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Traditional Carols at Christmas

 

Away in a Manger

Written by James R. Murray c1885

Away in a Manger - Christmas carol

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The
cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky,
And stay by my side until morning is nigh.

Be near me Lord
Jesus,
I ask thee to stay.
Close by me forever,
And love my I pray.

Bless all the dear children,
In thy tender care.
And take them to heaven,
To be with thee there.

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Oh Come,
All Ye Faithful

This traditional carol was written by John Francis Wade around 1743.  The original version was in Latin as Adeste Fidele, it has been translated into many languages, for example:

Original Latin: Adeste Fidele
German: Herbei, o ihr Gläubigen

O come, all ye faithful, Oh Come, All Ye Faithful - Christmas carol
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him,
Born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore
him,
O Come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb:
Very God,
Begotten, not created; [Repeat Chorus]

Sing, choirs of
angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God
In the highest; [Repeat Chorus]

See how the shepherds,
Summoned to his cradle,
Leaving their
flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
We too will thither
Bend our joyful footsteps; [Repeat Chorus]

Child, for us sinners
Poor and in the manger,
We would embrace thee, with love and awe;
Who
would not live thee,
Loving us so dearly? [Repeat Chorus]

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given;
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh
appearing; [Repeat Chorus]

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.

Phillips Brooks wrote the words in c1868, and Lewis Redner the music

O little town of Bethlehem,
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem - Christmas carol
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes
and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning
stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human
hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

Where children pure and
happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to thee,
Son of the mother mild;
Where charity stands watching
And faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory
breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The
great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

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Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

This favourite Christmas carol was
written by Charles Wesley (brother of John) in c1739

Hark! the herald angels sing

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Christmas Carol
Glory to the new-born King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’ angelic host proclaim
Christ is born in Bethlehem!
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born King!

Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the Virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with man to dwell;
Jesus, our Emmanuel! [Repeat
Chorus]

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.
Risen with healing in his wings,
Light and life to all he
brings,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace! [Repeat Chorus]

Come, Desire of nations come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the Woman’s conquering Seed,
Bruise in us the Serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness now efface:
Stamp Thine image in its place;
Second Adam, from above,
Reinstate us in thy love. [Repeat Chorus]

Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer

Authors: Robert May (lyrics), Johnny Marks (music)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
had a very shiny nose.

Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer - Christmas carol
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any
reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out
with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!

Guy’s Favourite Traditional Carols

Silent Night

This Christmas carol was written by Joseph Mohr for guitar in 1816-18.
The first version was played in German as ‘Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht’.  The first performance was in Oberndorf, Austria 1818.

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night,
holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Saviour, is born!
Christ the Saviour, is born!

Silent night, holy night,

Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Oh Holy
Night

This traditional carol was written in French by Placide Clappeau, 1847

Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill
of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born
Oh night divine
Oh night divine

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here come the wise men from Orient land
The
King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend.

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave
is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

The
First Noel

This is a very old English Christmas carol.  It dates back to the 17th century, when ‘Noel’ was written ‘Nowell’ and meant: ‘All is now well’.

The first Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields as they lay, keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel,

Noel,
Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east beyond them far,
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night. [Repeat
Chorus]

And by the light of that same star
Three wise men came from country far;
To seek for a king was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went. [Repeat Chorus]

This star drew nigh to the
northwest, The First Noel - Christmas carol
O’er Bethlehem it took it rest,
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay. [Repeat Chorus]

Then entered in those wise men three
Full reverently upon their
knee,
And offered there in his presence
Their gold, and myrrh, and frakincense. [Repeat Chorus]

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord;
That hath made heaven and earth of
naught,
And with his blood mankind hath bought. [Repeat Chorus]

Winter Wonderland

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, Winter Wonderland - Christmas carol
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We’re happy tonight.
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird,
Here to stay is
a new bird
He sings a love song,
As we go along,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He’ll say: Are you married?
We’ll say: No man,
But you can do the job
When you’re in town.

Later on, we’ll conspire,
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid,
The plans that we’ve made,
Walking in a winter
wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
And pretend that he’s a circus clown
We’ll have lots of fun with mister snowman,
Until the other kiddies knock him down.

When it snows, ain’t
it thrilling,
Though your nose gets a chilling
We’ll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Walking in a winter wonderland,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Good King Wenceslas

John Neal wrote the Christmas carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’.  Today we find Wenceslas square in Prague, thus revealing the Czechoslovakian origins of this carol.Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shown the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a
poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.

Hither, page, and stand by me.
If thou know 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.

Bring me flesh, and bring me wine.
Bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine
When
we bear the thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went,
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather.

Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind
blows stronger.
Fails my heart, I know not how.
I can go no longer.
Ark my footsteps my good page,
Tread thou in them boldly:
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less
coldly.

In his master’s step he trod,
Where the snow lay dented.
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye
who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

See more funny Christmas carols:

∗ Funny Christmas carols
∗
Traditional Christmas carols
∗ Funny advent
calendar    ∗
Xmas jokes

∗
12 Days of Christmas
∗ Funny Christmas quotes
∗ Funny
Christmas sayings    ∗
Christmas cards

∗ Christmas food and drink
∗
Short Christmas poems
∗ Christmas verse   ∗
Angel jokes   ∗
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