Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Christmas Carols Explained, #3

Technically this arrangement is part of Two Steps From Hell’s medley, but when the drums hit, you feel it in your freaking bones, and I love it. Starts at 2:12.

These lyrics were originally penned by Charles Wesley in 1739, under the title “Hymn for Christmas-Day.” 14 years later they were tweaked by a Methodist preacher named George Whitefield and they got the title we’re now familiar with. The music didn’t enter the picture until 1840 when a German Jew named Felix Mendelssohn wrote a bangin’ track for…the 400th anniversary of the printing press. What?

This would not be the first or last time that Jews and Christians disagreed on religious texts; nevertheless, we’re thankful for Mensch Mendelssohn’s composition, because when an Englishman named William H. Cummings found it in 1855, he thought “Man, this would SLAP if it had Charles Wesley’s lyrics attached to it.”

And thus a Jewish printing anthem was thrown into the mix with a Christian poem, and now we have a pure classic. It makes me wonder how the Home Depot commercial beat would land if you sang the Gospel of Luke to it. It’s one of those perennial, versatile hits that pretty much every Christmas crooner has sampled on their seasonal albums.

That’s why it’s one of the best songs to celebrate the Advent.