The Twelve Days Sing-Along Returns!

My memory of family car trips from my childhood is that the main entertainment was singing.¹ It never took much to get us all to try harmonizing! And years later, at Christmas gatherings of Lynn’s family, we sometimes joined in some sing-alongs.

So last year, I had the idea of a socially distanced Christmas sing-along across the miles and the time zones. Our sing-along occupied the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas that starts on Christmas Day and ends on Epiphany Eve.

This year I’ve recruited some friends to help; so if all goes well, on some of the songs you’ll hear voices other than mine. (A relief, no?) Each day I’ll post a recording of a different song, along with its lyrics. This is a sing-along, not a concert! I make no claim that these are great performances, but they are an opportunity for all of us to have some fun singing along. By Twelfth Night, you’ll have access to a little library of twelve songs.

Obviously, I’ve had to make some decisions. I’m scheduling both religious and secular songs. Some holiday songs that try to tell stories are often shortened: I’ve opted for longer versions, including some verses you may never have heard. I tried to go with songs that I thought people could sing and would enjoy singing. (Some lovely Christmas songs are just too challenging, too archaic, or too dark for this activity.) And as I’ve worked on this project, I was surprised to learn how many Christmas songs are anticipatory and don’t make as much sense once Christmas Day has come and gone.²

As we go through the Twelve Days, I’ll continue to add songs and links to this page. You can bookmark this page and use the links that will appear here;³ or just go to my website at https://lavezzi./us to get the latest post.

And, oh yes: Merry Christmas!