Blog Caroling 2014: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Ready for Blog Caroling 2014? I know I am and again I’m THANKFUL to footnoteMaven for hosting this fun online event for geneabloggers!

Blog Caroling Event

In 2011, I virtually sang, What Child Is This? with national recording sensations Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige. Then in 2012, I virtually assisted the altos in MIT’s Concert Choir and the All Star Choir directed by Quincy Jones in their renditions of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. Last year (2013) I didn’t sing so much as I just savored an old family favorite – Sweet Little Jesus Boy — performed by the “Queen of Gospel Music,” Ms. Mahalia Jackson!

Well . . . my feature song this year is a fun childhood favorite of mine, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer! According to Wikipedia –

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” [was] written by Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer published by the Montgomery Ward Company.” [1]

This song has been commercially recorded by many artists through the years, and I’ve enjoyed everyone’s rendition of it too! But David Foster’s jazzy arrangement of this Christmas song performed by R&B singer, Mary J. Blige during the Finale of the X Factor USA in 2013 is a winner with me again this year too! So enjoy the song, sing-a-long if you like, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer —

You know Dasher, and Dancer, and
Prancer, and Vixen,
Comet, and Cupid, and
Donder and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
play in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say:
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!

Blog Caroling 2013: Sweet Little Jesus Boy

It’s Blog Caroling time again everyone and I want to send out special THANKS to footnoteMaven for hosting another wonderful caroling event for Geneabloggers! I’ve been blog caroling now for a few years (three years to be exact) and truly enjoy sharing some of my family’s favorite Christmas music with the online genealogy community.  

Click the Victorian Santa & Come Blog Caroling With Me!

My feature Christmas song this year is, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy.” According to Wikipeida —

Sweet Little Jesus Boy is a Christmas song composed by Robert MacGimsey and published in 1934. Its style is similar to African-American spirituals. It has been recorded by many choirs and solo artists.” [1]

The first time I heard, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, it was performed by one of the most prolific gospel singers of the 20th century — Mahalia Jackson! This 1956 Christmas LP (remember those 33⅓ rpm vinyl records?) titled, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, was a favorite in my home and played not just during the holiday season. Thoughts of this classic album brings back so many wonderful memories of my family’s love of music and all of the holiday music played in my home through the years!

Merry Christmas to you and yours; enjoy!

 

Sweet Little Jesus Boy

Sweet little Jesus boy
They made you be born in a manger
Sweet little holy child
We didn’t know who you were
Didn’t know you’d come to save us Lord
To take our sins away
Our eyes were blind, we could not see
We didn’t know who you were

Long time ago
You were born
Born in a manger Lord
Sweet little Jesus boy
The world treats you mean Lord
Treats me mean too
But that’s how things are down here
We don’t know who you are

You have told us how
We are trying
Master you have shown us how
Even when you were dying
Just seems like we can’t do right
Look how we treated you
But please Sir forgive us Lord
We didn’t know it was you

Sweet little Jesus boy
Born a long time ago
Sweet little holy child
We didn’t know who you were

Past Blog Caroling Events:
Blog Caroling 2011: What Child is This? featuring Andrea Bocelli & Mary J. Blige
Blog Caroling 2012: Hallelujah Chorus

Source Citation:
1. Sweet Little Jesus Boy. (2013, January 09). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 22, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Little_Jesus_Boy

Blog Caroling 2012: Hallelujah Chorus

Blog Caroling 2012

Blog Caroling 2012 is in full swing and this is my second year to participate in this wonderful online holiday tradition that was started by footnoteMaven some years ago!

During last year’s online event, I posted one of my all-time favorite traditional Christmas carols — What Child is This? featuing Andrea Bocelli and R&B singer, Mary J. Blige. Another one of my favorite songs at Christmas time is George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, particularly the Hallelujah Chorus! According to Wikipedia, Handel composed this magnificent oratorio in 1741, “…with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer (which are worded slightly differently from their King James counterparts).”

I love the traditional version of this chorus performed by MIT’s Concert Choir, directed by William C. Cutter. Click to listen below!

//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handel_-_messiah_-_44_hallelujah.ogg?embedplayer=yes

Then I also love the more contemporary version performed by the famous All Star Choir directed by Quincy Jones below. This contemporary version is exactly the way my church choir sings it too. So enjoy the celebration — Merry Christmas!

Hallelujah Chorus Hymn

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,

King of kings, and Lord of lords,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings, forever and ever,
And Lord of lords,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!

Blog Caroling 2011: What Child is This? featuring Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige

Blog Caroling 2011 is in full swing from December 7 – 14 and I’m so delighted to be a part of this online holiday tradition that was started by footnoteMaven some years ago!

One of my favorite traditional Christmas songs is What Child is This? which was written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix, an English writer of hymns and carols. According to Wikipedia, “[a]t the age of twenty-nine, William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden near-fatal illness and confined to bedrest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression. Yet out of his near-death experience, he wrote many hymns, including “What Child is This?,” later set to the traditional English tune “Greensleeves.”

I fell in love with this carol all over again when I heard David Foster’s piano arrangement of it sung by Andrea Bocelli and R & B singer, Mary J. Blige for Bocelli’s PBS My Christmas Special. He later performed this song with Mary on the Holiday Music Extravaganza edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired November 30, 2009. Below is that performance from Oprah’s show and the lyrics. Enjoy!

What Child Is This?

What child is this
Who laid to rest
On Marys lap is sleeping?

Oh, whom angels greet
With anthems sweet
While the good shepherds
Watch our keeping
Mmm

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
Come peasant, king to own Him
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him
Ohh

This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

For raise, for raise this song on high
His mother sings her lullaby
Oh joyful, joyful Christ is born
The Babe, the Son of Mary (Mary)

What child is this
What child is this (what child is this yeah)
This, this is Christ the king
Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing
Haste, haste to bring him more
The Babe (oh the Babe) and the Son (and the Son) of Mary (of Mary, Mary, Mary)

Of Mary (of Mary)
Of Mary