Stille Nacht

 Noël Noël

Le Cantique de Noël (nota anche come Noël Noël, o Minuit Chrétiens o, in inglese, Oh Holy Night) fu composta nel 1847 da Adolphe Charles Adam, compositore francese. e critico musicale, noto per il famoso balletto da lui musicato, Giselle.

Queste le parole in francese:

The Coventry Carol

La Coventry Carol è un canto del periodo natalizio, ma non di Natale in senso proprio, in quanto si riferisce alla Festa di Santi Innocenti (Childermas in inglese antico) che si celebra il 28 dicembre e che ricorda la Strage degli Innocenti. i bambini coetanei di Gesù abitanti a Betlemme, compiuta da Re Erode.

La Coventry Carol (nota anche col titolo di Lully Lullay) fu composta nel 1534 da Robert Croo, per una delle Sacre Rappresentazioni tradizionali della città di Coventry, appunto, che rappresentavano proprio la Strage degli Innocenti.

Si tratta probabilmente di uno dei più antichi canti del periodo di Natale giunti fino a noi.

(fate click sul titolo per ascoltarne una versione tradizionale)

Coventry Carol

Christmas Carol Lyrics
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child.
By, by, lully, lullay.

O sisters, too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day;
This poor Youngling for whom we sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young, to slay.

Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

per un post sul giorno dei Santi Innocenti andate QUI.

Joyful

Ricordo con piacere la versione cantata nel film Sister Act 2 con Whoopy Goldberg.

Qui il link video

Qui il testo:

 [Lauryn Hill]
Joyful, Joyful
Lord, we adore Thee
God of glory
Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee
Hail Thee as the sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
Fill us with the light
Fill us with the light
Oh, fill us with the light of day......

[Choir]
Joyful, Joyful
Lord, we adore Thee
God of glory
Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee
Hail Thee as the sun above
Melt the clouds of sin, sin and sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Drive it away
Giver of immortal gladness
Fill us
Fill us with the light of day
Light of day!

[Rap]
(Check the rhyme)
Joyful, Joyful
Lord we adore Thee
An' in my life
I put none before Thee
Cuz since I was a youngster
I came to know
That you was the only way to go
[switch rapper]
So I had to grow an' come to an understandin'
That I'm down with the King so now I'm demandin'
That you tell me who you down with, see
Cuz all I know is that I'm down with G-O-D
You down with G-O-D?
(Yeah, you know me)
You down with G-O-D?
(Yeah, you know me)
You down with G-O-D?
(Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with G-O-D?
(Everybody)

[4 girls]
Come and join the chorus
The mighty, mighty chorus
Which the morning stars begun
The Father of love is reigning over us

[Lauryn Hill] Right away

[Choir]
What have you done for Him lately?
Ooh, ooh, ooh yeah
What have you done for Him lately?

He watches over everything
So we sing

Joyful, Joyful
Lord, we adore Thee
God of glory
Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee
Hail Thee as the sun above
Melt the clouds of sin, sin and sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Drive it away
Giver of immortal gladness ([Lauryn Hill] won't you)
Fill us ([Ryan Toby] Fill us with the light of day, Lord, fill us)
Fill us ([Ryan Toby] oh we need You, yes we do, fill us)
Fill us ([Ryan Toby] yeah..., oh, oh yeah)
Fill us ([3 guys] with the light of day, Lord)
....
([Lauryn Hill] We need you, come right away,
we need you, need you today, we need you,
I'm here to say fill us, fill us, fill us, fill us...)

Fill us with the light of day ([Lauryn Hill] oh, yeah)
Light of day!

Oh Happy Day

Oh Happy Day

Oh happy day, (oh happy day)
oh happy day, (oh happy day…)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
oh, when he washed (when Jesus washed)
when Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
he washed my sins away…
Oh happy day, (oh happy day)
oh happy day, (oh happy day)

He taught me how to love,
fight and pray, fight and pray,
and live rejoicing ev'ry day, ev'ry day.
Oh happy day

Oh happy day, (oh happy day)
oh happy day, (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
oh, when he washed (when Jesus washed)
when Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
he washed my sins away…

Oh happy day,
oh happy day, (oh happy day)
oh Lord, (oh happy day)
oh happy day, (oh happy day)
oh yes, (oh happy day)
oh Lord,
oh happy day…!

Rudolph era un cerbiatto

Santa Claus viene spesso rappresentato insieme ad una renna piuttosto particolare.
la nona del gruppo che trascina la slitta, dotata di un naso rosso scintillante.

Questa piccola renna, Rudolph, derisa dal proprio branco per colpa di questa stranezza fisica, si rivelò di grande aiuto per Babbo Natale in una fredda e nebbiosa
notte di Vigilia.
Grazie al suo naso luminoso illuminò la strada e Babbo Natale riuscì a consegnare i regali a tutti i bambini.

ecco anche la canzone, che risale al 1949 (fate clik sul titolo per ascoltarla)

Rudolf, the Red Nosed Reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen,
but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.
All 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 how the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee:
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, you'll go down in history."