We rarely get past the tried and true at Christmas mass, so it’s great to get other ideas.
Emma’s parish do the right thing and play some more obscure songs including Australian Christmas Carols, like “Christmas Day (the north wind)” with words by John Wheeler and music by William G James. The north wind is of course very hot and dry as you can see in the text here.
They also do “Sing Gloria” from the same songwriters. I think “Carol of the Birds” is their most well known song.
This is the whole set:
From outside Australia “Lord Today” by Balhoff/Ducote/Daigle of the Dameans is a Christmas song new to me.
…and there’s Michael Joncas’s “A Christmas Carol”.
I love “O Holy Night” but have heard it crash and burn at the hands of an unwary assembly. Of course if you have a backing band like this you’re fine.
I love this version of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Andy Williams, but probably because it was on the only Christmas record we had when I was a child and I’ve never heard a better version since.
I’m not sure if even Pentatonix can redeem “Little Drummer Boy.”
To play outside church the greatest Christmas songs celebrate the reality of the human condition, so Merry Christmas one and all: