Away in a Manger from Family Christmas OnlineTMThis charming little Christmas lullaby is more complicated that it may seem on the surface - not only are there two very popular tunes for the same song, it is often credited to someone who couldn't possibly have written it.If I have the choronology straight, the words first appeared in print in a children's book published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, in 1885. Two years later, James Murray published this song as "Luther's Cradle Hymn" with a melody that he provided. Perhaps he was meant to give the Lutherans credit for publishing the words, but his curious title has caused many editors to give Martin Luther credit for the song. The last verse was probably written by John Thomas McFarland. Then to complicate matters just a little more, William J. Kirkpatrick published his tune for the verses in 1895. Several other tunes have been written as well, most of which sound somewhat like either Murray's or Kirkpatrick's. When I was little, the third verse always made me a bit nervous; the version we sang ended with "And take us to Heaven to live with Thee there." I wondered if the song meant that I was asking to go tonight. I've printed an alternate version here that is a little less troubling: "And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there." So my prayer is that God fit us all for Heaven, but take us in His time, not necessarily tonight. Resources
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
Amazon Sound Clips and RecordingsThis is a new feature to help our traditional Christmas music pages "connect" a little better to our readers in 2010. To help you get a feeling for how various artists perform this song, we're providing a link to the "sound clip" feature on Amazon. By clicking on the arrow, you can hear a 15-25 second clip from each artist. If you decide to buy and download a recording, just click on the Buy MP3 button next to the artist you want and follow the instructions.If the little boxes on the right don't have song, artist, or album names when you first view this page, try hitting the refresh button.
More Great Sound Clips of This SongAmazon has dozens more great sound clips of this song by first-tier artists like Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Joan Baez, Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Leonard Bernstein, and many more. But if I try to put even the best ten or so on this page, it won't load very well on some computers. So if you want to browse more clips for yourself, please click the following link: If you have any corrections or comments you would like to make about this page, please contact me and I will be glad to hear from you. God bless - Paul
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