Christ Was Born In Bethlehem

Free download. In Amidons’ book ‘Fifty-five Anthems for the Small Church Choir‘ Kari Smith and Fred Breunig soloists. We first learned this beautiful Appalachian ballad from the singing of John McCutcheon. This is really a Lenten-Easter carol; the first verse talks of the birth, but the second verse jumps right to ‘Judas he betrayed him…’. There are two harmonizations of the melody in my arrangement. I encourage you to try out different ways of using these harmonizations, as we did on this recording. Here is another version of the ballad/carol/hymn as sung by the Crofts Family.

LYRICS

Christ Was Born in Bethelehem
traditional

Christ was born in Bethlehem, Christ was born in Bethlehem.
Christ was born in Bethlehem and in a manger lay.
And in a manger lay and in a manger lay,
Christ was born in Bethlehem and in a manger lay.

Judas he betrayed him, Judas he betrayed him.
Judas he betrayed him, they nailed him to a tree.
They nailed him to a tree, they nailed him to a tree.
Judas he betrayed him, they nailed him to a tree.

Joseph Begged his body…they laid him in the tomb…

Down came an angel…and rolled the stone away…

The tomb in could not hold him…he burst the bars of death…

Mary came a’weepin’…her precious Lord to see…

What’s the matter Mary…They’ve stolen my Lord away…

Go and tell your brethren…that .Christ is risen today…