To inwardly groan when I see these carols on the board

[SeasonallySnowyPeasant]

These are lovely carols when sung by a choir but a congregation / bunch of parents slogging through them is painful:

• Joy to the World
• The 12 Days of Christmas

Give me a sharp, snappy Hark, the Herald Angels Sing any day!

If In The Bleak Midwinter is bleak I don't know what that makes the Coventry Carol, then. Or Sing Lullaby.

O Come O Come Emmanuel is my favourite. I wish we sang that one more often.

I also love Wake, O Wake, which was sung every year at my school’s carol service, but I haven’t ever heard in any other church.

There’s also a rather jaunty one we sing at the church I go to now - ‘See him lying on a bed of straw’. I quite like that one - not too high and everyone enjoys it.

Go Tell it on the Mountain is quite jolly.

Have you ever tried singing "Hail Smiling Morn"? I played in a brass band as a teen and this was always the finale at the christmas eve singalong carol concert. Everything else was from the little Salvation Army carol book. Hail Smiling Morn was on its own as a piece of sheet music. Nobody can sing it, the band could just about hold it together with the aid of the conductor. It was always chaos (but great fun!)

Ooh, I agree on the First Nowell. Repetitive.

My gripe is the line ‘Very God, Be/gotten not created’ in OCAYF. Every sodding year someone gives me a look for singing it how you’re meant to rather than cramming ‘begotten’ into one line. Sigh.

That said as an ex chorister I spent most carol concerts resisting the urge to massacre attempt the descants, so...

Oh gosh, yes, Hail Smiling Morn sung acapella (?sp) by I think The Tallis Singers.

My dad used to play in Newquay Town Band in the 1940s so every Christmas morning, as a child, we awoke to the sound of that being played by Camborne Town Band on dad's hifi 😊

I admit I sing it myself of a bright, blue, sharp frosty winter's morning as I drive over the Downs to Winchester, to work!

I love JTTW. In fact, I was playing it earlier on DD's Lamaze Octopus.

I HATE the Coventry Carol...all those fucking Lullays do my head in.

Love the Wrong Tune to In The Bleak Midwinter.

I used to like O Little Town Of Bethlehem but now I can only sing it to the tune of The House Of The Rising Sun.

If you sing in a chamber choir that does a Christmas concert, you will not escape Christmas without singing either something by Rutter or, latterly, something by Chilcott - probably both.

One of our choir directors swore he was going to do a concert one year, without any Rutter, and call the concert I Can’t Believe It’s Not Rutter!

I like 'see him lying on a bed of straw' tho I don't think that's what it's called. Easy to sing by a congregation. A bit Kids' Nativity, tho.

Teaching Australian DH about CofE carols, In the Bleak Midwinter, the dirge version, became a bit of a joke between us.

Dollywilde I think begotten makes much more sense than "god be, gotten" - why do you think it's the latter?

See him lying on a bed of straw is the first line of the Calypso carol.

I hate the dirgey ones like the Coventry Carol. And there's nothing quite as crushingly disappointing as seeing an old favourite in the programme only to find it reset to some unmemorable new tune.

It's also demoralising when they set favourite carols in keys that only the Queen of the Night can handle.

12 days of Christmas is better if you do the actions.

How could the 12 days of Christmas be a carol?

I love Calypso Carol. I'd never heard it since primary school till they did it at our local church last year. It's hard to make that into a dirge (although some will try).

Ditto Ding Dong Merrily in High is great. The tune is "Bransle de l'officiel", or roughly speaking "the civil servant's dance". "Good King Wenceslas" is another bransle.

Una, I think Dollywilde was talking about the musical phrasing, not the meaning of the words. The word is still 'begotten' but there's a slight variation in the musical emphasis. And she is absolutely right.

One of our choir directors swore he was going to do a concert one year, without any Rutter, and call the concert I Can’t Believe It’s Not Rutter!

I think I’ve said this before, but I like the sound of your director. Nothing much against Rutter, but I’ve heard most of his stuff too many times.

Aah I love ding dong merrily! It was the last hymn at xmas eve mass very jolly and it always reminds me of my grandad who used to sing it but only knew the first line and the Gloria bit.

I adore I Can't Believe It's Not Rutter. That must be done.

Btw, what did everyone think to the new man at the helm at King's College this year? I really enjoyed it (though I've only listened to the TV not the radio so far, as we were ill over Christmas).

I love oh come Emmanuel, not enough chance to sing that one.

They all need singing at a decent clip tho! Nothing worse than a slow hymn.

We had to sing JTTW twice in one morning at church last week. It’s not the slightest bit joyful and it goes on forever.

I don't understand the Joy to the World hate. The tune absolutely is joyful! How could it not be? And if it's done in C, it's not at all unmanageably high. I only know of 4 verses, which fly by, but maybe there are more I don't know.

I do like the sound of I Can't Believe it's not Rutter though. I find his stuff a bit saccharine.

And I agree on The First Nowell. Boring as anything.

Ding Dong Merrily on High doesn't have that crazy io io io verse in the hymnal my hometown church (in another country) used, my family and I really tripped over it in church this week!

Ifind carol services are slightly higher keys than back home too--right at the top of my comfortable range. Haha

Another who can't stand the first nowell. In particular the lazy lyrics with Israel. And how is o holy night the nations fav carol again! The calypso carol (see him lying in a bed of straw) is my all time fav; although I do like me some Rutter. We did the star carol this year, that's quite snappy.