The Christmas #1

OK, so it may only be the First Sunday of Advent, but my paper's rolling out the results of a reader survey of favorite Christmas carols in the next edition. Recent issues have featured pieces on each of the ten nominated carols, and everyone's invited and encouraged to vote for their choice.

Not to play Ward Boss or anything but, for the curious, my vote went to the hymn I learned and sang many moons ago as a choirboy. It never fails to "get" me in a way few things have, for its purity of lyric, the images it evokes, and the memories it brings back: Once in Royal David's City (lyrics/iTunes).

Be forewarned: the temptation's there to devote an upcoming column to my "Classic Christmas" mix.... After all, you'd be hard-pressed to find "Do They Know It's Christmas?" listed alongside Schubert's Mille Cherubini in Coro anywhere else.

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