This is most definitely one of our favorite Christmas songs. In essence, it tells part of the story of Christmas as found in the gospels, but with some serious lyrical mastery: “Follow the star to a place unexpected” to see this “unlikeliest hero, wrapped in His mother’s shawl”. Each verse hold a high standard for story telling and lyrical depth, and does not disappoint.

It’s a pretty straight-forward tune. The verses might be tricky to teach to a congregation because the syllables are different and fit into the tune differently each time through. Having strong vocal leaders is imperative. It might also be helpful to have a melody instrument – perhaps a violin or oboe or even an electric guitar – plunk out the melody so that it stands out more for people. Just be careful not to cover up the words!  Probably the only other challenging thing about this tune would be the bridge. One way of dealing with it would be to sing the refrain a few times after the second verse and then instead of singing the bridge, just ending with one or two people singing the line “Only one did that for me”. In any case, definitely play with it and figure something out what will work in your situation.

How Many Kings has proven to be fairly accessible to any kind of group. We've led it just with guitar, which has worked well, but it's good to know that the chord progression is the same all the way through the tune (I—vi—ii—V) which makes it a great piece for younger or less-experienced groups.  One thing that makes it really great is that it can be done in a really simple way and still be an effective and powerful song, or be jazzed up a bit a retain the ability to convey something meaningful. Any kind of group can take it and make it their own.