Jonathan Dobres

Having been raised Jewish, I’m not very big on Christmas music. I don’t mind it, which is fortunate, because for fully two months out of the year it’s completely inescapable. But I, like most of my people, don’t actively seek it out.

That said, I do have a couple of favorite tracks. Both can be found on Hail Smiling Morn!, a 1995 album from my college mentor, Professor Tony Barrand. His group, Nowell Sing We Clear, specialized in Anglo-American songs and carols, which means their albums are full of holiday tunes somewhat off the beaten path, ranging from classic versions of familiar favorites, to obscure wintertime paeans you’re unlikely to hear on the radio.

The first of my favorites is the album’s title track, “Hail Smiling Morn!” Professor Barrand was the group’s lead singer, and can be heard leading the call and response section. This one is about glorifying the light of the sun. I suppose it resonates with me because I live in New England, and our winters are brutal. It’s not the cold or the snow, it’s the darkness. Throughout December, southern New England gets just over nine hours of sunlight, and the sun sets around 4:15 in the afternoon. “Hail Smiling Morn!” concludes with four men heartily singing, “Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail!” as if they’re shouting back the night itself. This time of year, that’s medicine for the soul.

My second favorite track is “The Bitter Withy”, which is a folktale about Jesus’s childhood. I always thought the New Testament had a weird structure. Jesus is born, and then the story skips forward thirty-three years to his death and resurrection. What about all the years in between? What did he get up to? What about that time Kid Jesus accidentally murdered three children? As related in the song, Jesus goes out to play and encounters three rich kids, who want nothing to do with some kid born in a barn. So Jesus runs off across the water, the kids try to follow, and as the song puts it, “Drown-ed they were, all three.” Mary makes a switch from the branches of the withy tree and disciplines Jesus, which is, apparently, why the branches of the withy tree are used as kindling in modern times. The more you know!

I’ll also give an honorable (or perhaps honourable) mention to the album’s rousing rendition of “Here We Come A-Wassailing / We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, which harkens back to the original purpose of caroling: haranguing the wealthy until they finally cave.