I grew up watching this, along with many other Christmas specials, recorded onto a janky old VHS tape. The tape is long gone, but God bless RUclips and other streaming services that allow it to remain a part of my holiday traditions!
I found a DVD of it not long ago, best purchase I ever made. This special continues to be a part of my family tradition, passed along to my own children now. Like you: grew up watching it on VHS for decades.
Every time I hear or sing or think of this song, I automatically think of the camels! They have a way of coloring the sound of this song with their jazzy version of the chorus!
+Derek Hauk :D Were you bummed when the VCR tape finally wore out and you discovered "Claymation Christmas" wasn't available on DVD? (or at least it wasn't last time I checked).
My parents got it on VHS and we watched it every Christmas. Us kids are grown and, there are some grandkids, but watching it on DVD is still part of our family tradition.
THEY SKIPPED THE THIRD VERSE! Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; Sorr’wing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
First watched this in 5th grade English class when my teacher showed it to the classes. Randomly popped into my head and I searched it up 6 years later.
I can't hear this song without thinking of this and having this beat in my head. I guess this is why I like blues and jazz so much from an early age....thanks
This was always my favorite segment of the show. My folks and I would always get quiet while it was playing then get really into it while the camels were singing. I hate that it took me forever to understand why, especially now that they're all gone.
How I recall the first Christmastime in the 1990's when I first saw this Claymation Special first on CBS and then a year later on The Disney Channel it's fun to watch and even if it's possibly silly.
Fun Fact: There was one more lyric to this song that the deep voiced king was supposed to sing about Myrrh, but Claymation most likely deemed it too dark for children... they're definitely not wrong. xD
Aloof Peacock Myrhh is mine. It's bitter perfume. Breathes a life of gathering gloom. Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying. Sealed in a stone cold tomb. (Cue cute cartoon camels)
I watched this every year for most of my childhood, and I distinctly remember the verse about myrrh being in it, so I think they for whatever reason cut it out of this video. Also, there are three kings, and they all sing the first verse, so it makes logical sense that each would have a second verse.
It's not too dark for children; It's literally the gospel. It's the most important part. Why glaze over what Good Friday and Easter are supposed to be? It is just all leading to the cross and the resurrection.
Fun fact: Balthazar (the deep voiced king) had his lyrics changed because the original one was considered too dark. It was “Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom Sorrowing, sighing, Bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone-cold tomb”.
Remember this very well. Am I crazy or does one of those singers sound like the actor who played Steve Rhoades in 'Married...With Children'? Gotta find those credits.
No claymation could ever be as frightening as the movie Caroline. It’s because of that movie that my sister is traumatized into not watching almost all stop motion movies.
They should have mentioned the myrrh part of the song predicting the crucifixion and included Herod slaughtering the two year olds to try to kill Christ out of fear of being usurped by the Messiah after the wise men mentioned to him their quest of following the star. And, Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt with toddler Jesus to avoid Herod's men and using the wealth of the wise men's gifts to survive in exile. Then, we could have really gotten into the scary parts.
Hell, they could have included the angels talking to the shepherds or warning Mary and Joseph of Herod in their biblically accurate forms, and we could keep reminding ourselves to "be not afraid".
Love this version - but - why didn't they do a cute Claymation depiction of the verse where Jesus is slowly tortured to death and his body is sealed in a stone-cold tomb? That would have been BOSS!
Tradition has the Wise Men [The Bible never gave an amount. Jericho was a wicked, wicked city. Three men carrying valuables would never make it through. This is a prime example of 'Safety in Numbers'.] visiting Jesus in the manger. This is another tradition that is wrong. Matthew 2:11 says that Jesus was in a house. We are not told whose house, or how Mary, Joseph & Jesus got the house.
Yes, all the Nativity scenes have the Wise men in it, but that's inaccurate. Jesus could have been as much as a year or two old by the time they arrived.
I grew up watching this, along with many other Christmas specials, recorded onto a janky old VHS tape. The tape is long gone, but God bless RUclips and other streaming services that allow it to remain a part of my holiday traditions!
I'm sure my Ma still has it on vhs
.me too
I found a DVD of it not long ago, best purchase I ever made. This special continues to be a part of my family tradition, passed along to my own children now.
Like you: grew up watching it on VHS for decades.
Wow I did the same on VHS I love how I can dig up my past.
Same ❤️
Every time I hear or sing or think of this song, I automatically think of the camels! They have a way of coloring the sound of this song with their jazzy version of the chorus!
Yeah every other version I’ve heard of this song after seeing this I was disappointed cause the camel part is not livened up like this version is. 😜
This is still one of my favorite Christmas memories, sitting down to watch the Claymation special, and this was my favorite part of it!
+Derek Hauk :D Were you bummed when the VCR tape finally wore out and you discovered "Claymation Christmas" wasn't available on DVD? (or at least it wasn't last time I checked).
+Alberta Rose Its available now. I own it.
My parents had it taped over from the TV and right after was Garfield's Christmas haha this is my favorite childhood memory
I love this. I remember watching it live way back in the day. The camels rock!
My parents got it on VHS and we watched it every Christmas. Us kids are grown and, there are some grandkids, but watching it on DVD is still part of our family tradition.
I can't hear this song without envisioning the camels! Best part!
Those camels are ROCKIN'!
dad sent me this as a childhood memory....didn't even realize how much I missed being a child. 😊
Happy three kings day! Glad I grew up with wonderful parents
This Christmas special is how I heard one of my favorite Christmas songs ever.
The kings and the camels plus Linus quoting Luke 2nd chapter are Christmas to me
THEY SKIPPED THE THIRD VERSE!
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorr’wing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
This! I remember watching this on TV, that verse really stuck out to me. Now, every video shows the edited version, even the DVD release. 🙁
First watched this in 5th grade English class when my teacher showed it to the classes. Randomly popped into my head and I searched it up 6 years later.
Thanks a million. Have been celebrating Epiphany all day!
I remember seeing this special when it originally aired. I was literally on the floor laughing😂
This is is still one of my favorite Christmas specials from being a kid. Funny and beautiful.
facts
Why didn't this become part of regular Christmas programming? Is it too 1980s? I could watch this every year!
I love this song so much! I miss this movie too, the claymation song and everything.
Those camels remind me of a llama that kissed me at the petting zoo on a Christmas tree farm when I was 12.
Will Vinton did pretty well directing this.
Farewell, Will, and Merry Christmas.🎄
I can't hear this song without thinking of this and having this beat in my head. I guess this is why I like blues and jazz so much from an early age....thanks
My favorite Xmas special ever, the whole show was chefs kiss.
80s baby classic
THE CLAWMATION IS AMAEING
I remember my brother's singing this for a Christmas party the same year this came out.
I love The Camels In this Video I love how they help the Kings with the Chrous
Oh m y heart just overloaded
This was always my favorite segment of the show. My folks and I would always get quiet while it was playing then get really into it while the camels were singing. I hate that it took me forever to understand why, especially now that they're all gone.
How I recall the first Christmastime in the 1990's when I first saw this Claymation Special first on CBS and then a year later on The Disney Channel it's fun to watch and even if it's possibly silly.
LOL, it’s funny when the first king who sang with his “Ohhhhh…”, his eyes look over at the camels.
i grew up my moher loved the raisns she had all there key chains fig exc every year i grew up waching this ...........
glad this song was put in South Jersey Sam's top 13 Christmas Songs back in 2014!
I miss those days 😭😭😭😭
Loved watching this as a kid.
This song always made me cry
NancyO...thank you for posting this delightful memory of childhood. This made my post Thankgiving Day slump more tolerable!!
Merry Christmas everyone! I remember when this originally aired. The California Raisins were hawking Hardee’s.
I remember when I saw this on Beavis and Butthead when they called the camels "Giraffes".
Merry Christmas 2022🎄🎀🎁❤💚
Fun Fact: There was one more lyric to this song that the deep voiced king was supposed to sing about Myrrh, but Claymation most likely deemed it too dark for children... they're definitely not wrong. xD
Aloof Peacock
Myrhh is mine.
It's bitter perfume.
Breathes a life of gathering gloom.
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying.
Sealed in a stone cold tomb.
(Cue cute cartoon camels)
I watched this every year for most of my childhood, and I distinctly remember the verse about myrrh being in it, so I think they for whatever reason cut it out of this video. Also, there are three kings, and they all sing the first verse, so it makes logical sense that each would have a second verse.
It's not too dark for children; It's literally the gospel. It's the most important part. Why glaze over what Good Friday and Easter are supposed to be? It is just all leading to the cross and the resurrection.
Interesting, is there some lost footage that was kept where you could see it? I just checked a 1987 airing of it on a vhs tape and it wasn’t on there.
Memories of my childhood Christmas when I watch this
music to my ears!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
Memories classic respect
Merry Christmas 2023🐪🐪🐪
One of the Camels is wearing a Fez and a Bow tie. Coincidence? I THINK NOT
Bow ties are cool
I love it!!!
Childhood
Fun fact: Balthazar (the deep voiced king) had his lyrics changed because the original one was considered too dark. It was
“Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing,
Bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb”.
😭 Childhood memories
12/25/2017 Wow, love it!
I remember the Christmas special i recorded for my mom so long a good
Is there a cover of this version on Spotify?
Never seen before thx for sharing🤣
reminds me of those old Californian raisin commercials
Yes! I can totally imagine the raisins rockin' out.
Droxy Snape they did Rudolph in the same show.
It's the SAME company who created The California Raisins
Cool 🍇🍇🍇🍇 !
This was from The California Raisins Christmas special.
CLASSIC ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The camels are the band Boyz II Men
Just saw it for the first time at a party last night. I liked it…the one thing I didn’t like about this segment was they didn’t do the myrrh verse!
Nostalgic
Remember this very well. Am I crazy or does one of those singers sound like the actor who played Steve Rhoades in 'Married...With Children'? Gotta find those credits.
❤
Hi 2010, This is 2020
so 🧑🏿⚕️😟😟😟😟😟😟😕😕😕😕 funny and beautiful.
Lets get 1 like and ill reanimate this with CGI
My uncle looks a lot like one of those camels lol
😂
STILL CLASIC
Does anyone know what year this came out ?
1987
Why do the Camels look like they are throwing half the time?
The memories :)
Those were some badass camels.
LOL!
This is singlehandedly the most frightening thing I have ever seen in my life.
No claymation could ever be as frightening as the movie Caroline. It’s because of that movie that my sister is traumatized into not watching almost all stop motion movies.
You are obviously cold hearted and do not understand whimsy
They should have mentioned the myrrh part of the song predicting the crucifixion and included Herod slaughtering the two year olds to try to kill Christ out of fear of being usurped by the Messiah after the wise men mentioned to him their quest of following the star. And, Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt with toddler Jesus to avoid Herod's men and using the wealth of the wise men's gifts to survive in exile. Then, we could have really gotten into the scary parts.
Hell, they could have included the angels talking to the shepherds or warning Mary and Joseph of Herod in their biblically accurate forms, and we could keep reminding ourselves to "be not afraid".
Love this version - but - why didn't they do a cute Claymation depiction of the verse where Jesus is slowly tortured to death and his body is sealed in a stone-cold tomb? That would have been BOSS!
I agree
This is the only version of "We three kings" that I know. A relative played some bunk ass traditional version, and it made me throw up in my mouth
The 80s were just better
Me too.
Tradition has the Wise Men [The Bible never gave an amount. Jericho was a wicked, wicked city. Three men carrying valuables would never make it through. This is a prime example of 'Safety in Numbers'.] visiting Jesus in the manger. This is another tradition that is wrong. Matthew 2:11 says that Jesus was in a house. We are not told whose house, or how Mary, Joseph & Jesus got the house.
Yes, all the Nativity scenes have the Wise men in it, but that's inaccurate. Jesus could have been as much as a year or two old by the time they arrived.