Most major cities I know have some radio station that plays Christmas music 24 hours a day up to December 25th. If you have one, take a listen. It is surprising to me how un-inventive these musicians can get. I use the word musician loosely because we've all heard Debbie Gibson's "Sleigh Ride" or Madonna's rendition of "Santa Baby". But take a closer listen and you will hear a wide variety of songs from "Deck the Halls" to Nat King Cole's version of "The Christmas Song" (also known as "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire") ending with the oh-so-familiar tagline of "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way". Is it really so hard to come up with something original? I guess if you're someone who hasn't had a hit in 20 years (see Michael McDonald's newest "artistic" disaster, or worse yet, Regis Philbin) releasing a Holiday album is an easy way to pay off your debts. I mean, you're pretty much guaranteed to get airplay (at least during December) for the next 100 years. But do you really have to subject the general public to this trash?
Finally, "I'll be home for Christmas" is a holiday song loved for generations. Yet nobody can seem to agree on the damn lyrics. "You can plan on me" is also sometimes heard as "you can count on me". But my pet peeve has got to be "Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents on the tree". I've also heard "by the tree", "near the tree", "beneath the tree", "under the tree" and even "presents and a tree". So what the hell is it? According to one website I found: "As Christmas presents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "White Christmas")." Well great, that doesn't help. Not only do they list proper etiquette as placing presents on the tree but also underneath. On top of that it's not from "White Christmas". And just what the hell is a "love light" anyway? As in "where the love light gleams". Is it a heart shaped neon sign? Maybe something like Neil Diamond's "heart light"? Christmas lyrics seem to have no rhyme or reason as long as the word "Christmas" is in there somewhere.
4 comments:
"I'll be home for Christmas
you can plan on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe
and presents on the tree..."
-Lyrics from the original Bing Crosby recording, 1943
(more info at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000010/default.html)
In times past, it was usual to place small presents in the branches of the tree, with larger ones under the tree. Hence, "presents on the tree." This is still common in many households for small things like jewelry or sentiments in envelopes.
The confusion of "White Christmas" with this song is also common, since both were recorded by Crosby, and became monster hits in 1942 and 1943, respectively.
Geez, you gotta take everything so literally? This isn't exactly a serious post. But thanks for the history lesson...
Hahaha- that is so an exchange I would have with my brother (any of them, actually).
I count on the fact that lyrics are so mutable. I'd say at least 5% of them I make up as I go ;-)
And for you, KF- word verification: "aeztho". It's what you do with a ball in the deep south, "aeztho it".
My favorite is in Jingle Bells "...and away we got upsot." ???? What the heck is sot..anything like upset?? and why would you be upset anyway?
Post a Comment