Story Behind The Song

This arrangement of a classic Christmas Melody is the backdrop for my family's annual Christmas video, showing our year in pictures. This version is designed to cover the gamut of that night 2000 or so years ago, when the calm night was interrupted by the song of angels announcing a great birth that would bring "peace on Earth and good will towards mankind." Musically, it gives vision of shepherds, kings animals alike who followed a star in the sky to lead them to a little town called Bethlehem, where they found the great King in the form of a newborn baby.

Song Description

The words to this song were written by Isaac Watts, but it is not as clear who wrote the melody. The original arrangement using Watts' words was by American composer Lowell Mason, but the melody was much older. It is credited to Handel, but it is not clear that he actually composed it, and if he did, he may not have composed the entire melody. But at any rate "Joy to the World" is considered the most published and adapted Christmas hymn in North America. (Source: Wikipedia, so take that for what it's worth...)