THE LAST TURKEY

If this doesn't put the true Christmas Spirit in you, nothing will. It is number nineteen "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".

This arrangement is sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra and is a real belter.

"Adeste Fideles" is the name of a hymn tune written by John Francis Wade in 1743 and the first line of the Latin text for which the tune was written. The text itself has unclear beginnings, and may have been written in the 13th century, though it has been concluded that Wade was probably the author. The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages many times, though the English O Come All Ye Faithful translation by Frederick Oakeley is particularly widespread.

In performance verses are often omitted, either because the hymn is too long in its entirety or because the words are unsuitable for the day on which they are sung. For example the eighth anonymous verse is only sung on Epiphany, if at all; while the last verse of the original is normally reserved for Christmas day or midnight Mass.

In the United Kingdom it is most often sung today in an arrangement by Sir David Willcocks, which was originally published in 1961 by Oxford University Press in the first book in the Carols for Choirs series. This arrangement makes use of the basic harmonisation from The English Hymnal but adds a soprano descant in verse 6 (verse 3 in the original) and a reharmonised organ accompaniment in verse 7 (verse 4 in the original), which is sung in unison.