Bing Crosby, Evangelist

By Neil Earle

In the 1940s Yank magazine voted singer Bing Crosby as the person who had done the most for G.I. morale during World War II. That was no mean feat to beat out pin-up queen Betty Grable.

But something in Crosby’s homely and rich bass-baritone conveyed an easy sincerity and American-style charm that attracted millions. Those attributes led to his receiving three stars on the Hollywood walk of fame and being still remembered for the most successful popular single of all time – White Christmas, back in 1942.

Which gets us to our subject.

“Der Bingle” – as even German troops in war-torn Europe referred to him and his classy stylings – also had another Christmas hit. By the 1950s the air waves resounded each Christmas season with Bing’s superb rendition of a carol that may have dated back to the 1500s. The song was “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and Bing’s success with this seasonal classic almost qualified him as a vocal evangelist in the broadest sense of that term, as one who preaches a simple and sincere Gospel theme.

Match Bing Crosby’s smooth glissando with a well-loved Christmas carol and you have a winner. Not only a winner but a stellar piece of unconscious evangelism for anyone who thinks through the lyrics.

An Invitation

The song itself goes back a long long way. The 1500s were a golden age for English church music and some trace the words and tune to late in the reign of the first Elizabeth (1558-1603). It has that minor key/plaintive tone that one can still hear resonating through the superb and stately “Greensleeves” and the song is done in common time – a melody easy to take in and memorize. But it is the words that make the song take off. Through the marvelous mechanism of the voice of Bing Crosby it seems that the Holy Spirit was making a statement to the somewhat complacent religious culture of the 1950s, a reminder that the big truths of the Gospel must get through.

This is evident particularly in the first verse, the “set-up:”

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray:
O tidings of comfort and joy/comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.

The placing of the comma in the first line is important. “God rest ye merry” shows the archaic nature of the composition – it is from the time when phrases such as “merrie England” could be used without embarrassment. It is also warm and inviting. “God rest ye merry” has the meaning today of “Relax folks, take a breather, take a load off, I’ve got great news for you.” It also conveys a sense of Christians singing songs of praise to the Savior across five centuries.

This is solidarity with our Christian roots.

Lines 3 and 4 state Christ was born on Xmas Day which is pushing things a little since no-one can be sure of the date. But in music we typically get away with statements that are not empirically true. This is the case whether you focus on the poetic license in a song such as “Wooden Heart” or ponder the high-toned exaggeration that undergirds the last verse of “America the Beautiful” singing of alabaster cities and streets undimmed with human tears. Poets get away with things, eh?

Biblical bedrock

Music makes subconscious statements that mere prose never can. In both the Old and New Testaments “prophesying” often meant singing under inspiration as in Isaiah’s “Ode to a Vineyard” on Isaiah, chapter 5 and in the reference to what the women speakers were doing in Corinth (1 Corinthians 11). With lines 5 and 6 of Bing’s song we hit upon Biblical bedrock:

“To save us all from Satan’s power/When we were gone astray…”

That is an almost incredulous statement for a 23-time gold and platinum recording artist to be making to the world through the medium of music. It is straight out of St. Paul’s testimony about his purpose in life as revealed by Jesus in a vision. In Acts 26:18 Paul’s mission was cited as to “open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18).

This gets to the nub of the Gospel message, as so many of the great Christmas carols do. Turning from darkness, escaping Satan’s clever wiles and stratagems, receiving forgiveness freely offered in Christ and an inheritance along with it. There’s a lot of the Gospel in this concise little nugget of Scripture.

The Evangel

The second verse recounts the story told in Luke 2:1-20 and very faithfully at that. Throughout the song the chorus repeats three times in each refrain “Tidings of comfort and joy.” How fitting because the Holy Spirit was named by Jesus as the Comforter and these words take us back to very near the first time the phrase “good tidings” is mentioned in Scripture. It is found in Luke’s Gospel where the angel tells the shepherds “I bring you good tidings of great joy…for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). The rest of Bing’s song focuses on this witness of the shepherds scouring the streets of Bethlehem to find the Messiah and giving a great witness to Jesus’ birth at the same time.

The word “good tidings” in the Greek is, very roughly “eva(n)ggelizomai…charan” in which we can discern the words “good news” (charan linked to “charis” for “good” and the root “evaggel” of course referring to “the evangel”– the good news). Thus it may be said that the Gospel begins here, with Mary bringing forth Jesus and the shepherds being appointed to bear witness to this blessed event. Bethlehem – the Gospel begins here and that little town fills line one of Bing’s second stanza: “In Bethlehem, in Israel (to replace the Old English “Jewry”), this blessed babe was born.

So there it is. A brief excursion, somewhat fanciful on the writer’s part, no doubt, to connect the 20th century’s greatest singer with the Gospel message. Hyperbole? Exaggeration? A stretch? Perhaps. But, truly, such evocative images are but a warm-up to even begin the contemplation of God’s supreme miracle: the Incarnation, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.