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hark the herald angels sing

Certain Songs #58: The Tryfles – “Gloria (In Excelsis DEO)”

December 25, 2014 by Jim Connelly

Album: A Midnight Xmas Mess
Year: 1984

This just might be my favorite Christmas song. Found only on an obscure Christmas compilation from a mid-1980s indie label, The Tryfles “Gloria (In Excelsis DEO)” was both decades ahead of its time and a quintessential  1960s garage-rock jam.

Basically, it’s what you kids would call a “mash-up.” But rather than taking two existing recordings and using computer wizardry to join them together into a somewhat coherent whole, The Tryfles are playing the ancient hymn “Angels We Have Heard on High” (AKA “Gloria”) at the same time as they are playing the modern spiritual “Gloria” by the Irish songwriter poet Van Morrison.  

The results are SPECTACULAR.

There is absolutely nothing in the world like hearing “Angels We Have Heard On High” sung by an “angelic” choir over the familiar “Gloria” riff. 

And the chorus is even better — a call-and-response between the garagey lead singer and the “angelic” choir.

Gloria! G-L-O-R-I-A
In excelsis Deo!
Gloria! G-L-O-R-I-A
In excelsis Deo!

Naturally, I played the hell out of this on KFSR every Christmas, but was lost for to me for much of the 1990s. Luckily, the internet brought it back into my life a few years ago – a Christmas miracle! – and I’ll be bugging people to hear it until the end of my days.

“Gloria (in Excelsis DEO)”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: gloria, hark the herald angels sing, midnight christmas mess, tryfles

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2743: Todd Snider – “The Ballad of The Kingsmen”
  • Certain Songs #2742: Todd Snider – “Guaranteed”
  • Certain Songs #2741: Todd Snider – “My Generation (Part 2)”
  • Certain Songs #2740: Tobin Sprout – “All Used Up”
  • Certain Songs #2739: Tobin Sprout – “The Last Man Well Known to Kingpin”

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