Nothing can get people into a peaceful and joyous Christmas mood than listening to popular Christmas songs. Some of these songs have been in existence for several years and sung and passed along from one generation to the next. Several songs were composed in current years and invocate Christians and non-Christians alike with their mind blowing music and wonderful lyrics.
Some popular Christmas songs have festive and lively music and are excellent to listen to whether their lyrics have religious or commercial overtones. Some would play these songs over and over again and never get tired listening to these songs, while some gets bothered to hear these songs played repeatedly. At least it is not the same scenario as what England experienced between the years 1649 to 1660 when Christmas music where banned by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, insisting that Christmas should be solemn and limited to prayers and sermons.
Popular Christmas Songs and Some Little Known Facts
There are some interesting facts behind these popular Christmas songs and the fascinating people who wrote these songs. The following are some of these facts that are little known to people who often sing these same songs during the holidays.
* The Christmas Song
When Mel Torme, a young jazz singer worked with Bob Wells to create this song in 1944, it was a hot and humid day in the middle of July in Los Angeles. The words to the lyrics were not a spontaneous outflowing of words but a series of notes and ideas as a way to address the sweltering heat wave. The song eventually became well known when Nat King Cole made it into a successful hit the next year and became one of the most beloved popular Christmas songs.
* The First Noel
This song, with the word “Noel” appearing in it 30 times, was probably written in the 16th or 17th century. No one was definite about its origins and two countries, England and France, are both claiming rights to its origins.
* Jingle Bells
The song was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh” in celebration of the Salem Street sleigh races and written by James Pierpont in the 1850s. Jingle Bells was the changed title of a song for a church social and it became popular Christmas song day by day. There were four verses originally but due to the nature of the lyrics of the last three verses, they were dropped and not sung during carols. These verses talked about a sleigh crash, a fallen sleigh driver sprawled in the snow, and lines containing “Take the girls tonight”.
* Joy To The World
With words based on the 98th Psalm, British preacher and poet Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics to one of the most popular Christmas songs, but it was only a century after Lowell Mason composed the music to these words. To make the hymn more popular, the composition was attributed to Handel and it took another century before the hoax was discovered and the truth made known.
* Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
This song became famous after it was sung by Judy Garland in “Meet Me in St. Louis” in 1944. However, the original lyrics to this song composed by the tandem of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane was darker in nature and did not suit the preference of the actress and was appropriately changed.
There are other fascinating side stories about the origins of popular Christmas songs and the people that wrote it. These songs are liked by all age groups and will be so in the arriving years.
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