Do You Hear What I Hear?

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a Christmas song written in October 1962 with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair were married at the time, and wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists.

Songwriting

Noel Regney wrote the lyrics for the song, while Gloria Shayne composed the Christmas carol's music in October 1962. This was an unusual arrangement for the two writers. Usually it was Shayne who wrote the lyrics for their songs while Regney composed the music, as they did when they wrote a song based on the classic children's song "Rain Rain Go Away".

Regney was inspired to write the lyrics "Said the night wind to the little lamb, 'Do you see what I see?' " and "Pray for peace, people everywhere," after watching babies being pushed in strollers on the sidewalks of New York City. Shayne stated in an interview years later that neither could personally perform the entire song at the time they wrote it because of the emotions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. "Our little song broke us up. You must realize there was a threat of nuclear war at the time."

Summary

The song describes how word of the birth of the baby Jesus is relayed to higher upon ever higher authority. The message originates with the Night Wind, which whispers it to a small lamb. The lamb reports the message to his shepherd, who in turn conveys the news to the king. The king eventually spreads the message to the "people everywhere." In each verse, the messages is slightly modified, in a similar fashion to the game of Telephone.

The song also contains an inaccuracy: according to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod the Great (king at the time) ordered Jesus killed upon hearing of his birth, forcing Jesus, his mother Mary, and Joseph to flee.

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Recording

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" was released shortly after Thanksgiving in 1962. The song was originally recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale. It went on to sell more than a quarter-million copies during the 1962 Christmas holiday season.

Bing Crosby made the song into a hit when he recorded his own version of it on October 21, 1963, with the record being released as a single five days later. Crosby also performed the song on a Bob Hope Christmas television special on December 13 of that year. Over the years, Crosby's recording of the song has been widely played on the radio, and has been available on numerous compilation Christmas albums and compact discs put out by Capitol Records.

Whitney Houston recorded her own version for the charity compilation album A Very Special Christmas in 1987. Produced by Jimmy Iovine, Houston's version is the most played version of the song during the holidays.

The song was later recorded in diverse ways by hundreds of artists as varied as Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Pat Boone, Mahalia Jackson, Whitney Houston, Jim Nabors, Kate Smith, John Tesh, the United States Air Force Symphony Orchestra, the Tropical Flavor Steel Drum Band, Bob Hope, Glen Campbell, Robert Goulet, Kenny G, Kelly Rowland, the Hampton String Quartet, Eddie Fisher, Jack Jones, Andy Williams, Vanessa L. Williams, The Carpenters, Anne Murray, Gladys Knight, Copeland, David Arkenstone, Moya Brennan, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Delta Goodrem, Linda Eder, Diahann Carroll, Ed Ames, Flyleaf, Jim Brickman, Celine Dion, Anthony Way Lani Misalucha, Rosie O'Donnell (with special guest Elmo), Third Day, Mannheim Steamroller, Kristin Chenoweth, Sufjan Stevens, Pink Martini, Bob Dylan, Larry Norman, Connie Talbot (2008 and 2009), Kristinia DeBarge, Vanessa Carlton, Theo Tams, former Celtic Woman members Órla Fallon & Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Susan Boyle, the Broadway Cast of American Idiot for BCEFA's ' 'Carols for a Cure (Volume 12), Minimum Wage for Christmas Gone Wrong on Drive-Thru Records, and arranged by René Clausen, The Concordia Choir, The Glee Project contestants Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell for Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2. Do you Feel what i Feel? -JLS, British boy band - Premiered live on Children in Need 2011,- variation and change in the vocal wording and instrumental layout, and thelastplaceyoulook.

Popular Culture

The Johnny Mathis cover of the song was used in an infamous scene from the film Gremlins when one of the gremlins turns a record player on that is playing a record of the song.