In 1966 Simon and Garfunkle released a song that set an audio track of the 7 o’clock news to the beloved hymn Silent Night.
The result of Silent Night/7 O’Clock News is a juxtaposition in sound and theme. The newsreader’s urgent staccato reports on the Civil Rights movement for open housing, the murder of nurses in Chicago, a drug overdose and the Vietnam War. The song, available online with a quick Google search, is a prayer and it is beautiful.
But because it’s Christmas, and Christmas should be a time for celebration, here’s another setting for Silent Night. This one is a prayer of thanksgiving and notes some of the good that has emerged amid the bad in 2017.
