Jesus Christ! pickin and grinnin

The Light of the World was born in the country, and country folk do appreciate him. So  many of the massive church numbers began as simple folk-grass.

The Staples Singers bicycle through “Wasn’t That a Mighty Day,” keeping the spiritual simple, showing their Xmas roots from when the power came from the words, not the orchestration and 3000 voices strong.

One of my favorite down-in-the-dirt folk albums is by some of the Seegers entitled American Folk Songs. Please to get your holy lowly from Colum MacColl’s own “Wasn’t That a Mighty Day” and Mike Seeger with “Sing a Lamb.” Well, garsh.

You can still hear traces of the heavenly choir in the harmonious Trail Band’s “New Baby King.” It’s a barn burner/praise raiser, without the tabernacle.

Jesus Christ! name-dropping

So, where’d the parents come up with that name? Did they have a grand-uncle with that name? Did they make a list? Were they told?

Maynard’s Groovy Bible Tunes extrapolates out of scripture how Josephus came down to it. David  Heath-Whyte sillies up the process in a children’s cheerleading chant: “Jospeh Call Him Jesus.” no need to take notes, you’ll have the spelling rote by the end of the song.

Jesus Christ! naming rights

What’s in a name? Well, Adolf Christ probably wouldn’t have worked so well.

Plain folk singer Pete Seeger muses through “Glory to That Newborn King.” It’s close, intimate, and moving.

Leave it to gospel man Kirk Franklin to explain that “Something about the Name Jesus” means everything. (I heard it was a variant of Joshua anyway.) There’ some trouble ending a joyful refrain here though.

Jesus Christ! the setting

Taking the time to rework ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen to meet your own comical needs is a consuming labor, but several have done it.

ApologetiX has a lively, clever version (or two), but it’s OT about David and Goliath. (Did they fight in Bethlehem? Or was that Elhanan and Goliath?)

Queen even did a Santa/gifts lark with their own parody.

I prefer the Mark Bradford attempt. Lots of churches use it (with awful costumes/puppetry), and it’s a super duper parody.

Jesus Christ! mother superior

A couple more mother issues before we pick up a new subscription:

Aime Mann tangentially touches on the feminine of God with her “Calling on Mary.” Seems to be more about the price of love in the time of mercantilism and happiness despite a heartless world to me… maybe i don’t get her.

You want to dance to proud Mary, plug in to Nina Hagen swirling up a sirocco of Middle Eastern music with “Mary Christmas.” What should sound sacrilegious, pounds terpsichorean. Get on your feet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwShcD04cEs

Jesus Christ! afterbirth

Aerosmith’s 1989 works may not lend themselves to Christmas parodies, but then you don’t know ApologetiX. This Christian parody rock band from Pittsburgh has been storming the States for nearly 25 years. Dozens of cool bandmen have enriched their ranks over the years… and they adapt modern stuff too. (They’re ‘Weird’ Al approved!)

So check out “Mary’s Got a Son (Parody of ‘Janie’s Got a Gun).” Mother of God!

Jesus Christ! mama time

Mary gets good hallelujah this time of the year. Heck we include her name in seasons’ greetings (misspelled). It’s a chore to create the Creator.

The Advent gets some diva note manipulation with Francesca Battistelli in “Be Born in Me (Mary).” It takes about two minutes of warm up to get to the singing, but the virtuoso is foretold.

Amy Grant labor coaches the old girl with “Almost There.” It’s a lilting uplifting appreciation of motherhood.

Hal Leonard and Shawnee Press Church Choral church “Almost There” up a notch and make a village out of the delivery process. I see the crown!

Jesus Christ! stablemates

I’m not sure how long Mary was laid up with birthing biz. Did the wise men show up the next night? The next week?

Here Bah & the Humbugs (again!) feel the Google-Maps-less pain of the wandering sages with “Get Me to the Stable on Time.” That was a lot of desert after all. (And this is a lot of song.)