Do You Hear What I Hear?
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record producer to write a Christmas song, but he was hesitant due to the commercialism of Christmas. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists.
Synopsis
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" tells a story loosely based upon the story of the Nativity of Jesus as told in the Gospel of Matthew, incorporating fragments of the annunciation to the shepherds from the Gospel of Luke, though Jesus is never mentioned by name or explicitly identified. A "night wind" tells a lamb of a star, following which the lamb tells his young shepherd that he also hears a loud song. They are each led to a "mighty king," whom they tell of a child in the cold and ask to bring the child silver and gold. The king proclaims a prayer of peace and announces that the child will "bring goodness and light".Lyrics
Regney wrote the lyrics for the song, while Shayne composed the music in October 1962. This was an unusual arrangement for the two writers. Usually, it was Shayne who wrote the lyrics for their songs while Regney composed the music, as they did when they wrote a song based on the classic children's song "Rain, Rain, Go Away".Regney was inspired to write the lyrics "Said the night wind to the little lamb, 'Do you see what I see?'" and "Pray for peace, people everywhere" after watching babies being pushed in strollers on the sidewalks of New York City. Shayne stated in an interview years later that neither could personally perform the entire song at the time they wrote it because of the emotions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis: "Our little song broke us up. You must realize there was a threat of war at the time".
Recordings
Original
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" was released shortly after Thanksgiving in 1962. The song was originally recorded for Mercury Records by the Harry Simeone Chorale, a group that had also popularized "The Little Drummer Boy", and released as part of the album The Wonderful Songs of Christmas with the Harry Simeone Chorale. As a 45 rpm single, it went on to sell more than a quarter-million copies during the 1962 Christmas holiday season.Bing Crosby made the song into a hit when he recorded his own version of it on October 21, 1963, with the record being released as a single on October 26. Crosby also performed the song on a Bob Hope Christmas television special on December 13 of that year. Over the years, Crosby's recording of the song has been widely played on the radio and has been available on numerous compilation Christmas albums and compact discs put out by Capitol Records.
Cover versions
The song has been recorded by hundreds of artists. Among the most notable are:- Andy Williams
- Pat Boone
- Kate Smith
- Diahann Carroll
- Jim Nabors
- Perry Como
- Robert Goulet
- Mahalia Jackson
- Johnny Mathis
- Whitney Houston
- Bob Dylan
Charts
Whitney Houston version
Houston originally recorded the song as part of the various-artists compilation A Very Special Christmas in 1987, omitting the first verse. In 1995, Houston included the song in her CD single for her number one single, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)". Her version peaked at the top of Billboard Gospel Digital Songs and Gospel Streaming Songs on 2011 and 2018 and stayed for a record 42 weeks on the former while 30 weeks on the latter.When the song topped the former chart, it made Houston one of the few artists to score a number one Billboard single in four decades. When she topped the same chart with the song for the week of December 5, 2020, Houston became one of the few to have entered number one on a Billboard chart for five.
On October 25, 2019, Pentatonix released their cover version featuring Houston's vocals, as part of the group's compilation album The Best of Pentatonix Christmas. The Pentatonix version would go on to peak at number 9 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, making it Houston's 25th Top 10 single on the chart.
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 1 |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Romania Airplay | 98 |
| US Holiday Digital Song Sales | 16 |
| US R&B Digital Song Sales | 4 |
| US R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales | 4 |
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 23 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 20 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 30 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 11 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 26 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 21 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 27 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 18 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 16 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 14 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 8 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 23 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 9 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 16 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 15 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 17 |
| Chart | Position |
| US Gospel Digital Songs | 14 |
| US Gospel Streaming Songs | 15 |