Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (4 page)

T
he First Noel” is one of the oldest Christmas ballads still sung today. Though it first appeared in print in 1833, the song goes back at least three hundred years prior to that. The exact place and time of its origin are in doubt, with both France and England claiming it as a part of their heritage. The spelling of
noel
would seem to indicate a French connection, though there seems to be more evidence pointing to this carol migrating from Britain to France rather than the other way around. What cannot be doubted is the faith and spirit of the song’s writer; his Christian witness comes alive each time the old carol is sung!

Just as there are two different points of view as to where this carol was first written, there are also two different ways of spelling the song’s title. In England, and sometimes in America, the spelling of
noel
is altered and the old carol is known as “The First Nowell.” In France it is always spelled “Noel.” What
noel
or
nowell
means in both languages is the same—a joyful shout expressing the exhilaration at the birth
of Christ. Yet while the song’s anonymous writer obviously knew enough about language to use this all-encompassing term to begin the chorus, he wildly missed the mark on several scriptural points in this song. This gives us additional insight into the background of the inspired voice behind the carol.

“The First Noel” is one of the few surviving early Christmas standards that can genuinely be earmarked as a folk song. Whoever was responsible for writing this carol was obviously incredibly enthusiastic about Christmas and fully understood the wonder of Christ’s birth, but didn’t have a full grasp on the Scriptures that told the story of that birth. During the Middle Ages, this was often the rule rather than the exception.

When “The First Noel” was written, there were very few Bibles in circulation. Most were either in churches or monasteries and were written in Latin. Common people rarely saw a Bible in person, and even if they would have, they probably wouldn’t have been able to read the words in the sacred book, since most people living in those times were illiterate

This was probably the case with the composer of “The First Noel.” With no ready Bible to guide him, the writer drew from the stories he had been told about the events of Christ’s birth. Most he recounted accurately, but he erred when he depicted the shepherds following the star to Christ’s birthplace. The Bible does not mention the star with the shepherds, only with the wise men.

Another key element of this old hymn—the way in which the sentences are structured—indicates that it was written by a man with no formal language training. Phrasing in the original lyrics, such as “This child truly there born he was,” is simply not the way a learned hymn writer such as Wesley or Murray would have written. Nevertheless, the spirit found in “The First Noel” more than makes up for its lack of professional
markers. That spirit, coupled with an annual Scandinavian event, probably guaranteed the survival of the old carol.

During the Middle Ages, English peasants had adopted the Viking custom of the Yule log. Each winter a family would go out into the woods, cut down a huge tree, drag it back home, cut away its branches, and hollow out its core. They then filled the hole with oils, spices, and other sweet-smelling ingredients, and set the log in the fireplace. Kindling was sprinkled around the Yule log, and a daughter or a wife would light the fire with a splinter left over from last year’s log. Families that burned a Yule log each year believed that good luck would befall their household.

When those who embraced this custom became Christians, they adapted the Yule log to Christmas. Eventually the timber came to symbolize the wood of the cross, and the sweet packing to represent the beautiful life Christ offered each Christian—His ultimate sacrifice on that cross. The log was brought into the home on Christmas Eve and was lit. It was hoped that the log would burn for the entire twelve days of Christmas, its embers dying January 6, the day the wise men arrived with their gifts for Jesus. If the log lasted that long, it was a sign that the household was blessed.

In England, “The First Noel” was sung each year by many peasants as they lit the Yule log. Therefore, this became the song that started the entire Christmas season. Especially for children, this carol meant the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year. Down through the ages, the tradition of the Yule log carried with it the music of this folk carol. Though its words and music were not written down, “The First Noel” survived.

For the first three hundred years of its existence, “The First Noel,” like all other carols, was not a part of religious services. New songs, even if they embraced a story from the Scriptures,
were not allowed in most churches. Because the clergy disdained carols like “The First Noel,” these songs truly became the holiday voice of the people. They related the joy of Christmas, the wonder of God sending a Son to save every man and woman, no matter their station in life. The songs became part of family tradition. Many of the holidays’ most beloved songs would have been lost if common folks had not passed them down from generation to generation.

Both “The First Noel” and the Christmas Yule log tradition found their way to France around the fifteenth century. Supposedly the song was introduced to the French people by British minstrels. Like the English, the common people of France embraced the music and the message. They also gave it their own twist: Children in this country often sang this carol as a round.

“The First Noel” finally was published by William Sandys in 1833. A lawyer by trade, Sandys loved music and spent his spare time collecting both French and English folk songs. In his book on Christmas folk songs he included “The First Noel.” Already a favorite with the peasant class, by the mid–1800s, when the Church of England began to use new songs during services, “The First Noel” found universal acclaim.

Today this song, obviously inspired by the story of the birth of a Savior and probably written by a common, illiterate man, remains one of the most loved carols of all time. Still, one must wonder why “The First Noel” has survived while thousands of other folk songs about Christmas—many of them better written—have been forgotten. Most likely because the writer brought a rare, jubilant spirit to the song. Anyone who has sung “The First Noel” would have no doubt that the composer not only believed every word he wrote but was excited about the story he was sharing. “The First Noel,” therefore, represents the real essence of Christmas, the one element that eludes so many during each holiday season: the announcement of Christ’s arrival on earth. While the tradition of the Yule log has all but died out, the message of “The First Noel” still burns brightly.

T
he contribution of unknown African American slaves to Christian music is remarkable. As a largely uneducated people, longing for freedom, suffering incredible cruelty and humiliation, many still somehow managed to encounter the powerful touch of the Holy Spirit in ways that manifested themselves in songs of unparalleled majesty and beauty.

Even more amazing than the songs themselves is the fact that any survived at all. Many of these composers of spirituals could not read or write. For the most part, their works were unpublished for decades and passed along only in the oral tradition. A few songs were spread from the fields to small slave churches along roads via work gangs, and eventually to white churches and even large concert halls in both the South and North. Many, however, were lost, their inspirational lessons in song forgotten, as were the testimonies they contained. Perhaps all of them would have been gone
had it not been for a very special American family and the dynamic voices of a college choir.

Not long after the Civil War, a man named John Wesley Work was an African American church choir director in Nashville, Tennessee. A scholar as well as a musician, Work had a deep interest in music that defined the experience of the Negro in America. One of the few educated African Americans in the South, Work felt the new generation of black southerners might best understand the importance of spirituality by learning the songs their ancestors sang during the days of slavery.

In Work’s choir were several members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers from the nearby black college of the same name. As Work influenced the Jubilee Singers with his thoughts and music, the singers would pass that influence to the world through their uplifting arrangements of Negro spirituals. During an era when few Negroes were able to travel more than a few miles from their birthplace, the Fisk Jubilee Singers toured the world, appearing in England before Queen Victoria and at the White House in front of President Chester Arthur. Their music revealed a passion for life and living that few people had ever experienced, and they became a monumental force in first exposing the musical talents of African Americans.

John Work passed his love of music and history onto his son, John Wesley Work II. The latter became a folk singer, composer, and collector of Negro spirituals, and, eventually, a professor of history and Latin at Fisk College. His wife was the music teacher for the Jubilee Singers. Along with Work’s brother, Frederick, this second generation of Works kept the flame of spiritual music burning brightly and saved a huge number of Negro folk songs from being lost or forgotten.

There will always be some debate over who first uncovered the song “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” but Frederick Work was
one of the first to note the song’s power and potential. The song had come from the fields of the South, born from the inspiration of a slave’s Christmas, and it was unique in that, of the hundreds of Negro spirituals the Work family saved from extinction, few had been written about Christmas. Most, as would seem only natural, centered on earthly pain and suffering, and the joy and happiness that only heaven seemed to offer. Yet here, standing against the backdrop of such haunting spirituals as “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” was “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” a triumphant piece that embraced the wonder of lowly shepherds touched by God at the very first Christmas.

John II and Frederick studied the words and the basic melody to “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” Not wanting to change the dramatic impact of the song’s lyrics, they left them intact, but the brothers did rearrange the music into an anthem-like structure that would suit choirs such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Beginning in the 1880s, that group took the song to the world.

As the Fisk Jubilee Singers introduced the song to the people throughout this country and beyond, many compared the melody to two other Civil War songs, “We’ll March Around Jerusalem” and “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching.” The Work brothers might have been influenced by both of these folk songs, but neither of them could come close to the message and the power of the words that sprang from a lowly slave’s heart. With no hope of earthly freedom, probably unable to even read the Bible, this unknown slave imagined the emotions of shepherds as a powerful light from heaven shone down on them. Frightened by a power they couldn’t begin to understand, they were greeted by angelic voices trumpeting the birth of a Savior. Leaving their flock, not fully understanding why they were going, these confused men went to see a baby in the most humble of surroundings. And in that place, these shepherds found understanding, knowledge, and love. As crowds listened to the choir from Fisk perform the song, many were brought to tears, others to their knees.

In 1909, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” was published in Thomas P. Fenner’s book
Religious Folk Songs of the Negro as Sung on the Plantations.
Still, without the continued contribution of a third generation of the Work family, this song, and scores of other spirituals, would probably have faded away forever.

Like his father and grandfather, John Work III, a graduate of Julliard, was a devoted student of history and music. Embracing his family’s passion, this third-generation member of the Work family continued to uncover and save unknown spirituals, many times traveling hundreds of miles to seek out elderly slaves who had sung them in the fields. John Work III devoted years of his life documenting this important facet of American culture.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Work took another look at what his uncle and father had done with “Go Tell It on the
Mountain.” Using their notes and arrangements as well as the materials he had dug up through interviews and research, he took the old song and reworked it one more time, adding a new arrangement and at least one new stanza. It is unknown if Work composed these new lyrics or simply found them during his research, but they fit perfectly with the words the Fisk Jubilee Singers had sung fifty years before, John Work III’s arrangement—the one we know today—was published in
American Negro Songs and Spirituals
in 1940.

Over the past fifty years, the popularity of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” has continued to grow. The song’s melody is infectious, but it is the spirit of the words that seem to provide the song’s real power. As an unknown slave revealed his own prayers and faith, he had little knowledge that the inspiration he felt—probably the only thing of value he ever possessed—would eventually touch millions around the world. Truly, this humble man did not tell the news only on the mountain, but “over the hills and everywhere.”