Let Me Finish That For You - Christmas Special Quiz

Answer: 'My true love gave to me'

These lyrics of course come from the '12 Days of Christmas'. (The twelve days of Christmas in the Christian calendar being Christmas Day until the day before Epiphany - the 5th of January).

It is not known exactly what the inspiration for this carol was, however it is believed that it may have derived from a children's memory and forfeit game that was played at Christmas. There is also some evidence that it originated from Newcastle upon Tyne, in Northern England. What we do know for sure is that the first English reference was in around 1780 in a children's book that was published in London and was called 'Mirth without Mischief'.

Being that I have sung this song every Christmas for my whole life and still can't remember what was given on the 11th day, it does make sense that this was a memory game.

Let's look at some of the lyrics:
'On the first day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/A partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Two turtle doves/And a partridge in a pear tree.'

Answer: 'Glory to the new-born King!'

'Hark The Herald Angels Sing' has been around for the better part of 300 years - though not with the same lyrics, and for many years it was more of a hymn than a carol. The hymn was originally called 'Hymn for Christmas-Day' and was written by an English Methodist minister named Charles Wesley in 1739. The piece was based on a passage from Luke 2:14, whereby an angelic chorus sing their praises to God.

Back in 1739, the opening words were 'Hark! how all the Welkin (heaven) rings'. In the 1750s this was changed to 'Hark! The Herald Angels sing' by another Methodist minister called George Whitefield (perhaps because people weren't familiar with 'Welkin' as a word for 'Heaven').

The next major change to the hymn came in 1840, when the composer, Felix Mendelssohn, composed a cantata in commemoration of Gutenberg's movable-type invention. It is this music (which was later adapted by an English musician called William H. Cummings), that is used for the carol we enjoy today.

Let's have a look at a few lyrics:
'Hark! The herald angels sing/"Glory to the new-born king/Peace on earth and mercy mild/God and sinners reconciled"/Joyful all ye nations rise/Join the triumph of the skies/With angelic host proclaim/"Christ is born in Bethlehem".'

Answer: 'Laughing all the way'

This is, of course, from the classic 'Jingle Bells'. This carol's history can be traced back to the U.S. and to a tavern in Medford, Massachusetts. Written in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont in that tavern, it was originally published in 1857 under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh".

There are two claims as to its inspiration - one being that it was written as a drinking song, and one that it was written as a Thanksgiving song which was meant to be sung by a Sunday school choir. (It would be difficult to find two more opposing inspirations!) Anyway, it really didn't have a connection to Christmas per se at that time. However, by the 1860s-1870s, it had become associated with winter and Christmas.

The song was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder. Unfortunately, this recording was lost, however, a 1898 recording from Edison Records does still exist.

Some of the lyrics are below. You will notice, if you look all the lyrics, that because the song wasn't written to be about Christmas, the lyrics don't mention anything pertaining to Christmas, except for a sleigh.

'Dashing through the snow/In a one-horse open sleigh/O'er the fields we go/Laughing all the way/Bells on bobtails ring/ Making spirits bright/What fun it is to ride and sing/A sleighing song tonight, oh!'

Answer: 'From the bottom of my heart'

'Feliz Navidad' or 'I Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas' was first written and performed by a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter named José Feliciano in 1970. (I'm not sure if the 'wanna' in the lyrics gave it away, but this is the most modern of all the songs in this quiz.) 'Feliz Navidad' is, of course, the Spanish for 'Merry Christmas'.

The song, which didn't hit any U.S. charts when it was initially released, really hit its stride in the U.S and Canada about 20 years after its release. It then gained so much popularity, so quickly, that in 2010, Jose's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It has also been recognized by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as one of the top 25 most recorded and/or played Christmas songs anywhere in the world.

Answer: 'Pa rum pum pum pum'

These lyrics are from 'Little Drummer Boy', one of my favourites. Originally known as 'Carol of the Drum' this is also a relatively recent Christmas staple, having been written by Katherine Kennicott Davis, an American composer, in 1941.

Interestingly, the song was first recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family (if that's not ringing any bells think: 'The Sound of Music').

Although there are many renditions of the song, perhaps one of the most unusual recordings was done by Bing Crosby and David Bowie - a rather surprising (and, in my mind, very successful) pairing. Entitled 'Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy,' it reached number three on the UK charts in 1982.

Another very successful rendition was by Justin Bieber. He and the rapper, Busta Rhymes, released a version of the song, named 'Drummer Boy', in 2011.

Lyrics, maestro, please:
'Come they told me/Pa rum pum pum pum/
A new born king to see/ Pa rum pum pum pum/ Our finest gifts we bring/ Pa rum pum pum pum'.

Answer: 'On the Feast of Stephen'

These are, of course, the lyrics to 'Good King Wenceslas'. Wenceslas was actually a real person, although he was a 10th century Bohemian duke, not a king. The carol tells the story of how Wenceslas sees a peasant gathering wood in the distance and decides to deliver alms (food and drink) to the man. In order to do so, however, he and his page have to slog 'a good league hence' through the bitter, dark, winter weather. (If you read all the lyrics, it really does tell the whole story.)

The tune to the song - Tempus Adest Floridum (The time is near for flowering) - is thought to date back to the 13th century and to a Finnish song book. The words to the carol, meanwhile, were translated from the lyrics of a Czech poem by Václav Alois which was written in 1847. The translation was done by an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter, John Mason Neale. The carol first appeared in 1853 in 'Carols for Christmas-Tide', a volume that was created by John Neale and a English colleague, Rev. Thomas Helmore.

Let's look at some lyrics:
'Good King Wenceslas looked out/ On the Feast of Stephen/ When the snow lay round about/Deep and crisp and even/ Brightly shone the moon that night/ Though the frost was cruel/ When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel.'

Answer: 'All is calm, all is bright'

These lyrics are from 'Silent Night' which was a poem written in 1816 by Josef Mohr, a Catholic priest from Oberndorf bei Salzburg, in Austria. This was just after the Napoleonic wars, and Josef named the poem 'Stille Nacht' in commemoration of the new era of peace.

Josef put the poem aside for two years, until the river Salzbach flooded Josef's parish church - the church of St Nikola in Oberndorf - ruining the organ. In order that the congregation could enjoy music on Christmas Eve, Josef asked the church organist, Franz Gruber, to set his poem to music using guitar accompaniment. Franz did so in an afternoon.

Prior to 1995, it was assumed that the piece was by a famous composer and as such, had been variously attributed to Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Beethoven. However, in 1995, a manuscript was discovered that was in Josef's handwriting. The manuscript also showed that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818.

The song was first recorded in 1905 and in 2011 was declared an 'intangible cultural heritage' by UNESCO.

Lyrics:
'Silent night, holy night!/ All is calm, all is bright/ Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child/
Holy infant so tender and mild/ Sleep in heavenly peace/ Sleep in heavenly peace.'

Answer: 'Joyful and triumphant!'

'O Come All Ye Faithful' ('Adeste Fideles' in Latin) has somewhat hazy roots. The most commonly held belief seems to be that the original hymn was written by monks, and quite possibly as early as the 13th century.

It is thought that a British exile called John Wade, who fled the Jacobean rebellion to live in Douay, France in 1745, put the hymn 'Adeste Fideles' to music and gave the world the earliest existing printed version of the piece. John earned his living by copying hymn manuscripts for private use, as well as teaching music.

The carol as we know it today though, came into being in 1853 after a translation of the hymn (from Latin to English) was completed by Reverend Frederick Oakeley, an English priest and author.

'Adeste Fideles' (the Latin version of 'O Come All Ye Faithful') is traditionally the final anthem that is played at Midnight Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It is essentially a call to worship.

Let's look at some lyrics:
'O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant/ O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem/ O come and behold Him, born the King of Angels/ O come, let us adore Him/ O come, let us adore Him/ O come, let us adore Him/ Christ the Lord.'

Answer: 'The holly bears the crown'

Unfortunately, it is not known who wrote the original lyrics to the 'Holly and the Ivy'. In pagan times, the holly stood for the man, and the ivy for the woman, and churches in England have been decorated in winter with holly and ivy for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Holly, In Christian symbolism, came to represent Jesus Christ's crown of thorns, while the red berries represented his blood. It is thought that because of the symbolism of holly and ivy, the lyrics (in some form) may be very old - and perhaps as old as a thousand years.

The earliest printed version of the lyrics is thought to be in a broadsheet published in Birmingham, England, in around the 1710. However, the man responsible for bringing us the version with the melody and lyrics we know today, was an English folk-song collector called Cecil Sharp, who did so in the early 1900s.

Here are a few lyrics:
'The holly and the ivy/ When they are both full grown/ Of all trees that are in the wood/ The holly bears the crown/ O, the rising of the sun/ And the running of the deer/ The playing of the merry organ/ Sweet singing in the choir.'

Answer: 'And may all your Christmases be white'

'White Christmas' is credited as being one of the best selling songs in the world. Written by Irving Berlin for the 1942 musical film, 'Holiday Inn', the composition won an Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' in 1943 at the 15th Academy Awards.

Bing Crosby was the first to sing this longstanding favourite and his version topped the Billboard chart for an impressive 11 weeks in 1942. However, it did not only achieve this, but returned to the number one position again in December of 1943 and then again in 1944. Over the years, the song would return to the top 40 at least a dozen times more.

When Irving Berlin wrote the song, he apparently said to his secretary, 'I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it's the best song anybody ever wrote.' (He was clearly a modest man!) He wasn't wrong through; by 1968 alone, 30 million copies of the single had been sold.

More than 500 versions of 'White Christmas' have been performed by other artists.

Let's have a look at some of the lyrics:
'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas/ Just like the ones I used to know/ Where the treetops glisten and children listen/ To hear sleigh bells in the snow/ I'm dreaming of a white Christmas/ With every Christmas card I write/ May your days be merry and bright/ And may all your Christmases be white'.