{"id":11246,"date":"2020-12-20T07:48:03","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T12:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=11246"},"modified":"2020-12-20T07:54:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T12:54:28","slug":"listen-to-what-i-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=11246","title":{"rendered":"listen to what I say!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s that time of year \u2014 that time when the music pipes into far more than the elevators. The following song is actually, incredibly fascinating\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of my guiding principles is never to let life become rote. I don\u2019t want the daily rhythms of life to become so mechanical or habitual that I miss the meaning and joy that accompany those rhythms. Such is true in the above classic, \u201cDo You Hear What I Hear?\u201d While the carol is beloved because of its sweet, musical articulation of what the angels told the shepherds and how the shepherds may have reacted on Christmas night, I was moved even more when I learned the song\u2019s origin\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Do You Hear What I Hear?\u201d was written in 1962 by No\u00ebl Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn\u2019t written so that we\u2019d eventually have one more song in our Christmas collection for all the celebrities to remake and sing. In fact, Regney had resisted writing a Christmas song, as he was not attracted to the plethora of commercialism that has accompanied a season that means far, incredibly more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They wrote the song in October, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This historical event \u2014 in which the Soviet Union had installed missiles only 90 miles away from the U.S. mainland \u2014 is considered the closest the Cold War ever came to escalating into nuclear war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regney had experienced war firsthand; he fought in World War II. He knew the danger. The death. The heartache and fear. This song, therefore, was a prayer and a dire plea for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a reason, no less, we\u2019ve heard this song sung by Bing Crosby, Carrie Underwood, and Whitney Houston. There\u2019s a reason Bob Dylan, Alicia Keys, and Johnny Cash have recorded it, as well. That doesn\u2019t even count Mannheim Steamroller, Pentatonix, and the countless others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This song has deep meaning; there\u2019s nothing rote about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a reason to be singing it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AR
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It\u2019s that time of year \u2014 that time when the music pipes into far more than the elevators. The following song is actually, incredibly fascinating\u2026 One of my guiding principles is never to let life become rote. I don\u2019t want the daily rhythms of life to become so mechanical or habitual that I miss the … <\/p>\n

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