The first time I heard this song, my daughter and her friend performed this for a Sabbath morning service in Tyler. It's a driving Southern Gospel Number that makes you want to stand up and shout, "Hallelujah!" I found out the original version of the song is done by The Martins, a family Southern Gospel group. I looked them up on Youtube and got an Mp3 of them for my phone. I only got half of the version my daughter sang on video, so I went with the Martins.
This old hymn was one of the first songs that Great Grandma Doney taught to my Grandpa King when he was just a little boy. It remained a favorite all his life. My Grandpa was a praying man and I have no doubt at all that there will be some stars in my grandpa's crown. He'll get at least part of one for me. I introduced my own son to the song when he was little.
Above is one of my favorite folk singers, Burl Ives singing "Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?" Below is my first favorite folk singers, Thomas Adolph King....
This isn't my favorite version of "Carol of the Bells". I include it because I was named after the Orchestra leader, Wayne King - at least so my mother tells me. My first name belongs to my grandfather and my great grandfather and 29 other Thomases whom I've discovered hanging from the branches of my family tree. We've all got individual middle names. There are only a few Thomas Juniors and one "the 3rd" that I have found so far, and a couple with "Thomas" as middle name. If I ever get any say so with my grandkids, I'm hoping to at least get one grandson with Thomas for a middle name. Here's Wayne's big band rendition of Carol of the Bells:
Here's another version of this song I like even better, but I do like to listen to Wayne and his orchestra run a few big band versions of Christmas songs through the old record player. Here are the Piano Guys doing a medley based around Carol of the Bells (for 12 cellos).
Then there is this one which really does make me smile! Algonquin students do a flash mob version of Carol of the Bells with the help of Darth Vader and his electric guitar.
If you go to Youtube, there are dozens of versions of this song
including some notable versions done as flashmobs. There are versions
with pianos, bells, voices as bells and even one version with kazoos.
One
last version I'm adding to this is the incredible version done by Peter
Hollens. This version uses 300 male voices including multiple versions
of Peter himself. It's amazing.
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PS: One more. This one by Lindsey Stirling on violin combines dance and snow. This one surprised me. She gets focused on her fiddle as intensely as my friend Jaime Jorge. I need to find some carols of his if he's done any. I love musicians that get this deeply into the music.
Sheila, the boys and I once spent a Sunday at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. One of the performers was a perky little woman named Christine Lavin. While she's aged some since we saw her live, she's still funny and odd even with white hair. One of my favorite of her songs is a tribute to men without hair and as a man who is losing his hair with startling rapidity, I find myself quite fond of this song. She also did a version some years ago with five other women who called themselves "Six Bitchin' Babes", a nom de plume somewhat at odds with their collective feminism.
Great song, though. Christine can be forgiven for her politics if she keeps writing funny songs.
This song has a heart-breaking history. Horatio Spafford, a well-to-do Christian man went through the very trials of Job. His wife and daughters traveled by ship to England ahead of Spafford. Their ship was struck by an iron vessel and sank in 12 minutes. Only his wife Anna survived. Spafford took a ship to England to be with her. As the ship passed over the spot where his 4 daughters had been lost, the ship's captain informed Spafford. He went down to his cabin and wrote this song. The rest of Spafford's story is one of heartbreak and triumph. The Spafford's are buried in Jerusalem where they finished their lives doing mission work.
The song is performed by Acapeldridge, a "group" consisting of just one guy singing all 4 parts, which accounts for the amazing blend of voices. A sad but as hopeful a song as you'll ever here.
The sun is out and there's new grass on the field. There are some familiar songs about baseball out there and some not so familiar. They range from "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to Peter Paul & Mary's poignant "Right Field". Right Field is sort of my baseball theme song. But this song by CCR's John Fogarty is the one that gets me charged up to see a game.
Now if only Major League Baseball doesn't shoot its fans in the foot like the NFL did with a load of woke, LGBQT double plus ungood nonsense, I might even go to a game.
