Huron Carol

I've been listening a great deal to the Crash Test Dummies Christmas album, Jingle all the way..., and it's great. A Christmas carol I had never heard of ends the album, it's entitled The Huron Carol. The music is beautiful and the vocals of Ellen Reid with backup by lead singer Brad Roberts makes for an amazing melody that I had never heard before. The Huron Carol is a traditional Canadian Christmas hymn according to Wikipedia it was "...written in 1643 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada." He wrote the lyrics to a traditional French song in the native tongue of the Huron/Wendat people he was living with. Also, instead of using traditional Christian terminology to discuss the nativity, Brébeuf used imagery and words which would make sense to the people he was preaching. In the early 1900s, the lyrics were translated into English in 1926 by Jesse Edgar Middleton. The lyrics weren't so much translated as they were altered to use early 1900s imagery to discuss the nativity. The Crash Test Dummies used the 1926 lyrics, which is traditionally sung in Canada.

One of the striking aspects of the song, besides the imagery of Jesus wrapped in rabbits skin and pelts brought by the wise men, is the use of the traditional Algonquian name for God, Gitchi Manitou. If you are interested in a new Christmas carol that most Americans have never heard before, check out The Huron Carol. It's filled with an interesting history and a beautiful tune.

A Modern Hymn Post

I began thinking about the early Methodists and their attempts to use music to help convert people to Christianity. It was a smart maneuver, especially considering they used tunes people already knew and added a Christian message into the lyrics so others could sing along. It produced some amazing results, not the least of which is my favorite Christmas hymn, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, which I spoke about at length last year. The second verse really sums up the entire Christian spirit in its lyrics and makes me proud to be one.

I got to thinking, this morning, what if modern Christians did something akin to this. What if they took modern tunes and changed the lyrics to have Christian overtones. So, to ruin everyone's favorite tunes...I started doing that. Here are some examples --
To the tune of "Baby One More Time..."

Oh I must confess
That my sinfulness
Is killing me now
But you know I will believe
That with my Lord here
He gave us His life
To take away all of man's strife

My Jesus Christ is saving me
His sacrifice has set us free
Through Him salvation is guaranteed
He gave us His life
To take away all of man's strife

To the tune of "Girlfriend"

Hey, hey, you, you
I really like your Savior
Yea man, I feel
That I need to convert
Hey, hey, you, you
I want to be a Christian

I can't pretend
Because I know
Salvation is precious
And yeah
He's the ever loving Prince of Peace
I can tell you He loves us
Again and again
(And again, and again)

Old gods, cast them whereever
Through Christ I can do much better
I need His everlasting love
And that is what I'm praying for

I know, they're ridiculous -- but maybe that's the thing. Our music stylings have changed so much that much of our popular modern music is not quite as timeless as it was in the past. Much of it sounds dated and won't transcend into the next few decades very well. Yet, when I hear Hark! The Herald Angels Sing every Christmas, I am still moved and still love the music. I wonder if that will happen some hundred years from now -- where our music is still loved and cherished. If not, we need to begin truly working on more timelessness in our tunes because without that bit of timelessness, our music will disappear and that incredibly important piece of us will just slip away...

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

In 1739, co-founder of the Methodist movement, Charles Wesley, wrote "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" as a somber song to proclaim the joy of the birth of Christ. Years later, an adaptation of a Felix Mendelssohn song was used as a new, more upbeat version of the song by English musician William H. Cummings. This is the version and lyrics we know and love today. The lyrics are moving for all Christians, so please read them fully. I felt the urge to post them on this Christmas Eve. Enjoy --

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on
earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations
rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to
the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the
everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's
womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The
herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born
Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He
brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born
to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the
newborn King!"