Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (10 page)

T
wo brilliant songwriters—although they never met—together created one of Christmas’s most lasting songs. Each of these two musical icons ignored the established way of doing things and blazed new trails in every facet of their work. Moreover, the men who brought the song to the world were both trying to bring religious music into a new era. Since they lived a half a world away from each other and were separated by almost a century of time, little did either of these revolutionaries realize that through their collaboration they would create a timeless holiday classic for every age and every audience. As a matter of fact, Isaac Watts and Lowell Mason probably didn’t even know they had given the world a Christmas anthem at all.

Isaac Watts was born on July 17, 1674, in Southampton, England. His father, also named Isaac, was a revolutionary protestant church figure in Britain. Strong-willed and stubborn,
the elder Watts, a cobbler and tailor by trade, resided in prison when his son was born. He was a criminal nonconformist, having been found guilty of teaching radical ideas that were not approved by the Church of England or established scholars of the time. At a very early age it was obvious that the senior Watts had passed his free-thinking ways onto his son.

Isaac Watts grew up worshiping at Southampton’s Above Bar Congregational Church. Most British children who displayed Isaac’s intellectual potential would have been assigned to Oxford or Cambridge; yet because he was not a member of the Church of England, Isaac was sent to the Independent Academy at Stoke, Newington. There—no doubt spurred on by his father’s example—he continued to display his rebellious nature. Not content to allow things to remain status quo, Watts questioned everything. He demanded to know why he or anyone else should be satisfied with the way things were when they could be so much better. Although he did well in his studies, Isaac left the Academy at the age of twenty after learning Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, and returned home to live with his father.

Like most young people, Watts found church music of the period to be uninspired and monotonous. He saw no joy or emotion in the standards sung by choirs and congregations. Yet while most of the new generation kept quiet, Isaac complained bitterly to his father about the archaic language of the psalms sung in church. The elder Watts, never one to stand on tradition, challenged his son to come up with something better. This challenge initiated a creative burst that would not end until Isaac had composed more than six hundred hymns and hundreds of other poems.

“Behold the Glories of the Lamb” was the first Isaac Watts hymn. It was followed by scores of others. For a while, most of his work was met with contempt; no one wanted new translations of
the Scriptures. Some even viewed young Watts as a heretic or tool of the devil. Yet he refused to give up. He constantly challenged those around him with new songs and new ideas on faith.

After spending several years making his living as a personal tutor, Watts became the assistant to Dr. Isaac Chauncey at Mark Lane Independent Chapel, London. Within three years the now twenty-six-year-old Isaac became the minister. Thanks in part to his work ethic, as well as his new ideas, the church grew rapidly. With his new position and the respect that accompanied it, Isaac was finally able to publish his songs.

Through his hymns and theological writings, Watts became one of the best known clerics in England. Elizabeth Singer—a young woman deeply impressed by the minister’s inspired written work—wrote to Isaac and quickly established herself as his biggest fan. She proposed marriage via the mail. When he accepted, Singer anxiously raced to Isaac’s side. Rather than cementing a life-long love, this meeting ultimately focused the writer on his work, not on Elizabeth. Singer would later say, “He was only five feet tall, with a shallow face and a hooked nose, prominent cheek bones, small eyes and a deathlike color.” Unable to look at the man and see the brilliance that lay just underneath, the woman immediately went back home. Heartbroken, Watts poured himself into his writing, never again seeking the companionship of a woman.

It was while studying Psalm 98 that Isaac was inspired to write his most famous song. In verse four Watts studied the phrase, “Make a joyful noise unto the L
ORD
, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” Focusing on this verse and the five that followed it, Watts penned a four-stanza poem called “Joy to the World.” Set in a common meter, the poem was usually sung to the tune “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Yet because Isaac had dared to rewrite the psalms, few British Christians of the time embraced the song.

Watts did not give up in his efforts to make church music more meaningful to the common man. He continued, in the face of growing criticism, to write and publish new songs.
The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament and Applied to the Christian State and Worship
was released in 1719. This volume, filled with now well-known classics such as “We’re Marching to Zion,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “At the Cross,” and “This Is the Day the Lord Has Made,” would not only be slowly accepted by British Christians but would inspire others like Charles Wesley and John Newton to compose other new Christian songs based on personal experiences. There can be little doubt that Watts’s stubborn will and continued efforts to bring Christian music to the common man kept “Joy to the World!” in the public eye long after the writer’s death in 1748. It also began a revolution in modern Christian musical thinking.

Forty-four years later, Lowell Mason was born in Orange, New Jersey. As a teen, he directed his church choir and taught at singing schools. Even though many thought of him as musically gifted, Mason didn’t see a way to make a living at it. In 1812 the young man moved to Savannah, Georgia, and began a career as a banker. But music hadn’t left his soul. In his spare time he also learned harmony, wrote original melodies, and became a student of the composer Handel. With the late German composer as his influence, the banker sent off a book of self-penned music and arrangements to a Boston publisher. When the material was matter-of-factly rejected because the American public wanted new folk music, not classical standards, Mason decided to use his talents only on weekends as a Sunday school teacher and organist at the local Presbyterian
church. Imagine his shock when, in 1827, he discovered that not only had his music found a publisher, but that the Handel and Haydn Society of Massachusetts had orders for fifty thousand copies of his songbook! Immediately leaving the South, Lowell Mason moved to Boston.

For the next twenty years Mason was a mover and shaker in New England music circles. Like Isaac Watts, Lowell saw himself as a revolutionary; he was constantly battling the establishment with his own fresh ideas. Schools at the time ignored music, so using his own money, he initiated the first public school music program in Boston. He also became the city’s most important music publisher and would eventually write more than six hundred hymns, including “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” and “Nearer My God to Thee.”

In 1836, Mason, whose love for the classical composers of Germany had not waned, composed a new melody inspired by two songs from Handel’s
Messiah
: “Lift Up Your Head” and “Comfort Ye.” Yet when Mason finished his work, he had something brand new, an exuberant ode he called “Antioch” after the Syrian city that was the point of departure for Paul’s first two missionary journeys. “Antioch” seemed to beg for words, but it would take the writer a while to find the message to go with his melody. Three years later, in a songbook entitled
Modern Psalmist
, Mason finally linked one of
Watts’s psalms-inspired lyrics to his tune. This time the people were ready for “Joy to the World!”

In 1911, Elise Stevenson, who had scored huge chart success during the early days of records with “Shine On, Harvest Moon” and “Are You Sincere?” joined Trinity Choir for a Christmas release of “Joy to the World!” The Victor Records single climbed to number five on the charts and marked the first time that either Watts’s or Mason’s music had appeared on popular, contemporary music playlists (though “Joy to the World!” would later inspire a rock music hit for a group called “Three Dog Night”).

It remains a mystery how this hymn became known as a Christmas carol. Inspired by Old Testament Scripture—with no words alluding to the birth of Jesus other than the phrase, “the Lord is come”—“Joy to the World!” would seem to be a song for all seasons, something to be sung in July as much as December. Nevertheless, for some reason Americans embraced “Joy to the World!” as a holiday standard. Perhaps, because of its jubilant spirit, it just “felt” like a Christmas song!

“Joy to the World!” is one of today’s most loved Christmas carols. Yet because it does not use as its inspiration anything from the first four gospels of the New Testament, it also stands as a unique non-Christmas Christmas standard. Perhaps that is fitting, since both Isaac Watts and Lowell Mason strove to push the envelope in order to get people to see Scripture and music in a whole new way. Watts and Mason knew, and we should remember, that Christians should exude joy each and every day because the “Lord is come.”

N
o Christmas song written in the past three decades has provoked the kind of response that “Mary, Did You Know?” has. Buddy Green’s simple and touching melody certainly deserves some of the credit for the song’s popularity and acceptance, but most people who hear the song are really drawn to the unique perspective found in Mark Lowry’s dynamic lyrics. Yet this song’s gift to the world might have been lost forever if a set of loving parents had not chosen to believe in the promise and potential God placed in their child.

Mark Lowry is one of the most interesting personalities in gospel music. A singer with the Gaither Vocal Band, a humorist, and a songwriter, Mark never stops moving. He seems to have the energy of three fifth graders and the curiosity of a dozen four-year-old children. Probably because the Lord knows the world couldn’t handle more than one Mark Lowry at a time,
there is no one like him. One observer called Lowry a “raccoon in human form” and everyone wonders how his parents ever kept up with him. Yet it is his parents, once run ragged by Mark’s energy, that deserve a big part of the credit for this man’s greatest song.

Mark started singing almost before he learned to talk. As a preschooler he was already belting out solos in the grade school choir. By third grade he was singing the lead part in the Easter musical. Yet even though he constantly seemed to be in the school spotlight and living in the perfect American family environment at home, there were rough waters and some tough times just ahead.

Mark stood out in teachers’ eyes for more than his singing; he was often a problem in the classroom. During his first years of elementary school, Lowry was diagnosed as hyperactive and placed on medication. At about that same time it became apparent that the boy had absolutely no athletic ability. To many adults and kids, Mark appeared to be little more than an energetic klutz—an out of control mini-tornado. Rather than allow their son to be sidetracked and dismissed as a hopeless cause, Mark’s parents made sure that this “curse” was looked at as a blessing. They emphasized the positive.

The Lowrys assured Mark that God had a plan for his life and that his uniqueness was a part of it. Instead of trying to make him act just like all the other kids, the Lowrys allowed Mark to exploit his curiosity and his energy. He loved performing, so they put him on every stage that would take him—everything from church programs to community musicals. It was at the National Quartet Convention where Lowry not only received his biggest break but also his calling.

At the convention Lowry sang in front of fifteen thousand gospel music fans. The audience couldn’t get enough of him.
They loved everything about the funny, talented kid. Seeing the potential that once only his folks had seen, Benson Records signed Mark. Over the next few years he cut inspirational albums with the likes of the London Symphony Orchestra and was so busy with his musical career that he had to finish junior high and high school via correspondence courses.

In 1984, Mark was living in Houston. Feeling blessed to have Lowry in his flock, Mark’s pastor asked him to write the program for the living Christmas tree choir presentation. The group traditionally sang familiar holiday carols, so Lowry’s job was to write the bridges that connected one song to another. It was while he was working on the project that Mark considered what it would have been like to have been Jesus’ mother.

“When I wrote this thing about Mary,” Mark explained, “I began by thinking I was interviewing her on her thoughts of being a mother to Jesus. A couple of the lines I wrote really stood out, like ‘when you kiss your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of God.’ I just thought this needed to be a song.”

Keeping the perspective of a reporter doing a story on Jesus from Mary’s viewpoint, Mark penned a poem that sent chills up his spine. Still, taking those powerful lyrics and turning them into a full-blown song was a bigger challenge than even he could have expected. Although he gave the words to a solid music writer, he wasn’t happy with the results; the melody didn’t have the right feel. Filing “Mary, Did You Know?” away, Mark decided to wait on the Lord’s timing rather than put his lyrics to music that failed to move him.

In 1988, after Gary McSpadden left the Gaither Vocal Band, Bill Gaither was looking for a replacement to fill the void in his quartet. After watching a video of Mark Lowry onstage, not
only was Gaither impressed with Mark’s singing, he thought the young man could bring a great deal of Christian humor to the group’s performances. When Bill called, Mark packed his bags.

Mark had been with the band for two years when Buddy Green joined them. A talented musician, Buddy was also a songwriter who was beginning to hit stride and produce some very strong work. Mark decided to share “Mary, Did You Know?” with Buddy.

Rather than pull Green to one side and share the story behind the song, Mark wrote a short note over the top of the lyrics:
Buddy, here are some God-inspired words. Please add some beautiful music and make it a profitable hit.
The memo was meant as a joke, but Green took both the note and his job seriously. He set the lyrics aside for a couple of weeks, then went to work. When he finished, he called Mark on the phone and sang the song to him. Lowry loved it and within a week they had put together a “jam box” demo to give to one of their favorite artists.

Their pick for the song was impressed as well. When “Mary, Did You Know?” was originally cut by Christian sensation Michael English, the writing duo felt blessed, but they really didn’t expect anyone else to jump on the band-wagon. Then country singer Kathy Mattea heard the Lowry-Green number and recorded it next. Scores of other acts quickly took the song into the studio, including Natalie Cole. Thanks to this exposure, “Mary, Did You Know?” was soon adopted by choirs and soloists. Even President Bill Clinton
declared it was his favorite Christmas song. For the first time in decades, a new Christmas song had become an important facet of traditional holiday celebrations. For the first time ever, southern gospel music had given the world a Christmas carol.

There can be no doubt that Mark Lowry was born different. The things that make him unique—his energy and his curiosity—could have held him back like so many others. He could have been forced to conform, to be like everyone else. Yet because his problems were viewed as gifts by his parents, Mark thrived. Looking at the world through his unique, God-given perspective led him to think of one of the world’s most familiar stories in a new light. “Mary, Did You Know?” a song like no other Christmas carol ever penned, written about a mother like no other, came from the hand of a man like no other.