All Year Long
By Michael W. Smith and David Hamilton
This Christmas season
I wish you joy
The wonder
In every girl and boy
I wish you gladness
The warmth and cheer
Of good friends
And family
Gathered near
May children’s laughter
And falling snow
Rekindle sweet scenes
From long ago
May every carol
Each candle bright
Remind you why angels
Sang that night
If trouble finds you
This is my prayer
May peace
Come into your hearts
And make you strong
And I wish you love
The kind to last
All year long
This beautiful song is the encore that Clay Aiken sings each night on his Joyful Noise Tour. He sings it quietly and whenever I hear him sing the song, I feel like we are sharing a prayer.
All Year Long was written by Michael W. Smith and David Hamilton. Michael included it on his 3rd Christmas album titled, It’s A Wonderful Christmas. It was released in October of 2007. The entire album is filled with beautiful Christmas songs and was recorded with four choirs and a 65-piece orchestra.
The 55 year old Michael W. Smith is a songwriter, singer, author, guitarist, and keyboardist. He is one of the most popular artists in the contemporary Christian music world.
Throughout his career he has received many awards and has some interesting Statistics in the recording industry.
Grammy Awards: 3
Grammy Nominations: 13
Dove Awards: 36
Number One Songs: 31
Albums: 24
Double Platinum Albums: 1
Platinum Albums: 6
Gold Albums: 16
Albums Sold: 17,210,000
Clay has sung many of Michael’s songs including All Is Well and Welcome To My World.
I am so glad that Clay added All Year Long to his song repertoire this year.
OMG musicfan!! How wonderful you used my picture!!! He was soooo dang close to me, I coulda hugged him. I nearly fainted when he walked right in front of me. I mean I was swooning!! Sure looked like he was singing it to meeeeee! I hope somebody can point me in the right direction for a good mp3 of this song so I can put it on a new music CD for my car. Still listening to my old ones from past shows, albums etc… waiting for the tour to end before I make one. This particular song is too short!!!
Thank you for crediting "All Year Long" to Michael W. Smith. He is Contemporary Christian Music's paternal guide. His ease with writing meaningful lyrics is truly a gift from God! You may notice that most of Clay's newer Christian songs that we love dearly come from CCM artists. I'm so glad that Clay could introduce them to the secular world!
I just love that song 'All Year Long', it's beautiful, especially sung by Clay. Thanks Musicfan for all you do xox.
We like Michael W. Smith at our house, too! He has put out some great music – so glad for Clay
appreciating it, too! Clay does such a beautiful job of singing Michael's Christian music. I would
love to have a whole album of Inspirational music by Clay – my daughter asked him about that when she had her M&G during the TNT Tour and he told her – he would love to do that, but didn't think that would be possible with the way things were. She understood what he meant. Clay does "All Year Long" with such love and tenderness – and yes, it does sound like a prayer. I was always told – growing up – that singing was like praying twice!!! <3
I hope Clay continues to sing songs by Michael W. Smith. "All Is Well" is a gem and "All Year Long" is a perfect song to end Clay's concerts.
What a beautiful song by Michael W Smith and Clay sings it perfectly. I love that video! I’d be swooning if Clay walked by me in the audience. 🙂
I love "All Year Long". It's like Clay's Christmas Card to everyone!!!! Thank you for the video. I also enjoy "All Is Well" by Michael W. Smith. Great songwriter…. Thanks Musicfan.