sung by the Robert Shaw Chorale and arranged by Alice Parker (and maybe Shaw). [I Saw Three Ships: Robert Shaw Chorale (with lyrics) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3RvFkGMB3I) ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/59 "2018-12-20T10:50:39Z")
“Jesus, good above all other”. My finding this one especially affecting stems from hearing on radio long ago, a memoir extract in translation, originating from a Russian participant in World War II. The guy mentioned Christmas 1942, outside Stalingrad; and he and his fellow-soldiers hearing the Germans on the other side of the line, singing their language’s carol, to that very poignant tune – appropriate recording of a couple of verses’ worth, was played. Went on to reflect that he and pals were moved by hearing what they did – enmity re the other side, briefly eclipsed; and the memoirist told of a common feeling among “him-and-pals” that in their Soviet-brought-up atheism, they were perhaps missing out on an elusive “something”, which older generations in Russia had been in touch with. This anecdote, just a person telling of a brief gut-reaction experience – not a matter of anyone trying to convert anyone to Christianity; I found it extremely moving, and from then on, have strongly associated that tune with it. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271/60 "2018-12-20T16:05:08Z")
I mentioned this one in the “other” thread too… [The Coventry Carol](https://youtu.be/UFnM8pSsyUU) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol/826271.md?page=4)