O.k...y'all have probably never heard this one...but it still makes me cry to hear it...
Ringing the Bells for Jim by Johnny Cash
It was on one of his old Christmas albums that I had on 8 track as a kid and I played it over & over & over again...I'd been looking for it for years on cassette or something & last Christmas my father-in-law found the album for me on CD...I was so excited!
Since I doubt many of you have ever heard it I'm going to tell you about it....you don't have to read if you don't want to!
It's about a little girl who gets caught by the preacher ringing the church bells on Christmas Eve when she's not supposed to & she tells the preacher she's just "ringing the bells for Jim" who is her brother & is really sick and dying & they don't expect him to live through the night & he just wanted to hear the bells again. Anyway, like all sappy country songs there's a happy ending...the next day the preacher catches her again, but this time she's ringing them because Jim is going to be o.k.
If I had to choose a traditional song I think it would be
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen when it's sung properly with harmony of course!
LE