Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am so thankful for the Father's gift of his Son Jesus Christ. I love this time of year where we get to focus on Him and His gift to us; His ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

May we remember Him always, and especially on this day.

The final track on An M31 Christmas is Born on a New Day.

I first saw The King’s Singers in 2008 where they performed a Christmas concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was so blown away by their performance, particularly their performance of a song called Born On A New Day, that the next day I bought their album titled Christmas.

Born On A New Day was originally written in 1992 and titled You Are The New Day. This original version didn’t really have any connection to Christmas. In 2000, Philip Lawson, one of the baritones for The King’s Singers, rewrote the lyrics as a Christmas song, and it became one of the King’s Singers’ biggest successes.

When I started my tradition of doing Christmas songs back in 2011, I made a list of the dozen or so that I wanted to do, and this song was one of the first I added. In this arrangement, I wanted to preserve the tight harmonies that exist in the original version by the King’s Singers. And because of the ethereal nature of my arrangement, I slowed the tempo down from the original a bit so I could preserve the rich chord structure and progressions.

Born On A New Day has become one of my favorite modern-era Christmas songs. The lyrics capture the essence of what Christmas is and what Christ has done for humankind, and its all set on a wonderfully lush tonal foundation.

You are the new day,
You are the new day.
Meekness, love, humility
Come down to us this day:
Christ, your birth has proved to me
You are the new day.

Quiet in a stall you lie,
Angels watching in the sky
Whisper to you from on high
“You are the new day”.

When our life is darkest night,
Hope has burned away;
Love, your ray of guiding light,
Show us the new day.

Love of all things great and small
Leaving none, embracing all,
Fold around me where I fall,
Bring in the new day.

This new day will be
A turning point for everyone.
If we let the Christ-child in, and
Reach for the new day.

Christ the Way, the Truth, the Life;
Healing sadness, ending strife;
You we welcome, Lord of life,
Born on a new day.
You are the new day

An M31 Christmas Track 9: Christmas Dream

Back in 2006 when my oldest daughter was 13, she got on my computer, opened up Apple GarageBand, and using some Apple Loops, put together a song she called Christmas Dream. She wanted to add to it something that she played, so I helped her pick a sound and she recorded a string part to accompany parts of the track.

The song on this album is a respray of her track, but includes her original arrangement of the Apple Loops. Instead of using the Apple Loops though, I found the original synth sounds (they were MIDI loops), and played the various parts. And, I added a new bit at the end.

I love this one, not only because my daughter wrote it, but because to me it evokes images of family get-togethers indoors on cold December nights, fire in the fireplace, lights twinkling on the Christmas tree.

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 8: Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells (my title for Carol of the Bells), composed by Mykola Leontovych, is based on a Ukrainian folk chant called Shchedryk, and wasn’t originally a Christmas song.

In pre-Christian Ukraine, the chant was performed in the new year, which was in April, and tells a tale of a bird that comes to a family to tell them about the plentiful year they will have.

But with the introduction of Christianity and a change to the Julian calendar, the new year moved to January and the holiday in which the chant was used became the Feast of Epiphany. The chant is now performed on New Year’s Eve.

In the Western world, Leontovych’s composition was introduced at Carnegie Hall in 1921, and in 1930, Peter Wilhousky wrote English lyrics to accompany the song. Since then “Carol of the Bells” has been performed at Christmastime.

Hark! how the bells
Sweet silver bells
All seem to say,
“Throw cares away.”
Christmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong
That is their song
With joyful ring
All caroling
One seems to hear
Words of good cheer
From ev’rywhere
Filling the air

Oh how they pound,
Raising the sound,
O’er hill and dale,
Telling their tale,
Gaily they ring
While people sing
Songs of good cheer
Christmas is here
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

On without end
Their joyful tone
To ev’ry home

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 7: Silent Night

Everyone knows the story of how the Austrian carol Stille Nacht came to be. It is probably one of the most revered and popular carols sung at Christmastime.

The lullaby- or pastorale-like music, written by Franz Xaver Gruber sets the proper mood for contemplating the Great Gift that is Jesus Christ. 

We are familiar with three of the six verses Josef Mohr wrote, and Franz Xaver Gruber set to the familiar tune. Here are the lesser known last three verses:

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Where on this day all power

of fatherly love poured forth

And like a brother lovingly embraced

Jesus the peoples of the world,

Jesus the peoples of the world.

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Already long ago planned for us,

When the Lord frees from wrath

Since the beginning of ancient times

A salvation promised for the whole world.

A salvation promised for the whole world.

Silent Night! Holy Night!

To shepherds it was first made known

By the angel, Alleluia;

Sounding forth loudly far and near:

Jesus the Savior is here!

Jesus the Savior is here!

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 6: Pat-A-Pan

My interest in this Christmas carol started when I heard Mannheim Steamroller’s version on their third Christmas Album Christmas in the Aire. The main melody is very catchy, and I love the renaissance feel of their arrangement, and in fact, I’ve included a bit of it as a tribute to their take.

Pat-A-Pan was composed and lyrics written by a French lawyer and poet named Bernard de la Monnoye, in 1720. Its story revolves around the nativity of Jesus Christ from the perspective of shepherds, playing flutes and drums, the lyrical sound of the latter being where this carol gets its name, Pat-A-Pan.
(There is another carol about drums, The Little Drummer Boy, which, I must confess, is not one of my favorites. However, since my mom does like “Drummer Boy,” I’ve included melodic motifs from it: see if you can find them.)

The original lyrics to Pat-A-Pan were written in Burgundian, a dialect of French. Here, I’ve included the English translation:

Willie, take your little drum, Robin take your flute and come!
When we hear the right we will sing Noel this night,
When we hear the fife and drum, Christmas should be frolicsome.

Thus the men of olden days for the King of Kings to praise,
When they heard the fifeand drum, ture-lure-lu, pata-pata-pan,
When they hear the fife and drum, sure, our children won’t be dumb.

God and man are now become more at one than fife and drum.
When you hear the fife and drum, ture-lure-lu, pata-pata-pan,
When you hear the fife and drum, dance and make the village hum.

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 5: God Rest Ye

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is one of the oldest Christmas carols; the tune dating back to the 16th century, and the first recorded version of the lyrics around 1762.

There are several different versions of the lyrics, and if I’m not mistaken, many recordings mix verses and even lines from these different versions.

Here are my favorite verses:

God rest you merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and Joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
The blessed angels came
Unto some certain shepherds
With tidings of the same
That he was born in Bethlehem
The Son of God by name
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and Joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 4: Wenceslaus

Good King Wenceslas has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs. It was the very first carol I learned to play on the piano when I was 6 years old.

Written in 1853 in England by John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, Neale’s lyrics take inspiration from a Bohemian legend of a wealthy duke known for his good works. After a Pope declared the legend fact, and a Roman Emperor posthumously conferred the title of King on the duke, both legend and song now refer to the pious duke as King Wenseslas.

Neale’s lyrics tell the story of the good king seeing a peasant trying to gather fuel in the snowy deep. The king calls his page and sets out to bring food and fuel to him.

The page falters, not being able to endure the frigid wind and deep snow.

The King encourages the page to follow closely in his footsteps, and so together they bring rescue to the helpless man.

The carol has five verses, here are the first two:

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,

When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;

Brightly shone the moon that night, tho’ the frost was cruel,

When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.

“Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know’st it, telling,

Yonder peasant, who is he?

Where and what his dwelling?”

“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;

Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

(The traditional English spelling of the king’s name is “Wenceslaus”, and since Neale and Helmore were English, I decided to use their spelling.)

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.