Christmas Songs

Christmas music, Christmas memories

 The two Christmas albums I listened to growing up were "Noel" by Joan Baez and "Christmas" by Bruce Cockburn. I still love both of them incredibly much, not least of which because they introduced me to a tapestry of Christmas music unlike many, full of songs such as:

~existential longing for a world that is just out of reach

~familiar songs sung in various European languages

~call-and-response storytelling, with cowbell

~incredibly sorrowful, minor-key versions of traditional carols with a random major key thrown in at just the right moment to make you cry

~Joan Baez belting out "Noel" with such power that it makes the audio speakers shake

~two radically different versions of "Down in Yon Forest"

~all the verses of the carol, even the ones you didn't know existed

~obscure carols in minor keys that stir my soul down to its very European roots

~RÍU, RÍU CHÍU, LA GUARDA RIBERA

~esoteric mythology about the Virgin Mary

~harpsichord

What are/were you favorite Christmas albums?

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