Christmas 2020 - Mary Did You Know - The Hound + The Fox and Cimorelli

I knew that Mark Lowry wrote this song, but I didn't know that there was a controversy (at least, according to Wikipedia) about the song being degrading towards Mary, the "dumb woman" who in reality did know. Let's deconstruct both of those for just a second.

First, the "Mary, did you know" is basically a version of the Socratic method in rhythmic melody. It functions as the repeat frame in the AB, AC, AD, etc. form of repeating used in lots of different musical forms and genres. (Think "Papa Don't Preach", or "Go Tell It On The Mountain" in both songs.)

Also, did Mary know? She might have been able to answer "yes" or "some" to some of the questions, but not all. Remember, Mary and Jesus' brothers came to one of the houses one day, to take him home and stop the ministry. That's not a woman who could answer yes to all the questions. Not even the 12 disciples could answer yes to all the questions until Jesus rose from the dead and then the Holy Spirit became active in their lives. Now, after Pentacost, she could answer yes, but all the church could by then (that's how the brother of Jesus went from being sarcastic about Him to being head elder of the church of Jerusalem).

While searching for alternatives to my first pick, I found a really beautiful version by a couple performing as The Hound + The Fox that bumped the alternatives. So technically, this is also a Breaking Find.

Bonus version: the Cimorelli sisters (performing as Cimorelli) also have a pretty decent acapella version of the song: