Yet another offering from the Home for Christmas album, but this one is rather different. As a kid, I mocked it a great deal, probably because I didn’t want to admit how much I liked the twang of American folk music. I’ve grown up a bit since then and gotten over a lot of my snobbishness. I still don’t like most of what passes for country music these days, but I’ve come to terms with my deep love of folk and bluegrass music. This song was important in this process.
If you want a somewhat less twangy version, check out the track on Emmylou Harris’s album Light in the Stable. I don’t offer a no-twang version because that seems wrong, somehow.
The song draws a graceful parallel between the star marking the birth of Christ, and Jesus Himself, who is our truest light.
The rendition I came to love is by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. It is the lyrics of this version I am posting, which, in the good folk tradition, are not exact to the original. You can buy it here.
Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
By either Adger Pace and R. Fisher Boyce in 1940
or A. L. Phipps
~
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shining afar through shadows dim,
Giving a light for those who long have gone,
And guiding the wise men on their way
Unto the place where Jesus lay.
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on!
O beautiful star of Bethlehem,
Shine upon us until the glory dawns.
Give us the light to light the way,
Unto the land of perfect day.
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on!
O beautiful star the hope of life,
Guiding the pilgrims through the night,
Over the mountains ’til the break of dawn,
Into the light of perfect day
It will give out a lovely ray.
O beautiful star of Bethlehem,
Shine on!
Refrain
O beautiful star, the hope of rest
For the redeemed, the good and blessed
Yonder in glory when the crown is won.
For Jesus’s now, that star divine
Brighter and brighter He will shine.
O beautiful star of Bethlehem,
Shine on!
Refrain
Music copyright Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, 1982.
jubilare 