Gene Martin w/ the Arthur Carrie Orchestra

Artist: Gene Martin w/ the Arthur Carrie Orchestra

LP: Christmas Songs For Young Hearts
Song: "Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella"
[ listen ]

When I was playing some holiday carols on the piano at the Northwest Film Forum's Christmas Party and Egg Nog Contest earlier this month, a couple of characters with Vaudeville voices came over and started to sing along. We did the old standards like "Silent Night" and "The First Noel," but when I suggested "Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella," neither of them had ever heard of it. I decided to post it here to make sure that never happens again. It's a lovely holiday tune, especially the part that goes, "ahh... ahh...". I just learned a bunch of new things about the song here, like that it's unusual because it's in 3/8 time, that it was first published in France in 1553 and that Jeanette Isabella isn't one person, but two! In fact, they were supposedly a pair of milkmaids who were milking cows in the manger where Jesus was born.