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".
