Tuesday, December 29, 2009

In which I am delusional

I'm a bit late with this, since it's after Christmas and all, but I didn't have time to get to it until this week.

This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns and I couldn't really find a recording of it. It's in a key I can sort of handle, so I thought I give it a shot singing it. I apologize in advance because I know it's off in some spots. I'd say I can sing, but not spectacularly. :D

The tune for this hymn is "Tempus Adest Floridum" which is also the tune for "Good King Wenceslas". Presumably most people know how that sounds, but for whatever reason the only version of that song that I'd ever heard was Mannheim Steamroller's version which though very cool, really sounds nothing like the tune:



At any rate, the hymn is "Gentle Mary Laid Her Child" and here are the words.

Gentle Mary laid her Child
Lowly in a manger;
There He lay, the undefiled,
To the world a Stranger.
Such a Babe in such a place,
Can he be the saviour?
Ask the saved of all the race
Who have found His favour.

Angels sang about His birth,
Wise men sought and found Him;
Heaven's star shone brightly forth
Glory all around Him.
Shepherds saw the wondrous sight,
Heard the angels singing;
All the plains were lit that night,
All the hills were ringing.

Gentle Mary laid her Child
Lowly in a manger;
He is still the undefiled,
But no more a Stranger.
Son of God of humble birth,
Beautiful the story;
Praise His Name in all the earth,
Hail! the King of Glory!

So here I am singing it. And to give credit where it is due, I did not play guitar, I sang along with this recording on YouTube, of someone much more talented than I on guitar. :)

I'm also minimally talented with the editing software on my computer, so it still sounds like the homemade recording that it is. I assume there's probably some way to fix that if I knew how all of it worked. And I majorly tripped over the word "Heaven's"...how does one fit that all in with the tune?? :D



Ooh boy, I just might be off half a note through the whole thing...I'm just not sure. :/ *rethinks posting this....*

In other news, it's the last day of 2009! I still have a post about Christmas that haven't gotten around to writing yet, as well as the tragic and suspenseful tale of the dying power adapter for my laptop. But those will have to wait until next year at this point.

Tonight we're planning on getting Chinese food (a New Year's Eve tradition!), and watching a movie, and putting together a puzzle. Yes, it sounds slightly lame, but I'm looking forward to it. We're watching a kids' movie even: Mouse Hunt. I remember watching it years and years ago for my birthday! Presumably my...eighth birthday at the earliest. It was probably more like ninth. Anyway, it should be interesting to see it again and see if I remember it properly. It made me slightly scared of factories I remember. :/

See you all next year!

4 comments:

Lizzie said...

That was beautiful! I think you have a lovely voice, Natalie! You should try a singing career!! =)

Your New Year's Eve plans sound very nice to me! We used to have quiet celebrations like that, but this year we're having something of a party... and so we've been cleaning and preparing ever since Sunday. I'm sure the party will be fun, but I'll miss playing Scrabble with my parents and watching a Veggie Tales with my siblings... =P

And our neighbors used to do fireworks (the illegal kind! =P ) but I don't think they're going to this year... so that will be sad.

Happy New Year! =D

N said...

A...singing career...?! Goodness. Well, thank you! Just wait till I try to sing something that's not in my range. i.e. a lot of songs. :D

Oh wow, a New Year's Eve party sounds fun too, but the prep for it would be a bit tiring I suppose. I hope you had a good time! :) (I'm saying "had" because you probably won't see this til after the party.)

Anonymous said...

Hey Natalie, You have a delightful voice. I'll keep my eyes open for the song. I've not noticed it in the ones I've heard this year, but kinda been out of the loop. Btw, my roommate's pug loved it too.... he was bobbling his head back & forth as he listened to you sing, and was quite intrigued. :)

N said...

Thank you...and I'm glad the pug enjoyed it! :D

It's not a very common song, so I'm not surprised you haven't heard it.

Do I know you, by the way?