Holidays, Music

GOH: The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy

34 Comments

Let’s mark Christmas Eve this year with a carol that I’ve never heard performed in a fundamentalist church. (or at least not one in this country).

I appreciate one thing about my West Indian upbringing and that is the simple lesson that if your song is about something joyful it should SOUND and LOOK joyful. It would seem obvious but it’s something so often missed in the music debate.

34 thoughts on “GOH: The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy”

  4. My dad had this on a Bill Gaither album when I was a kid. I like the song and enjoyed this arrangement.
    Thanks, Darrell, and you are right. Happy themes should sound joyful.

  5. Hard to mess up on this one, though I’m certain there are those who try.
    Ah, Merry Christmas anyway! :mrgreen:

  6. This carol is so darn happy and upbeat you can’t help but join in.

    So I can see why it’s not a common song in fundamental churches. I mean, that’s quite a pronounced rhythm they’re rocking there. It’s only a matter of time before they got drums involved.

  7. My Christian school is one of the BJU-feeders, & we sang this at one of our Christmas concerts (in the church auditorium, no less).

    Our director spent a loooong time trying to get us to feel the rhythm & look happy. But we had to stand perfectly still & not bob or sway. It is very difficult to “feel the rhythm” on the inside & not let it come through your body.

    1. What’s the point of music if you can’t express the feelings? Fundies are truly people where the fun goes to die.

  9. Fundies are scared that if someone sways to the music and looks happy it might appear sexual.

    Makes me recall the old saw about Why Fundies don’t do it standing up. It might lead to dancing.

  10. I’ve never heard that carol before, but I really like it. No wonder Fundies don’t sing it much–there’s way too much joy happening there.

    Merry Christmas, everybody!

  12. We sang this song in choir at my fundie church. However it wasn’t quite that joyful. Unless you count the sound of squeezing out a turd a day after a cheese casserole fellowship in the church basement joyful.

  13. Got me to dancing and singing feeling Merry Christmas! Not bad! Not bad at all. And to all, a Merry Christmas. 😛

  14. Got me to dancing and singing feeling Merry Christmas! Not bad! Not bad at all. And to all, a Merry Christmas. :mrgreen:

  15. I actually heard this song performed by the choir as part of the Christmas program at Trinity Baptist in Jacksonville , FL back when Bob Gray was still the pastor. I enjoyed the song then (first time I had ever heard it) and I still enjoy it now. 😀

  16. My fundy ex-circle didn’t celebrate Christmas officially, but I’ve accompanied several godless public school choirs as they’ve sung this.

  18. I first heard this carol when I bought the Kings’ Singers Christmas album (a cassette tape!) when I was a student at BJU. Very joyful!

        1. Cool. That was my second attempt at college. Six years out of High School and three years of marriage helped me mature enough to succeed my second try. One of these days I’ll go back, but two Fundy U attendances is enough. Next will be somewhere else.

          I enjoyed the King’s Singers a lot. I still remember they did a Count Basie number, and Jr. felt he had to explain it. It was probably one I had heard growing up and may have had on vinyl back at the house in Taylors!

  19. This was part of Grace Community Church’s Christmas Concert. Some would consider JMac a fundie (but the hardcore fundies would take issue with that).

  20. George Beverly Shea used to perform a song that would have made Maria from Sound of Music slit her wrists in utter despair. To call it funereal was a gross understatement. The name of the song? “Happy Day.” Talk about irony. Maybe he should have spent some time in the West Indies.

    1. Is it, “Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice, on Thee, my Savior and my God! Oh, may this longing heart rejoice to tell its raptures all abroad”? That one has a less than thrilling tune.

  21. Every church needs some oldster dudes knocking out the low notes. I believe that’s how the old muppets were originally envisioned.

  22. I love this song! It really is such a joyful celebration. One thing I have always enjoyed about Gaither quartets and now their get-together specials–they are visibly happy to be worshiping in song. I don’t always enjoy all the styles of gospel they sing, and sometimes they can get downright cheesy, but the joy they have and the enjoyment they are feeling at singing together to praise the Lord is palpable. And infectious.

  23. We used to sing this at the Christian primary school I went to in Trinidad. I didn’t know you were brought up in the WI? Which island?

  24. Wow. What a website … Has nothing better to do than “fundie bashing.” Talk about a meaningless existence with nothing better to do than to complain about what “fundies” are doing. Why not just get on with life and let your petty grievances go? So you disagree with “fundies.” Okay fine, what now? Everybody complaining on this site has said much more about their own character than they have about “fundies.” Furthermore, this site which serves only as an echo chamber cannot be beneficial for anybody. People come on here because they know everybody will agree with them and as a result no correction of misunderstandings can occur whether that be yours or the “fundies,” instead all this site perpetuates is more and more anger and bitterness. However, I know that most will not consider the substance of my arguments because as the name suggests…

    1. You learned some buzz words, but you seem to be struggling with how to use them in a sentence with the way they are defined & used.

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