Choir Notes

Do You Hear What I Hear?
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell . Program 4134

Do You Hear What I Hear? is one of the most beloved songs of the Christmas season. The story of this simple plea for peace begins, ironically, during World War II in war-torn France. Noel Regney was a young French musician who risked his life as a soldier in the French underground. The darkness and terror of those fearful years haunted him the rest of his life.

After the war, he moved to the United States, where he found work composing jingles and music for TV. One day in a hotel dining room, Noel saw a beautiful woman playing the piano. Although he spoke little English and she spoke no French, he introduced himself to Gloria Shayne. Within a month they married.

In the years that followed, the tensions of the Cold War grew, and Noel’s mind was often drawn back to the terrible days he had spent in combat. He wondered if the world would ever see peace.

Noel’s thoughts turned to the very first Christmas—a sacred time of peace and promise. As he reflected, the lyrics of a song came to him. When he and his wife collaborated, it was usually Noel who wrote music for Gloria’s words, but this time he handed the lyrics to his wife and asked if she would set them to music. Thus was born the beautiful Christmas carol, Do You Hear What I Hear?

When we hear this song, do we hear what Noel Regney wanted us to hear? The rendition of the song Noel liked best was one where the vocalist all but shouted the words Pray for peace, people everywhere.1 For him, that was the message of the song, for Noel believed that even in the darkness of fear and despair, the child, [the] child, sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and light. He will bring us goodness and light.

1 See Ace Collins, Stories behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (2001), 35–40.