A new appreciation for an old song
Back in the 1960’s when I was yet a member of the Plymouth Brethren, I used to hang around with two sisters, Yvonne and Marilyn Draper, and their mother Kitty. They were also “Peebs”, but Kitty rarely if ever attended the Peeb Assembly.
We’d all be together with other of my pals on Sunday nights, munching goodies, drinking soft drinks and goofing around.
My heart was with Kitty who had been abandoned by a feckless Peeb husband. But there was one thing I could never “get”. Every Christmas she would love to play an old recording of Nat King Cole singing “O Holy Night”. I heard it many times in Kitty’s home.
Snob that I was, I thought that the song was garish and a bit trashy. And Anglicans/Episcopalians evidently agreed with me, for I have only once heard it sung in the Episcopal Church. That was when we gave way to Shirley Bayley, a Barbadian woman in Cambridge. It was her favourite Christmas song, and we “did it” for her.
But in recent weeks my wise and good friend Tracy Wells has been quoting the song as a signature on her e-mails.
Especially she has been quoting the third (and rarely sung) stanza
Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
“Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.”
Those words intrigued me. So I did a bit of research and discovered that “O Holy Night” was written in 1847 by Placide Cappeau, one time Mayor of Roquemare, near Avignon, France. “Known more for his poetry than for his Church attendance” (quote from the Shepherd’s Care Ministries website), Clappeau was asked to write a poem for Midnight Mass. He did so, and then realised that it should be set to music.
He asked a Jewish friend, Adolphe Charles Adams to write a tune, and the rest, as they say is history.
Not quite. For when the French Catholic Church discovered that Adams was Jewish, and that Cappeau had become a Socialist, they denounced the song.
But in the 1850’s the song was “discovered” by an American abolitionist, John Sullivan Dwight. He translated the song into English, and it became a favourite of Northern abolitionists -- especially for the lines:
“Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.”
So I confess, the song I had scorned has taken on a new meaning for me, thanks to Tracy. A song of freedom!
And I love the Nat King Cole version. It’s splendid with his velvet voice and careful enunciation. And for that I thank Kitty.
You might want to hear verse one, as sung by Nat King Cole, via You Tube (see link below). The video is sentimental, but Nat’s voice should delight you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7P0By2Uv4M
We’d all be together with other of my pals on Sunday nights, munching goodies, drinking soft drinks and goofing around.
My heart was with Kitty who had been abandoned by a feckless Peeb husband. But there was one thing I could never “get”. Every Christmas she would love to play an old recording of Nat King Cole singing “O Holy Night”. I heard it many times in Kitty’s home.
Snob that I was, I thought that the song was garish and a bit trashy. And Anglicans/Episcopalians evidently agreed with me, for I have only once heard it sung in the Episcopal Church. That was when we gave way to Shirley Bayley, a Barbadian woman in Cambridge. It was her favourite Christmas song, and we “did it” for her.
But in recent weeks my wise and good friend Tracy Wells has been quoting the song as a signature on her e-mails.
Especially she has been quoting the third (and rarely sung) stanza
Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
“Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.”
Those words intrigued me. So I did a bit of research and discovered that “O Holy Night” was written in 1847 by Placide Cappeau, one time Mayor of Roquemare, near Avignon, France. “Known more for his poetry than for his Church attendance” (quote from the Shepherd’s Care Ministries website), Clappeau was asked to write a poem for Midnight Mass. He did so, and then realised that it should be set to music.
He asked a Jewish friend, Adolphe Charles Adams to write a tune, and the rest, as they say is history.
Not quite. For when the French Catholic Church discovered that Adams was Jewish, and that Cappeau had become a Socialist, they denounced the song.
But in the 1850’s the song was “discovered” by an American abolitionist, John Sullivan Dwight. He translated the song into English, and it became a favourite of Northern abolitionists -- especially for the lines:
“Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.”
So I confess, the song I had scorned has taken on a new meaning for me, thanks to Tracy. A song of freedom!
And I love the Nat King Cole version. It’s splendid with his velvet voice and careful enunciation. And for that I thank Kitty.
You might want to hear verse one, as sung by Nat King Cole, via You Tube (see link below). The video is sentimental, but Nat’s voice should delight you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7P0By2Uv4M
Due, no doubt, to age, poor sight and a brain that jumps to conclusions, I read:
ReplyDeleteThat was when we gave way to Shirley Bassey, a Barbarian woman in Cambridge.
Sometimes my world is a lot more interesting than the real one.