Noel

Album: Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • Penned by Chris Tomlin with his producer Ed Cash and English worship singer-songwriter Matt Redman for the singer's Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship album, his hope was that it would fit in with other timeless Christmas songs. "There's something ancient about the melodies in that song that gives it a timeless feel," Tomlin told Billboard magazine. There is a lyric in the chorus; 'Come and see what God has done.' Those words sum up the entire project. It's my favorite line because that's essentially what I hope that people take from it all."
  • This features guest vocals from contemporary Christian music singer Lauren Daigle. Tomlin told Billboard that he had the Lafayette, Louisiana native in mind when writing the tune. "It's probably the first song that I have ever written where that happened, but writing this track, I just envisioned Lauren singing it all-along," he said. "I'm thankful she agreed to record it. Her vocal on the song is truly stunning."
  • The word 'Noel' is derived from the French phrase "Les bonnes nouvelles" meaning "the good news."
  • The Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship album is Tomlin's second Christmas record, the first being 2009's Glory in the Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship. He said: "I didn't think that I'd do another Christmas album, but I thought more and more about all the traditional, more spiritual Christmas songs and how meaningful they are. I wanted to do a worship album. The classic songs that I decided on have always been so important to me, so essentially we wanted to record worship tracks about the true meaning of Christmas."

    "Songs like 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Santa Baby' are fine but they're not right for me," Tomlin continued. "The story of Christmas -- the birth of Jesus is what I wanted to center on and songs that would convey that powerful story."

    "I recorded the set at Ocean Way studio (in Nashville), a former church," he added. "The end result was that the spotlight was not focused on the singer, but rather on the singing. Ironically, the writing process really took several years to come up with the new material, but making the record only took two nights. We did it live with about 300 people on-hand. The results were incredible, all of those voices, and if you listen closely to the quieter parts, you can hear floors creaking and other sounds like that."

Comments: 2

  • Dan LngWho is the Cellist on this recording/Video?
  • Paracanthurus Hepatus from Sydney“Well, you never really know, but when they know, you know, y'know?” - Crush (The Turtle)
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