"I Wonder as I Wander": Two Versions (Videos)

Re-posted by N.S.

Several years ago, I heard what was for me the most amazing version of this American Christmas carol, which was sung by a performer with a deeper register than usual for it, and with an extraordinary arrangement. (Choir masters have historically sought to put their stamp on this carol by writing it a special arrangement.) However, it's been so long since I've heard it that I can't even do a good job of describing it, and have searched in vain for it. All I can recall is it opened with an instrumental that ran for at least 30 seconds, was dominated by (or exclusively) strings, and also in a lower register.


"I Wonder as I Wander": The John Brown University Choir
 


 

(Yes, the video looks awful, and the mike needed to be closer, but bear with it. The soprano sings like an angel and, as Maureen Hegarty and Barbra Streisand’s versions make all too clear, this song requires a soprano.)
 

I Wonder as I Wander

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die,
For poor on’ry people like you and like I,
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

When Mary birthed Jesus ‘twas in a cow’s stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all,
But high from God’s heaven, a star’s light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God’s Angels in heaven to sing,
He surely could have it, ‘cause he was the King.

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die,
For poor on’ry people like you and like I,
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
 

Thanks to jernigana and Oldie Lyrics.


The Cambridge Singers: I Wonder as I Wander (Directed by John Rutter)




(Tuesday, December 26, 2017, 3:32 p.m.: I just found this version on Youtube. The KK had shut down the Rutter-directed version I’d posted only two years ago.)