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Away in a Manger

Away in a Manger, the second most popular English carol, (although it is in fact American) has had a checkered history.

When it was first published, as a Victorian hymn, in, Little Children's Book for Schools and Families (1885), it was  presented as a simple, innocent children’s song; by the time it appeared in Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses (1887), it was said to be "Composed by Martin Luther for his children, and still sung by German mothers to their little ones.”,  which in fact was a very early version of astute commercial spin; there is no proof that Martin Luther did anything of the sort, and it seems that his name was associated with it quite cynically because the 400^th anniversary of his birth had just fallen in 1883.

It has also been accused of being part of a Gnostic heresy, which denied that God became man at the Nativity, because later verses suggest that the infant Jesus never cried; which makes him clearly not a human baby!

However, simple and touching it remains; and this unusual version with its lyrical, calm, whistling refrain reflects that essential innocence.