A Famous Christmas Song Born During the Cuban Missle Crisis

Sometimes the deeper significance of the Christmas holiday gets lost in all of the comercial excess in December.

Here is the story of how one of the most popular Christmas songs was born at a time when the world was on the brink of nuclear war. The song is a reminder to stop war and embrace love.

"Do You Hear What I Hear" one of the world's most beloved Christmas songs was born during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 as an anti-war statement by a former French Resistance fighter from WWII who had personally suffered the ravages of war.

Noel Regney (1922-2002) was a Frenchman trained as a classical composer who was drafted into the German army in World War II. He deserted and joined the French Resistance. [During his work with the Resistance he suffered the horrors of war directly: he was shot, but survived.] After the war ended, Regney joined the French Overseas Radio Service and worked out of French Indochina until moving to Manhattan in 1952. He met Gloria Shayne while she was working as a pianist in a hotel dinning room and married her a month later.

Regney and Shayne wrote "Do You Hear What I Hear" in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney drew the image of Jesus as a newborn lamb from Matthew 2:9 and 2:11 and took his lyrics to his wife to set in the reverse of their usual practice. But while it is often taken for a Christmas carol, for Regney and Shayne "Do You Hear What I Hear" is a hymn to peace. "I am amazed that people can think they know the song," Regney later said, "and not know it was a prayer for peace." Although the song has been recorded by Bing Crosby and Perry Como and over 120 others, Regney and Shayne's favorite recording was Robert Goulet's 1963 recording for its dramatic delivery and his climatic "Pray for peace, people everywhere." ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide

Here's a link to the Bing Crosby version of "Do You Hear What I Hear"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWjzTAkWLBM

And here are the lyrics:

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the night wind to the little lamb,

do you see what I see

Way up in the sky, little lamb,

do you see what I see

A star, a star, dancing in the night

With a tail as big as a kite

With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,

do you hear what I hear

Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,

do you hear what I hear

A song, a song, high above the trees

With a voice as big as the sea

With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,

do you know what I know

In your palace warm, mighty king,

do you know what I know

A Child, a Child shivers in the cold

Let us bring Him silver and gold

Let us bring Him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere,

listen to what I say

Pray for peace, people everywhere!

listen to what I say

The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night

He will bring us goodness and light

He will bring us goodness and light