I blogged about this earlier, thinking it was a spoof.  But it’s true:  Bob Dylan has released a Christmas music CD.  I suspect only those who really love his work and really love the season will enjoy it.  It’s fun to think of this music icon taking on a few well-worn tunes and giving them a new sound. 

For the Hidden Christmas Tracks list:

Rumor has is Bob Dylan has recorded a Christmas album.  You be the judge!

Hilarious!

Went to lunch at Dewey’s Pizza in Kirkwood, and caught Happy XMas/War is Over on the sound system.  Great reminder that it’s not too early to start blogging again here at GreatChristmasBook.com!  Stay tuned!

Every year, I wait for the Christmas song that I hear as if for the first time.  It was officially past Christmas day when I heard this year’s. 

At church I picked up the hymnal and randomly opened to It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.  Reading the full text of the song, I realized I’d never heard all four verses:

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, goodwill to men
From heavens all gracious King!”
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

O ye beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

The song spoke to me on many levels, and the one most profoundly was the last verse’s vision of the days to come when a new earth and heaven will proclaim the song the angels sing to us this day. 

A little web research revealed that It Came Upon a Midnight Clear was written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in 1849. The carol started life as a poem written by its author who was a minister living in Massachusetts at the time. The music for It Came Upon A Midnight Clear was composed by American musician Richard Storrs Willis in 1859 who was inspired by the words of the poem.
 

While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a great Christmas song you won’t hear all the time.

The Root’s Stephen A.  Crockett, Jr. has compiled “an irreverent guide to some Christmas classics.” 

NPR has selected their list of Hidden Christmas Tracks for 2008 at Holiday Music from All Songs Considered.

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

Amy Grant loves Christmas.  She’s recorded three holiday CD’s in her career and this year has released a new collection, compiling four new tracks and her favorite songs from her previous CD’s. 

Many artists who achieve her stature as a grammy-winning and multi-platinum selling performer are obliged to add their takes to the traditional favorites to the holiday music lexicon.  Often while listening to Christmas music on the radio, I wonder if the singer really has a heart for the material.  It’s clear Amy does.

What sets Amy apart is that she really means it when she invites us to have a merry little Christmas.  Whether joyful or solemn, Amy’s beautiful pop voice strikes the right tone.  Her heart is in all these songs.  Clearly, her faith and family traditions hold profound meaning for her this time of year.  When we join her in the music, we’re uplifted with the spirit of the season as well.

The new tracks on her current Christmas CD continue her heartfelt holiday spirit.  Of the four contributions, my favorite is I Need a Silent Night.  It gives voice to the unspoken wish of all frazzled moms this time of year:

I need a silent night, a Holy night to hear an angel voice

Through the chaos and the noise I need a midnight clear

A little peace right here to end this crazy day with a silent night

The song features Amy’s daughter Corrina reading the Luke account of the birth of Jesus.  Her sweet voice harkens to the angel Amy wants to hear during her silent night.  Like Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas, she reminds us of the reason for the season. Perhaps Corrina also reminds us to be attentive to all the angels in our lives, and not get so caught up in the bustle that we brush past them and miss tender moments. 

Amy’s other new tracks include her covers of Jingle Bells, the arrangement made famous by Barbra Streisand, and Count Your Blessings, a tender song from the classic movie White Christmas.  Amy and husband Vince Gill composed Baby, It’s Christmas, a soft jazz, slightly sexy ode to the one you’ve been meeting under the mistletoe. 

Our family has grown up with Amy through her Christmas recordings, and the new collection spans the decades from Tennessee Christmas to Breath of Heaven and A Christmas to Remember.  With her new collection, Amy invites us celebrate the season with her, right where we are.  She’s real, she’s hopeful; her heart is in all her work.  We know Christmas has arrived when Amy’s voice fills our home.

 While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a great Christmas song you won’t hear all the time. This song transformed my Christmas a couple of years ago, and touches my heart every time I hear it.  (My brother-in-law Mike from Fort Worth, Texas introduced me to it.  Thanks, Mike!) Christmas is Almost Here is powerful on multiple levels.  First, Carly Simon’s lovely, slightly raspy voice captures the longing many experience during the holidays.  Livingston Taylor’s lush verses carry us from Christmas in our homes:

There’s a hand that’s old and rough
And it’s holding on
To one that’s new and small
Whose life has just begun
Hand in hand
Young and old
Calm each others fears
Christmas is almost here

To the first Christmas:  

There’s a rocky road ahead
Two people walk alone
Wondering in the fading light
If they can find their home
When hope is almost gone
A distant light appears
Christmas is almost here 

To the manger in our hearts, longing for love–whether it be romantic, or grieving the loss of a loved one:

Almost here for those in doubt
For those who must remain
Left behind when love goes cold
And shifting life makes change

Almost here for dreamers
Who think that there’s a chance
That they will find their music
And a partner for the dance 

Then, Livingston and Carly weave all these Christmas spots together, as love has found a companion and the wise men follow the star.  Our longing hearts follow the star, too.  The promise of Christmas assures us that our faith is, as is written in Hebrews 11:1–the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. 

There’s a dream that doesn’t die
Now we walk as one
Justice has a gentle hand
And love is like the sun

The darkest night is past
And by the stars we steer
Christmas is almost here
Christmas is almost here

Be sure to listen through to the end; Carly’s last long note will touch your soul! 

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a great Christmas song you won’t hear all the time. 

Billy Joel has thus far avoided the requirement of every successful singer/songwriter:  recording or at least contributing a track to a Christmas CD.  Perhaps he expressed religious reservations because of his Judaism, but Billy Fans are most likely grateful our hero won’t be crooning “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” anytime soon.

The Christmas spirit hasn’t totally eluded Billy Joel, however.  On his hugely successful and perhaps definitive CD, The Nylon Curtain, Billy has graced the holiday with She’s Right On Time.  The track is mostly focused on his relationship with a woman who manages to appear in his life just when he needs her.  The beauty of the song is found in its upbeat, yet mature spirit: the singer is one who has known his share of heartache, and knows life isn’t all it could be…but he’s hoping for better days all the same.  This woman gives him reason for this hope…and reason to deck the halls:

Turn on all the Christmas lights/’Cause baby’s coming home tonight/I can hear her footsteps in the street

Turn the choral music higher/pile more wood upon the fire/that should make the atmosphere complete

I’ve had to wait forever/but better late than never

She’s just in time for me/she’s right on time/she’s right where she should be/she’s right on time

Listening to the song from a faith perspective, I wonder too if the listener might find reason to celebrate our God, who is always right on time?  While we may have our own schedules for how the events of life should transpire, when we look back, we often see how things worked out just the way they needed to…in God’s time.

And it occurred to me/while I set up my Christmas tree/she never missed a cue or lost a beat

Everytime I lost the meter/there she was where I would need her/greeting me with footsteps in the street

I guess I should have known it/she’d find the perfect moment

God is good, all the time.

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a beautiful Christmas song you won’t hear all the time. 

In Bethlehem a manger waits

Long ago and so today

Where hatred-weary people pray

Love will come and lay there

Today’s Prepare Your Heart reflection centers on the manger scene, so here’s a great song Stables, written by Peter Mayer and available through his website off the CD Midwinter (1st track).   The stanza above is just a small sample of the exquisite poetry of this song.  Peter’s lovely voice and acoustic accompanyment bring life to his prayer for love to come to the stables of our hearts. 

Stables was a source of inspiration to me as I wrote Prepare Your Heart.  The entire CD–all original pieces by Peter–will be a great addition to your Advent and Christmas music collection.

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

Today’s addition to the HCT list is “Gabriel’s Message”:  Sting’s version. 

Sting’s swirling vocals and organ accompaniment put the listener in a cathedral of sound that’s enveloped in deep silence.  This stunning version of the traditional hymn (with words by Sabine Baring Gould) captures the intimacy of Mary’s visit with the angel Gabriel, while simultaneously extolling the universal implications of her simple “yes.”

“For known a blessed mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emanuel,
By seers foretold
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head
“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said,
“My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name.”
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

• Quiet Christmas written and sung by Michael Gott
• The Night Before Christmas sung by Amy Grant and written by Carly Simon
• Gabriel’s Message, traditional, performed by Sting