Joy to the World

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This article is about "Joy to the World", the Christmas carol. For the other songs by the same title see Joy to the World (disambiguation).

"Joy to the World" is one of the best-known and best-loved of Christmas carols. It contains a message of joy and love replacing sin and sorrow. The hymn is significant for its widespread use throughout Christian denominations and for the musical stature of the people who created it.

The scripture-based words are by Isaac Watts. The music was adapted and arranged by Lowell Mason from an older melody which was then believed to have originated from Handel; not least because the theme of the refrain (And heaven and nature sing...) appears in the orchestra opening and accompaniment of the recitative Comfort Ye from Handel's Messiah, and the first four notes match the beginning of the choruses Lift up your heads and Glory to God from the same oratorio. However, Handel did not compose the entire tune.

One of the most well known recordings of "Joy To The World" is an instrumental version by conductor Percy Faith. First recorded in 1954 on his "Music of Christmas" LP (Columbia CL 588), it was re-recorded in stereo in 1959 as Columbia 8176.

[edit] Lyrics

Verse

Joy to the world! the Lord is come! (Repeat 4 times)

Let earth receive her King;(Repeat 2 times)

Let every heart prepare him room, (Repeat 3 times)

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing. (Repeat 2 times)

Joy to the world! the Lord is come! (Repeat 4 times)

Let earth receive her King;(Repeat 2 times)

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing. (Repeat 2 times)

Let heaven and nature sing! (Repeat multiple times)

[edit] Parodies

Like many well-known songs this song has frequently been parodied. A parody frequently heard amongst schoolchildren is Joy to the World, Our Teacher's Dead. Nelson Muntz of The Simpsons made this version popular.

It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

[edit] Mariah Carey version

"Joy to the World"
Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Merry Christmas
Released	1994
Format	CD single (Australia)
Genre	Pop
Length	4:20
Label	Sony
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
Chart positions
#32 (Australia)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" (1994)	"Joy to the World" (1994)	"Fantasy" (1995)

American singer Mariah Carey co-produced and co-arranged a cover of "Joy to the World" with Walter Afanasieff for her fifth album, Merry Christmas. The arrangement of the cover contains interpolations of Three Dog Night's unrelated song "Joy to the World" (1971). In Carey's version of "Joy to the World", Axton's song serves as the bridge between the traditional carol. An altered version of Carey and Afanasieff's arrangement of the carol was recorded by Michael Bolton for his Christmas album This Is the Time.

"Joy to the World" was released as the third single from Merry Christmas in December 1994 and again in 1995, but on an airplay-only basis in most countries. It was sold in Australia, where it reached number thirty-two. Remixes of the song by David Morales include the Celebration mix and the Celebration mix edit, which both contain Carey "ad lib-ing" with the assistance of a backing choir. Morales also made a club mix, which retains the original vocal and instrumental production of the song but adds a pulsing beat and an extension of the song's body. The remixes were pushed to U.S. dance clubs and reached number seventeen on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

See also: 1994 in music and 1995 in music

The single's video, directed by Larry Jordan, is a recording of Carey's performance at St. John's Cathedral in New York City with a choir, one of several performances meant to benefit the Fresh Air Fund for poor city children. The Celebration mix of the song also has a video. Edited by Irving Lorenzo (who was given director's credit), it is composed of clips filmed on Carey's personal camcorder during promotion for her sixth album, Daydream (1995). Carey can be seen acting goofily in an airport and hotel rooms in places like Europe and Japan.