On our continuing 25 days of Christmas music, I'd like to share some thoughts on the song "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
First, I enjoy this song. I think of it as a kid's song, since the animals are talking and everything. Children and talking animals go together. I also like that in general it's about Jesus and his birth--my favorite part of Christmas.
But I have a huge problem with the following lyric and can't help but wonder what in the world Noel Regney was thinking when he penned the following words:
"A child, a child shivers in the cold let us bring him silver and gold."
Huh? The child is shivering in the cold!!!! I think a blanket would be far more appropriate! Oh the problem of rhyming and rhythm! (Also the king didn't ask people to pray for peace but killed all the baby boys--so it's not exactly accurate either)
But..taking it a bit deeper...sometimes that's what we do. We throw money at issues instead of finding the right way to address it. And sometimes money is the least helpful thing there is.
Here's Third Day singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" One of my favorite versions.
5 comments:
Sometimes I, like you, wonder what the writer was thinking when they penned a line for a song...or even the whole song itself.
Thanks for sharing the Third Day version.
I liked it.
I remember singing this song in choir in the 6th grade, but I've never really paid that much attention to they lyrics.
My family was just talking about that very issue! Silver and gold, what a ridiculous thing to bring to a poor cold little baby.
Well, Daniel likes the Third Day version! He started fussing while I was reading your post (he's tired), so I played the song, and then he was calm.
Have you heard Carrie Underwood's version? It's so good... gives me shivers every time.
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