Do you Hear What I Hear?

March 6, Gloria Shayne Baker passed away. She composed the hit Christmas song "Do you Hear What I Hear?" in 1962. I had always thought that the carol was much older. Apparently, she wrote the song as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile crisis. She wrote the music for this carol and her husband at the time wrote the lyrics. The two collaborated often.

Gloria Adele Shain was born in Brooline, Mass. , on September 4, 1923; she changed the spelling of her last name early in her career . She earned a bachelor's degree the Boston University School of Music and afterward worked as a pianist, arranger and background vocalist for composers such as Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim.

Interesting to find out that the carol had a greater purpose than to just entertain at Christmas.