Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 4 - O Little Town of Bethlehem [England] (tune: Forest Green/Vaughan Williams)

O Little Town of Bethlehem is a popular Christmas carol based on a text written by Phillips Brooks in 1868. The carol is well known in both Great Britain and the United States, however it is sung to different tunes on each side of the Atlantic. For North American's the carol is sung to the tune St. Louis by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis Redner. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the text is sung to Forest Green, a tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first published in the 1906 English Hymnal. Forest Green is Vaughan Williams' adaption of the English folk ballad The Ploughboy's Dream, which he collected in Forest Green, Surrey in 1903.

1. O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee to-night.

2. O morning stars, together

Proclaim the holy birth!

And praises sing to God the King,

And peace to men on earth.

For Christ is born of Mary

And gathered all above,

While mortals sleep the Angels keep

Their watch of wondering love.

3. How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given;

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His Heaven.

No ear may hear His coming,

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still,

The dear Christ enters in.

4. Where children pure and happy

Pray to the blessed Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee,

Son of the Mother mild;1

Where Charity stands watching

And Faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,

And Christmas comes once more.

5. O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray!

Cast out our sin and enter in,

Be born in us to-day.

We hear the Christmas angels,

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel!

We're presenting a number of Forest Green/Vaughan Williams versions for your Holiday pleasure.

O Little Town of Bethlehem -  Christ Church Cathedral Victoria

O Little Town of Bethlehem - MC Gender

 
 O Little Town of Bethlehem