The Boys Air Choir, a chamber ensemble of young choristers drawn from such cathedrals as St Paul's, Salisbury, Winchester, and Westminster Abbey, perform a choral arrangement of Chris de Burgh's Christmas song 'A Spaceman Came Travelling. De Bergh's unexpected hit-which I always think of as 'The Doctor Who Christmas Song'-re-imagines the Nativity with a wandering spaceman and a UFO instead of an angel appearing to the shepherds and the Holy Family.
The central solo here is performed by Winchester Cathedral chorister Tom Crow. Former St Paul's soloist Connor Burrowes conducts.
[ Text ]
A spaceman came traveling on his ship from afar.
'Twas light years of time since his mission did start.
And over a village he halted his craft,
And it hung in the sky like a star, just like a star,
He followed a light, and came down to a shed,
Where a mother and child were lying there on a bed.
A bright light of silver shone round his head,
And he had the face of an angel, and they were afraid.
Then the stranger spoke: he said, "Do not fear!
I come from a planet a long way from here,
And I bring a message for mankind to hear,"
And suddenly the sweetest music, filled the air.
And it went la la la-
La la la la la la la-
Peace and goodwill to all men, and love for the child.
This lovely music went trembling through the ground,
And many were awakened on hearing that sound,
And travelers on the road the village they found,
By the light of that ship in the sky,
Which shone all around,
And just before dawn, at the paling of the sky,
The stranger returned and said "Now I must fly,
When two thousand years of your time has gone by,
This song will begin once again, to a baby's cry."
And it went la la la-
La la la la la la la-
Peace and goodwill to all men, and love for the child.
[ Recording available on the disk 'Merry Christmas' (Victor Entertainment Japan, 2003). ]
16 сен 2024
