Sweet Little Jesus Boy

“Sweet Little Jesus Boy” is a Christmas song composed by Robert MacGimsey and published in 1934 by Carl Fischer Music. Its style is similar to African-American spirituals. Baritone Lawrence Tibbett introduced the song,  and it went on to be recorded by choirs and other solo artists. They included Robert Merrill in 1947. Few of the songs of Christmas so directly conveys the personal appeal of Jesus Christ like the song Sweet Little Jesus Boy. Mistaken by many to be an old American spiritual sung by slaves of the south in the 19th century the song was actually written in 1934 by white American composer Robert MacGimsey. Born in Louisiana, MacGimsey was a lawyer who had a passion for composing what many people of his generation called “black music”. MacGimsey may have been white but he was raised in the company of blacks who gave him a rich background in the gospel music of the south. His nanny was an African American woman who would sing spirituals to Robert as a baby and would affectionately come to be called Aunt Becky.  His intent in writing Sweet Little Jesus Boy was indeed to portray it as an American slave song. Like so many of the songs of Christmas, MacGimsey was influenced by his circumstance one snowy Christmas Eve in New York City. Walking home on the streets following a church service MacGimsey was struck by the drunkenness of Christmas parties he passed on his way home. He wondered how people could be so disconnected from the real message and history of the season. How could they have forgotten Christ? MacGimsey drew on the histories and family stories of the sacredness of Christmas from his black friends and neighbors in Louisiana. To them, he recalled, Christmas was a time of worship and a time of drawing closer to God with very personal forms of prayer and deeply meaningful songs of praise. The lyrics of the song have come to represent the deeper feelings of most Christians during the season