Ding Dong! Merrily on High: A Curated Experience

I didn’t know the song “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” until about 25 years ago, when I heard it at a holiday concert at my sons’ high school. Since then I’ve been mildly obsessed by it; I have at least six different versions of it on my Christmas playlists. There are a lot of songs that appear more than once on these playlists, particularly the old traditional ones, but I think “Ding Dong!” might be the only one that appears that many times. Being suddenly relieved of a great volume of work and in a slightly goofy holiday mood, I offer a guided tour of the varieties of the “Ding Dong!” experience.

The full choir and orchestra version: Here’s the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra giving this song the full treatment. The first version that I put on my Christmas playlists, back when they were mix tapes, was probably something like this.

The dad version: You may not be familiar with Woody Phillips’s album Toolbox Christmas. I can’t remember how I ran across it, but I think of this as the dad version because I sent a copy of the CD to one of my brothers, a wonderful dad who likes Christmas music, especially novelty Christmas music. I was pleased to add something new to his collection, and I believe this was the second version of this song on my playlists/mix tapes. I’m still quite fond of it.

The brass version: I love brass versions of Christmas carols. This is not the brass version I have on a playlist, which is performed by Canadian Brass and organist Eric Robertson. The recording below is by a quintet of brass players from the Philharmonia Orchestra, and I might like their rendition just a smidge better because it’s pure brass.

The angelic version: The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, does a beautiful job with this song, singing it very crisply and clearly. I’m sure if a choir of angels ever had to sing the words “ding dong,” they would sound like this. This is the choir’s 2018 performance, but there are others on YouTube.

The a cappella version: I really like a cappella versions of traditional Christmas carols. This one is by the Armonico Consort and appears to have been recorded in some beautifully resonant space.

The jazz version: This is the George Shearing Quintet; I like the nice mid-century vibe.

The Old English version: This lovely instrumental version is from Craig Duncan and the Smoky Mountain Band. The album it’s on is called An Old English Christmas, but I think it would be right at home at a Christmas concert at Indiana University’s Wylie House, which was built by the university’s first president, Andrew Wylie, in 1835 and is now a museum.

The Irish Traditional version: I discovered this one, from Cherish the Ladies, while working on this post; it’s a medley that includes a few other traditional tunes. I’m going to add it to one of my playlists as soon as I post this.

There are other varieties of the Ding Dong! experience; I was surprised to learn that Roger Whittaker recorded it, for example. I leave further exploration as an exercise for the reader, if any readers are still with me.

How much Ding Dong! etc. does one person need? In my case, quite a lot. You maybe don’t need quite as much, but I hope you found something here to delight or at least not irritate you. Wishing you and yours health and light this holiday season.