Do You Hear What I Hear

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Do You Hear What I Hear?
Words by Noël Regney, music by Gloria Shayne Baker. Written in October 1962.

This gentle Christmas song, which sounds like a lullaby, was written during one of the most frightening weeks of the twentieth century.

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis had the whole world holding its breath. The United States and the Soviet Union stood at the edge of nuclear war, and many families wondered whether they would see another Christmas. That same month, a New York record producer asked songwriter Noël Regney for a holiday song. Regney was reluctant. He felt Christmas had become far too commercial.

Regney had seen the cost of war up close. He was born in Strasbourg, France, and when the Nazis occupied his region he was forced into the German army. He deserted and joined the French Resistance. So when he walked through Manhattan that anxious October and saw mothers pushing babies in strollers, it moved him deeply. He wrote the lyrics as a prayer for peace, telling the story of the first Christmas as the news passes from the night wind to a little lamb, a shepherd boy, a mighty king, and finally to all people.

His wife, Gloria Shayne Baker, wrote the melody. She was an accomplished pianist and songwriter who also wrote the 1961 pop hit “Goodbye Cruel World.” The couple later said they couldn’t get through their own song without breaking down, because the danger felt so real at the time. Years later, Regney said he was surprised that so many people knew the song without realizing it was a plea for peace. Its closing call for people everywhere to pray for peace was the heart of it all along.

The Harry Simeone Chorale released the first recording shortly after Thanksgiving in 1962, and it sold more than a quarter of a million copies that season. Bing Crosby recorded it the following year, and his version became a million-seller that brought the song into homes across America. Since then it has been sung by everyone from Perry Como to Whitney Houston to Carrie Underwood. Josh Groban’s rich, soaring rendition, shown here, carries the song’s hopeful message to a new generation.

Next time you sing it, you might listen for what Regney heard: not just a Christmas story, but a hope for peace in a very worried world.