The roots of TSO are found in Savatage, a traditional heavy metal band that gradually progressed into a symphonic metal act. Savatage's rock operas, starting with STREETS, began the experimentation with what would become TSO culminating on the track "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" from DEAD WINTER DEAD. This track was a minor hit for the struggling band, and demonstrated that there might be an audience for the symphonic metal approach to holiday themes.
The concept for a band playing Christmas carols in a rock opera style was not received warmly by the industry, but quickly proved a success with adults as well as young people. In the recording studio, Trans-Siberian Orchestra uses a full 60-piece orchestra and a choir.
As of 2004, their touring band included 14 vocalists, 14 musicians, and 2 narrators. Trans-Siberian Orchestra released their debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories in 1996, and it remains their best-selling album. Their 1998 release The Christmas Attic was similarly a concept album with a Christmas theme. In 2000, they released their first non-Christmas album, Beethoven's Last Night. Beethoven's Last Night is a concept album about Ludwig van Beethoven's last night on earth, during which he meets Mephistopheles (possible Satan, or one of his underlings).
After a few years of touring, they returned to the studio with another full-length album, Lost Christmas Eve, and the accompanying DVD/3-CD release The Christmas Trilogy, which contained all three of their Christmas albums to date.
During their winter tours of 2005 and 2006, the band had announced that they were working on the new album, set to release later that year (this was said both years). During the summer of 2007, the official myspace for TSO stated that they were recording, with the expression 'inspired'. Finally, on October 27, 2007, the long awaited new album (and second non-Christmas) arrived "Night Castle". The album is another concept album, spanning 2 cd's, and is the telling of the story of a soldier's experience during the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. As always, it's about faith, hope, fate and the inherent belief that there is good in all people. The album was received with mixed reviews, from the praise of the band's fans, to the near burning of albums by those that are less than receptive to the album. Along with the songs for the story, the album also includes 4 tracks that are not part of the story, and yes, it features the band's rendition of "Carmina Burana (O Fortuna)", performed as a preview by the band during their winter tours, as well as one cover of a Savatage song.
http://www.trans-siberian.com
http://www.nightcastlealbum.com
http://www.myspace.com/tsoofficial
What Child Is This
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who laid to rest
That I now find here sleeping?
Do angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?
And could this be Christ the king
Whose every breath the angels bring?
What child is this
Who is so blessed he changes all tomorrows?
Replacing tears with reborn years
In hearts once dark and hollow
And could this be Christ the king
Whose every breath the angels bring?
Could this be the face of God, this child, the son I once carried?
In the dead of the night
As his life slips away
As he reads by the light
Of a star faraway
Holding on
Holding off
Holding out
Holding in
Could you be this old
And have your life just begin?
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
Tell me how many times can this story be told
After all of these years it should all sound so old
But it somehow rings true in the back of my mind
As I search for a dream that words can no longer define
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
And the time
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
And the time and the years
And the tears and the cost
And the hopes and the dreams
Of each child that is lost
And the whisper of wings
In the cold winter's air
As the snow it drifts down
And visions appear everywhere
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
In the air
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
In the dead of the night
As his life slips away
As he reads by the light
Of a star faraway
Holding on
Holding off
Holding out
Holding in
Could you be this old
And have your life just begin
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins
In the song "Who Is This Child", Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings to life the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. The song opens with a question - "what child is this who laid to rest?" - and then wonders whether this could be the Christ the King, the face of God, the son once carried. The song describes how this child is so blessed that he changes all tomorrows, replacing tears with reborn years in hearts once dark and hollow. The lyrics then shift to talk about a narrator reading in the dead of night by the light of a star far away, holding on, holding off, holding out, holding in. The song ends with the question "could you be this old and have your life just begin?", and with the singer reading by the light of a lost Christmas day, as visions appear everywhere.
The song is a beautifully crafted interpretation of the birth of Jesus and its impact on humanity. Through the lyrics, the listener can feel the wonder and awe that the singer feels towards this child, who is so powerful that he changes everything around him. The use of the star symbolizes hope and guidance, in the midst of the darkness of night. The song ends with a sense of new beginnings and renewal, as if telling us that even in the darkest of days, there is always a light to guide us.
Line by Line Meaning
What child is this
Who is this child?
Who laid to rest
Who is sleeping here?
That I now find here sleeping?
And how did I come to find this child sleeping?
Do angels keep the dreams we seek
Do angels hold onto our dreams?
While our hearts lie bleeding?
As we suffer from our broken hearts?
And could this be Christ the king
Is this the baby Jesus?
Whose every breath the angels bring?
Whose every breath is attended by angels?
Could this be the face of God, this child, the son I once carried?
Is this the face of God, the same son that I once cradled in my arms?
Who is so blessed he changes all tomorrows?
Who is so special that he transforms the future?
Replacing tears with reborn years
Replacing our sorrows with renewed hope for the future
In hearts once dark and hollow
In hearts that were once empty and despairing
In the dead of the night
Late at night
As his life slips away
As he nears the end of his life
As he reads by the light
As he reads by the glow
Of a star faraway
Of a distant star
Holding on
Grasping tightly
Holding off
Delaying
Holding out
Enduring
Holding in
Keeping to oneself
Could you be this old
Can you believe you have lived this long?
And have your life just begin?
Does your life feel like it's just starting?
Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
Reading in the glow of a past Christmas celebration
It begins
A new story starts
Tell me how many times can this story be told
How many times can we hear this tale?
After all of these years it should all sound so old
After so long, it should feel cliché
But it somehow rings true in the back of my mind
But it still resonates in my thoughts
As I search for a dream that words can no longer define
As I look for a dream that cannot be put into words
And the years and the tears
All the years and tears
And the cost and the hopes
And the price we paid, along with our aspirations
Of each child that is lost
Of every lost child
And the whisper of wings
And the sound of angels' wings
In the cold winter's air
In the frigid winter weather
As the snow it drifts down
As the snow softly floats to the ground
And visions appear everywhere
And magical sights appear all around
In the air
All around us
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: . DP, PAUL O'NEILL, ROBERT KINKEL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Toronto Maple Leafer
The narration to the back story behind this song is so sad and makes this song even all the more powerful. The album follows numerous story lines, this song follows a story about a man who had his wife die in the hospital bed giving birth to his disabled son. In grief and agony, he signed off his son right there and then to be a ward of the court without ever having seen his face.
Narration:
The old man stood there thinking
While staring in that old toy shop
With its carousel still turning round
In front of a music box clock
For what good's a clock without a chime
A useless thing that just keeps time
Recording moments that come and leave
But this clock's chimes struck midnight
Upon a lost christmas eve
And when the final chime had spoken
And the twelfth bell had finally rung
The indecision in the father was broken
He now knew what had to be done
So he got into a yellow cab
And prayed that it might lead
Through all this snow and streetlight glow
To a past he might retrieve
When the taxi dropped him off
At the boarding house hotel
It was a rundown building
With a musty, rundown smell
And he asked for his son
From the hotel's night desk clerk
Who said his son was not there
He was not back from work
When the father said that was impossible
The clerk replied, "i'm not here to debate
But he works at the hospital, just down the block
If you want you can sit here and wait
But he never returns till real late"
Then the father tried asking another question
But the clerk went back to watching his tv
Which was also playing, "how the grinch stole christmas"
And the father mused, "this movie has no sympathy,
Well, at least not when it comes down to me"
Once outside he saw the hospital's entrance
And went to information by the front door
Who confirmed that his son had a job there
And worked up on the seventh floor
So he took the elevator up to that floor
Which was marked "maternity"
And the man knew in his heart that this was a mistake
For his son working here could not be
But the nurse on duty reconfirmed that he did
And since her rounds were about to begin
If he would like to follow her
She would gladly take the father to him
So he followed her to a large dark room
That to him seemed unusually empty
Except for several incubators glowing on the right
Each with a trembling baby
These infants were all extremely frail
And obviously in incredible pain
And this sight cut deep into that father's soul
And he asked the nurse, please, to explain
"these children were born to mothers
Who were addicted to crack cocaine
And these children are born in complete withdrawal
For that drug is still deep in their veins
We can give them no other drugs to ease their withdrawals
Since they are born premature and quite frail
And any form of pain killer
Could easily cause their small hearts to fail"
"and what does my son do here?"
The father asked, "he is not a patient, i assume"
The nurse did not say a single word
But nodded to the far left corner of the room
And there the father saw his son
Who looked like himself when he was a younger man
Rocking back and forth in a rocking chair
A trembling infant held in his hands
And in his arms the child did not cry
But slept to silent lullabies
And his son rocked that newborn back and forth
Until finally, a dream was caught
But still at his rocking, his son faithfully kept
Till that poor child's trembling had also, finally, left
Then the nurse whispered softly
Into the father's ear
Something that a blind man could see
But the father needed to hear
Whispered to him in this room
Filled with mankind's misbegotten
Something that the father had known once
But somehow had forgotten
She said, "it is this way with each of us
We all need to be held, at least twice
Once upon the day that we are born
And once more when we leave this life
Your son has been coming to this place
Since as long as i've been working here
He's never missed a single day
In nearly twenty years
He always arrives promptly on time
But a time card he does not keep
For he never leaves this maternity room
Until every last child is asleep"
Then the nurse noticed the father
Trying to choke back the things he now felt
So mentioning she had to continue her rounds
She quietly excused herself
So he was now alone in the darkness
Between the past and future caught
Not knowing what to do
As his mind flooded with so many thoughts
Some beauty comes too early
While its moment never waits
And some beauty is always there
But never seen, till it's too late
Look! there is a moment
It has just slipped away
And so we lose our lives
In such ordinary ways
Where do we get our dreams from?
Where do we get our faith?
Is it something that we are born with
Or is it something for which we must wait?
The mist of things we once believed
The childhood truths for which we grieve
And in our lives could we have missed
Those that in the dark, the angels kiss
Experimental SDWH
Been listening to this song quite a few times today.
But coming here,
To a video that contains a comment section
Unlike those "Topics" YouTube now offers...
...Maybe I am just really,
REALLY (over)tired,
But coming here,
To confirm if I'm actually hearing right...
...And seeing there's a narrative included...
...I'm already in tears. 😭
It's a "sweet" song
In the sense that it makes you feel such strong emotions,
You just HAVE to cry
If there's a human heart inside of you.
And I think a certain storyline I kinda have going
Where an old man (a shopkeeper)
Did tons of evil to the harm of fairies
Without ever thinking about it...
...Until stuff happens and yadda yadda
He "wakes up" for once...
This old shop he ran
That his father ran
That his grandfather ran
And his old man before him,
I think reading a piece of narrative down below
Then connecting to the line of
"Could you be this old and have your life just begin?"
Funny how the moment something 'generic'
Or 'universal'
Moves into the personal...
...Suddenly awakens your own emotions
Like nothing else can.
So, like,
Back to my old shopkeeper man
And the fairies he harmed (NOT by killing thankfully):
"Could you be this old (and this evil) and have your life just begin?"
A life no longer serving as another generation of Evil,
But reformed and able to start living in the light of Good?
AJ Bard of Darkess
This song gives me chills. It's brilliant. I was lucky enough to see them in concert, and it was amazing to see this song performed live.
Samuel Khardian
Tabby-in-the- TARDIS12 I saw them 2 Times. blown away both times!
Mavery Fraker
I love going to their concerts! They're amazing!
I'm the Grinch that stole Christmas
I seen them in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018. They come to our state every other year. Hope to see them this year in November. Every time I see them it's in November. It's like a 4 hour show
primetimeTG
Yes- it had, and still has, the same effect on me. Brilliant is the word for it indeed. Such an intriguing spin on the original hymn as it is widely known, I feel.
Seth Courtemanche
Same I just saw them in Manchester new hampshire
Colter Brown Productions
I love how over-the-top melodramatic this is. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.
ForeverAlone
As a long time TSO fan, this is by far one of the best songs they ever wrote. Brings tears to my eyes every time. It's that good. Last concert I went to I heard it performed live for the first time, what an experience that was.
Roger Philabaum
You realize the didn't write this song. Its their version of an old traditional Christmas song.
Barb Huebert
EXPLOSIVE, INTENSE..no real words for THIS!!! amazing!!!