O Come, All Ye Faithful
Single Release Notes, October 2023
In this well-known and loved Christmas hymn, we are invited as God’s faithful people to go to Bethlehem and adore Christ the Lord (st. 1). We sing words borrowed from the Nicene Creed to express the Christian faith about the incarnation (st. 2). Then after exhorting the angels to sing their praise (st. 3), we greet Christ on his birthday (st. 4). The text has two unusual features for such a popular hymn: it is unrhymed and has an irregular meter. (Notes from hymnary.org)
John Francis Wade 1711-1786, England-France, is now recognized as the author and composer of this hymn, originally written in Latin around 1743. John Francis Wade taught music at an English college in Douay, France.
Lyrics
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
Refrain:
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
God of God, Light of Light,
lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb;
very God, begotten not created; [Refrain]
Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation;
sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest![Refrain]
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv’n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! [Refrain]
Why I chose this song
I chose this song as my first Christmas release because it reminded me of my Mom and Dad who were always faithful to God. This song has a positive, worshipful message and a cheerful, uplifting sound. It is one of my most familiar Christmas hymns and the first that is suitable for publishing. This song was release in honor of my Mom on her birthday.
Technical info
Key of G (just one sharp!), time signature 4/4, tempo 100
Stereo recorded in overhead ORTF configuration plus one additional microphone near the left back side.
For this recording, no reverb (reverberation) was applied. The reverb you hear is natural from the piano’s metal harp and solid wood structure. Normalization and dynamic compression were used to increase the volume of the lower and midrange frequency notes to help balance with the melody. There was also manual editing of individual waveforms of notes that were clipped or over-accented.
Credits
Thanks to my Mom and Dad for being faithful to God for so many years. Photo by me at Bella Vista Park, Vancouver, Washington, on February 22, 2018 after snowfall. The single Douglas Fir tree with snow on its limbs, standing firm without damage and endured the snow storm. Those characteristics seem to tie into this song’s title.