Jewish Christmas

Some people think that because I'm Jewish I object to singing Christmas songs, or that I mind singing songs like the Battle Hymn that are about the glory of Jesus. I don't mind singing Christian songs. I think there is a long history of very influential Christian songs. Practically every old Latin song is about praising Jesus. This transferred to gospel singing and even to the Christian rap which thoroughly baffles me. One of the things I love about Christian music is Christmas songs. They are so good and catchy that around the wintertime, most of what I sing is Christmas music. So when I found an video of the group Straight No Chaser, an a capella group from Indiana University, called "12 days" (of Christmas) I knew I would love it.

The video completely took my expectations and exceeded them spectacularly. While they do sing beautifully, worthy of their reputation as an a capella group and as a touring show, they also are absolutely hilarious in the way that satirize the fact that no one actually knows each thing for the twelve days of Christmas and how easy it is to mix up different Christmas songs. They start out just singing pretty but it quickly becomes a trainwreck as different parts of the group lose track of the days, and they switch somehow into "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". It's awesome how they make fun of the fact that the two parts everyone knows and goes to is yelling "Five golden rings" and "And a partridge in a pear tree". Then they switch flawlessly from three french hens into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I laughed my head off when that guy came out singing "The Dreidl Song"... just perfect. The looks that everyone gives him and his confusion make it hysterically funny. You can see on everyone's faces "Really guy? Just....Really?". I loved this piece start to finish for it's beautiful sound, cheekiness, and complexity. It is no surprise to me that this song was one of the most famous and classic of "Straight No Chaser"'s songs. However, they do have a lot more wonderful songs and some albums. 

I had heard about this group before, but I only recently looked it up because Kari and Christine had actually gone to one of their concerts last Friday. Extremely jealous but curious, I looked them up and found some wonderful stuff. So i guess the lesson is, follow your curiosity. Thanks for reading.