From the album Michael English (Curb, 1995)
"Poignant, profound, tender and reverent." These are the words used in CCM Magazine's book, 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music to describe Mary, Did You Know. These are not words one would normally associate with comedian Mark Lowry, but he is the author of the song.
In 1984, Lowry was asked to write a script for a Church Christmas play. He wrote a series of questions that he would like to ask Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to be used in between scenes of the play. These questions became a poem and for the next decade or so Lowry tried to find someone to write the music to go with it. Finally, musician and songwriter Buddy Greene put the music to the song. Legend has it that he wrote the music in about 15 minutes.
The song has become a popular Christmas song performed by more than thirty artists including Cee Lo Green, Clay Aiken, Daniel Childs, Natalie Cole, Pippa Wilson, Kathy Mattea and Michael Crawford. A duet version recorded by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks Chart in 1997. That was the most popular version of the song, but this recording by Michael English was the first released and the best.
In 1984, Lowry was asked to write a script for a Church Christmas play. He wrote a series of questions that he would like to ask Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to be used in between scenes of the play. These questions became a poem and for the next decade or so Lowry tried to find someone to write the music to go with it. Finally, musician and songwriter Buddy Greene put the music to the song. Legend has it that he wrote the music in about 15 minutes.
The song has become a popular Christmas song performed by more than thirty artists including Cee Lo Green, Clay Aiken, Daniel Childs, Natalie Cole, Pippa Wilson, Kathy Mattea and Michael Crawford. A duet version recorded by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks Chart in 1997. That was the most popular version of the song, but this recording by Michael English was the first released and the best.
Here is the original album version of the song.
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