What Child Is This?

"What Child Is This?" is a popular Christmas carol that was written in 1865. At the age of twenty-nine, writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden near-fatal illness and confined to bedrest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression.Fact|date=December 2007 Yet out of his near-death experience, Dix wrote many hymns, including ‘What Child is This?” It was later when set to the traditional English melody of "Greensleeves".

Lyrics

The lyrics exist in several variants in different books. The version below is Bowdlerized from the original, being taken from Lutheran Service Book of 2006.Quotation
1. What Child is this who, laid to rest,:On Mary’s lap is sleeping?:Whom angels greet with anthems sweet:While shepherds watch are keeping?:This, this is Christ the King,:Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;¹:Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,²:The babe, the son of Mary!2. Why lies He in such mean estate:Where ox and ass are feeding?:Good Christian, fear, for sinners here:The silent Word is pleading.³:Nails, spear shall pierce him through,:The Cross be borne for me, for you;⁴:Hail, hail the Word made flesh,⁵:The babe, the son of Mary!3. So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh;:Come peasant, king to own Him.⁶:The King of kings salvation brings;:Let loving hearts enthrone Him.⁷:Raise, raise, the song on high,:The virgin sings her lullaby;⁸:Joy, joy, for Christ is born, :The babe, the son of Mary!
Lutheran Service Book

Alternative renderings and sources::¹Whom shepherds worship and angels sing (NEH, CP):²Haste, haste to bring Him praise (NEH, CP):³Come, have no fear; God's son is here, (NEH, CP)::His love all loves exceeding: (NEH, CP):⁴The cross he bore for me, for youFact|date=December 2007:⁵Hail, hail, the Saviour comes, (NEH, CP):⁶All tongues and peoples own him, (NEH, CP):⁷Let every heart enthrone Him: (NEH, CP):⁸While Mary sings a lullaby, (NEH, CP)

NEH: New English Hymnal (40)
CP: Common Praise (74) (the most recent edition of the Hymns Ancient and Modern series of hymnals).Also from "English Praise"

Cover Versions

Many recorded versions use the latter half of the first verse as a chorus for the other verses.Fact|date=December 2007

* Josh Groban (album "Noel") (2007)
* Sissel Kyrkjebø (album "Into Paradise") (2006)
* Sarah McLachlan (album "Wintersong") (2006)
* Third Day (album "Christmas Offerings") (2006)
* Anthony Way (album "The Choirboy's Christmas") (1996)
* San Francisco Choral Artists (album "Star of Wonder") (1993)
* Vanessa L. Williams (album "A Very Special Christmas 2") (1992)
* Garth Brooks (album "Beyond The Season") (1992)
* Kathleen Battle with Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestra of St. Luke's (album "A Christmas Celebration") (1989)
* John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers (album "Christmas with the Cambridge Singers") (1989)
* BBC Singers with James Galway (album "James Galway's Christmas Carol") (1987)
* John Denver (album "Rocky Mountain Christmas") (1975)
* Joan Sutherland with Richard Bonynge and the New Philharmonia Orchestra (album "The Joy of Christmas") (1965)
* Vince Guaraldi Trio (album "A Charlie Brown Christmas") (1965)
* Joan Baez (album "Noël") (1966)
* Donna Summer (album Christmas Spirit, as part of a medley of three carols)
* South Park on the soundtrack album Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, sang by Isaac Hayes as "Chef", with some lyric adjustments. (as "What the Hell Child is This")
* Mahalia Jackson
* Oslo Gospel Choir (album "The Christmas Way") (1998)
* Jag Panzer (Internet download) (2001)
* Burl Ives (album "Christmas Day in the Morning") (1952)
* Trans-Siberian Orchestra