Silent Night (Give Love at Christmas) - The Temptations - MP3 instrumental karaoke

Perhaps one of the oldest and most instantly recognizable Christmas carols of all times, "Silent Night" was written by composer Franz Xaver Gruber and lyricist Joseph Mohr in 1818. It is based on the poem "Stille Nacht" by Mohr, who had requested Gruber to come up with a guitar accompaniment for the piece after the church's organ was severely damaged by flooding. The song was first performed live on Christmas Eve 1818 at St. Nicholas parish in the Austrian village of Oberndorf. In the following years, traveling folk-singing family The Rainers helped further popularize the tune, performing it for the first time in the United States in 1839. Eventually, "Stille Nacht" became known as "Silent Night" after priest John Freeman Young translated it into English, spawning countless versions over the years. In 1980, Motown legends and psychedelic soul pioneers The Temptations turned the beloved Christmas carol into an R&B seasonal classic after including it in their second holiday album, Give Love at Christmas.