Angels We Have Heard On High

Shane & Shane sing this eighteenth-century French carol's English translation close to its traditional form, opening with the same scene every version starts with: "angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains, and the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strains."

The Latin chorus, repeated more often here than in most arrangements, "Gloria, in excelsis Deo," keeps circling back as the song's real center of gravity rather than a between-verses refrain.

"Sing this heavenly song tonight, glory be to God in the highest, join the cloud of witnesses" adds language not found in the traditional carol, connecting the singers directly to the angels' own announcement rather than just retelling it secondhand.

"See Him in a manger laid, whom the choirs of angels praise, Mary, Joseph, lend your aid while our hearts in love relays" closes the carol by asking the nativity's own participants for help joining a song that's been sung for centuries since.