Hark the wotsit doo-dahs thingy

A carol was originally a round-dance-cum-song associated with the harvest festivities, but by the 13th to 14th centuries had come to mean any festive song, and quickly became connected with Christmas. Oliver Cromwell banned them in the mid-1600's, and it wasn't really until the Victorians invented our modern image of Christmas that they really took off. There are many myths connected with certain carols, one of the most enduring being that "Silent Night " was written on the spur of the moment by a parish priest on learning that the organ of his church was out of action, and needing something which could be sung to a guitar accompaniment. In fact, he'd written it several years before, and the organ was fine.

If you want it....

25th Anniversary of the death of John Lennon. So just how does he rate musically? Like many in the public eye who have died before their time, he has achieved in death an iconic status far beyond that which he probably would have achieved had he lived. Difficult to assess his work as a member of the Beatles because most of their stuff was collaborative, irrespective of whose name it appeared under. Certainly between them, Lennon and McCartney produced some of the most memorable and significant music of the middle 20th century. As a solo writer however, I feel his songs will be remembered more for their brilliantly acerbic lyrics (Imagine, Merry Christmas, War Is Over, Give Peace A Chance etc.) than for their musical worth.