The Other Greatest Christmas Song

As some of you may remember, last year I did a series on what I considered to be the greatest Christmas song of all time, a bit of a reaction to some of the ridiculous lists of “greatest Christmas songs” that I was hearing about. You can read the whole series here: The Greatest Christmas Song: Index/Resources

The song I chose was Adeste Fideles, known in English as O Come, All Ye Faithful. But in the end, I was actually waffling between two different songs that could easily have been number one. So, this year, I’m going to take the next few weeks to talk about the other greatest Christmas song!

Like Adeste Fideles, this other song has made its way into popular culture. Well known in the recording industry, it has been recorded many times by many famous artists, and made it to #14 on the billboards in the USA a few years ago when it was sung by Carrie Underwood. It has found its way into the movies also, and has been translated into many languages including Sinhala and Spanish.

In spite of its popularity, many people don’t know its rather controversial history, and neither do they know most of the words. But we’re going to do a deep dive into this one over the next few weeks, so brace yourself.

And for those music nerds who need one more hint, let’s just say – get ready to hear the welkin ring!