In 1960,
Charles Brown and Gene Redd wrote “Please Come Home for Christmas.” Charles
Brown recorded the song that year, and it has become a secular Christmas
standard. Last week I was looking to do something different with our church’s
Christmas Sunday music, and wrote this set of lyrics. Our Praise Band used the
new lyrics on Sunday. Too corny? What do you think? Here is Charles Brown’s
version:
words by Gary
based on “Please Come Home for
Christmas” by Charles Brown & Gene Redd
1. Angels
were singing the glad, glad news;
Shepherds
were watching, no time to lose
A child was
born in lowly stall
To save the
nations, the Lord of all.
2. So we
adore Him these Christmas days
Lift up our
voices, follow His ways
We magnify
Jesus, We magnify Jesus
He is our
Master, and we bring Him our praise.
BRIDGE: Led by the starlight, Led by a star bright
Wise men came
to see the newborn king
Bowing
before Him, down to adore Him
So to Jesus
our offerings we bring.
3. Let us
remember, as we celebrate
Our God is
with us, no longer wait
Receive His
salvation, turn from your pain,
And be
happy for it’s Christmas once again.
I felt the lyrics didn't have any kind of unifying thread; one verse is a historical report on Jesus' birth, then the next swings into a worship mode, then the bridge (where the feel of the music gets bluesier, but the lyric doesn't) goes back to history, then the last verse is worship mode again. It needs some kind of lyrical continuity to tie into the "CHristmas Once Again" idea; what does that mean? How can you make that the overarching theme of all the lyrics? Does all the stuff about angels and wise men even need to be in there, or is it just filler that sounds good in a Christmas song but has nothing to do with the message? You know me...I take all this way too seriously. It was fun singing it, though. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Roger, I appreciate you singing it! You're welcome to rewrite with more lyrical continuity. I am not too concerned about it -- it's a piggy-back set of lyrics to a well-known song. The point was to have fun with it.
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