Two other carols - Simon & Garfunkel

More obscurely, two other carols sung by Simon & Garfunkel can be found. Comfort and Joy is an a cappella arrangement of the carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The Star Carol is a carol written by Alfred Burt and Wihla Hutson. It was first released by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford in 1958. Both are found on the album Old Friends published in 1997.

The lyrics of The Star Carol

The simple but moving lyrics of the star carol are

Long years ago on a deep winter night

High in the heavens, a star shone bright

While in the manger, a wee baby lay

Sweetly asleep on a bed of hay

Jesus our Lord was that baby so small

Laid down to sleep in a humble stall

Then came the star and it stood overhead

Shedding its light 'round His little head

Dear baby Jesus, how tiny Thou art

I'll make a place for Thee in my heart

And when the stars in the heavens I see

Ever and always I think of Thee.

Go tell it on the Mountain and 7 O'Clock news/Silent Night - Simon & Garfunkel

A feature of early Simon & Garfunkel is a willingness, despite being Jewish, to sing Christian songs, such as You can tell the world. Some of these songs are Christmas carols. Go Tell It on the Mountain is an African-American spiritual song probably passed down by oral tradition but originally published by John Wesley Work Jr (1871-1925) from Nashville. The lyrics are

Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere;

go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born

(alternatively, especially if it is not Christmas, "Jesus Christ is Lord".

If it is Easter, "That Jesus lives again".)

While shepherds kept their watching o'er silent flocks by night

Behold throughout the heavens there shone a Holy light

The shepherds feared and trembled when, lo! above the Earth

Rang out the angel chorus that hailed our Saviour's birth

Down in a lowly manger our humble Christ was born

And brought us all salvation that blessed Christmas morn

"Go Tell It on the Mountain" probably refers to the shepherds described in Luke's Gospel, hence the alternate title of "While shepherds kept their watching". 

Before Simon & Garfunkel recoded it in 1964, Peter, Paul and Mary had adapted and rewritten it with specific references to Exodus and using the phrase "Let my people go" but referring implicitly to the civl rights struggles of the early 1960s.

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Also in 1966 they recorded a version of the famous German language carol Silent Night. Billed as 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night the track is a sound collage juxtaposing their two part harmony rendition of Silent Night with a simulated 7 O'Clock News bulletin featuring actual events from the summer of 1966 read by Charles O'Donnell, a then radio disc jockey. As the track progresses, the news report assumes a greater presence through an increase in volume. The very basic point is made that though Jesus has come, the world is still a mess. Jewish polemic sometimes argues that Messiah cannot have come because of this but that is to forget the Second Coming. The mix on the track purposely clashes with the piano accompaniment mixed solely to the left channel and the news solely to the right channel while vocals remain in the middle.

Events referred to include a dispute in the House of Representatives over "the civil rights bill"; the death of comedian Lenny Bruce from an overdose aged 42 (actually 40); Martin Luther King Jr. reaffirming plans for an open housing march; the grand jury indictment of Richard Speck for the murder of nine (actually eight) student nurses; disruption by protesters at the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings into anti-Vietnam War protests; a speech by former Vice-President Richard Nixon to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (actually the American Legion) urging an increase in the war effort in Vietnam, and calling opposition to the war the "greatest single weapon working against the US".

Winter Song - Lindisfarne

Elvis Costello once called "Winter Song", the third track on Lindisfarne's 1970 debut Nicely out of tune, one of the greatest songs ever, and he may be right. There is a starkness about the presentation, appropriate for a winter song, and it sounds like a solo effort on first hearing but the bass and excellent mandolin work become evident on further listens. The contrasting harshness and gentleness of the vocals at various points is another great feature of this excellent alternative Christmas song that manages to reference snowdrops, the turkey in the oven, the Christmas presents bought, Santa and Jesus and yet remains sceptical throughout. Its message, a typical Alan Hull socialist one it would seem, is that in the midst of winter rather than just feeling sorry for ourselves we should spare a thought for homeless tramps, gypsies and even for Jesus (although even there Hull is as non-commital as he can be). What a striking song.

Do you spare one thought for Jesus

Who had nothing but his thoughts

Who got busted just for talking

And befriending the wrong sorts?

Mother and child reunion - Paul Simon

When Paul Simon's eponymous second album appeared in 1972, this was the first single taken from it. It is a reggae song recorded in Jamaica and has impressive guitar and drum work. The title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon claims he saw on a menu in a Chinese restaurant. The lyrics were inspired by the death of a pet dog that was run over and killed, the first death Simon had personally experienced. It made him begin to wonder how he would react if the same thing happened to his wife at the time, Peggy Harper. "Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was" Simon told Rolling Stone at the time of its release. The song was recorded at Dynamic Sounds Studios, Torrington Bridge, Kingston, Jamaica, with Jimmy Cliff's backing group. Guitarist Huks ("Hux") Brown and bass guitarist Jackie Jackson were also long-time members of Toots & the Maytals. Cissy Houston is one of the four backing singers. Unusually, Simon recorded the music first then wrote and added the lyrics subsequently. He had previously wanted to make "Why Don't You Write Me" – recorded with Art Garfunkel on Bridge over Troubled Water – sound Jamaican but it ended up sounding like a "bad imitation" and the idea was abandoned. Simon was instructed by the musicians during the recording on the differences between reggae, ska and bluebeat. He felt awkward at first being "the only white guy there" and an American. He later overdubbed piano and vocals to the track, back in New York.