Christmas Advent Playlist: Day 5
One of the oldest items on my list, a true modern classic.
"Glorious now behold him arise, King and God and Sacrifice"
How many ways do I love this song? Let me count them:
(1) It's fun! In a completely reverent way. It gets your toes tapping and puts a joyful smile on your face.
(2) It's gorgeous. Sarah McLachlan's voice soaring above on "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" always makes my heart skip a bit in thrill.
(3) The juxtaposition of "fun" and "gorgeous" in a thoroughly inspired way.
(4) The use of SECOND VERSES of classic Christmas hymns . So many Christmas songs have second and third verses with lyrics above and beyond those in their overplayed first verses. (See "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" for starters), and they so very rarely see the light of day. In this particular case, the 2nd and 3rd verses of "We Three Kings" in the latter half of the song. I don't really think I'd ever heard that 3rd verse until this was released, and it just makes me shout for joy. And it's sung by a band called the Barenaked Ladies. Ironic a little? LOL
(5) They changed the lyric from "born on Christmas day" to "born upon this day". Which is a small nitpick, but since Christ wasn't actually born on December 25th* I've always sung the song more or less that way myself. I was surprised and pleased when I first heard this cover and found out they did too.
Does anyone know if there's anything else good on that album? It occurs to me that I have never in my life checked it out.
*I can ever decide whether or not to laugh or roll my eyes in "Back to the Future" when Doc types 'December 25th 0000" into the time clock and says they can go witness the birth of Christ if they want. Okay, two problems, Doc. You need to get the Delorean to Judea. Secondly, if you go on that date, you're probably just going to find some barn animals staring at you stupidly. It will be the wrong year and the wrong time of year. Even if Christ had been born around the solstice, the calendar has been mish-mashed around so much through history that Sunday could very well be Tuesday for all we know. You'd think a crazy genius would know things like that! This Christmas education rant has been brought to you by... my annual need to have one of some kind. LOL
Click to view"Glorious now behold him arise, King and God and Sacrifice"
How many ways do I love this song? Let me count them:
(1) It's fun! In a completely reverent way. It gets your toes tapping and puts a joyful smile on your face.
(2) It's gorgeous. Sarah McLachlan's voice soaring above on "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" always makes my heart skip a bit in thrill.
(3) The juxtaposition of "fun" and "gorgeous" in a thoroughly inspired way.
(4) The use of SECOND VERSES of classic Christmas hymns . So many Christmas songs have second and third verses with lyrics above and beyond those in their overplayed first verses. (See "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" for starters), and they so very rarely see the light of day. In this particular case, the 2nd and 3rd verses of "We Three Kings" in the latter half of the song. I don't really think I'd ever heard that 3rd verse until this was released, and it just makes me shout for joy. And it's sung by a band called the Barenaked Ladies. Ironic a little? LOL
(5) They changed the lyric from "born on Christmas day" to "born upon this day". Which is a small nitpick, but since Christ wasn't actually born on December 25th* I've always sung the song more or less that way myself. I was surprised and pleased when I first heard this cover and found out they did too.
Does anyone know if there's anything else good on that album? It occurs to me that I have never in my life checked it out.
*I can ever decide whether or not to laugh or roll my eyes in "Back to the Future" when Doc types 'December 25th 0000" into the time clock and says they can go witness the birth of Christ if they want. Okay, two problems, Doc. You need to get the Delorean to Judea. Secondly, if you go on that date, you're probably just going to find some barn animals staring at you stupidly. It will be the wrong year and the wrong time of year. Even if Christ had been born around the solstice, the calendar has been mish-mashed around so much through history that Sunday could very well be Tuesday for all we know. You'd think a crazy genius would know things like that! This Christmas education rant has been brought to you by... my annual need to have one of some kind. LOL