R3 Christmas carol competition

[Keraulophone]

The winning carol did have some effect, though presumably not the one intended: it had me leaping out of bed and into the bathroom to avoid hearing any more.

[jean]

...I thought of Hardy's oxen and Kenneth Grahame's fieldmice, both of which I love in the versions I have on tape though neither of which seems to be available elsewhere. This is a different kettle of fauna.

The full text is here if anyone hasn't found it. I don't think it's much of a poem - a prose-poem, Susan Hill called it - and I found it slightly disturbing that the animals don't seem to have stopped preying on each other; there's no lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the whaler's still aiming at the whale.

I thought of Kenneth Grahame, largely because of the weasel, the ferret, the stoat; what I chiefly thought of was Betjeman, which has no animals in it at all.

...And is it true? and is it true?
The most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?

And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant.

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was Man in Palestine
And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.

[Penn Igor]

The idea of a carol competition is fine. What bothers me is the public vote - rather like the Eurovision Song Contest, when the Balkan countries vote for one another, entrants e-mail all their friends and ask them to vote partially, rather than on merit. It was the same with the National Trust photo competition and probably with the Countryfile calendar.

A panel of expert judges is a better way of doing things.

Not doing it at all is an even better option.

[Black Swan]

Not doing it at all is an even better option.

I totally agree. I know little about the competition because I find it as interesting as the tweets, texts, and the informative calls from listeners... not....

[ardcarp]

A panel of expert judges is a better way of doing things.

Yo man, it ain't democracy init?

[LeMartinPecheur]

I totally agree. I know little about the competition because I find it as interesting as the tweets, texts, and the informative calls from listeners... not....

Not as interesting as the tweets, texts, etc?

Shame on you!

[Padraig]

Having responded to the OP, and having read jean's helpful links, I must say what I thought after all that. I listened to the 6 entries, and a second time with the written text. Each time I preferred Ms Burley's. That's it!

[Suffolkcoastal]

Very dull, and if that was the winner, then I don't really want to hear the rest.

[french frank]

Each time I preferred Ms Burley's.

Did you also like it?

[muzzer]

Interesting pronunciation of McGough last week I thought....... But should this post be on the brekkie thread, or in pedants' corner? Simply too much to think about. As is Christmas in September.