It's that time of year again - the Christmas season is barreling down on us like a runaway freight train covered with cyanide-soaked chainsaws.  To light the load, post your preferred Christmas music here. Funny, serious, classic, new, original - whatever jingles your bells.





Boru

“Bells”?

Dammit, I jangled Joe’s balls!

https://youtu.be/to24HpTmtho

I wasn't a big fan of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for the first 20-some years of my life. Something about the lyrics felt off to me, a bit chimeric. And then I found out about the original lyrics Hugh Martin (or maybe Ralph Blaine) wrote:

Quote:Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York

No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more

But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

In the original context for the song in Meet Me in St. Louis, the Smith family, living in St. Louis, is set to move to New York. Esther (Judy Garland) tries to comfort her sister Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) and fails miserably, leading to her destroying her snowmen, eventually prompting their father to announce they're staying in St. Louis "till [they] rot." And they really make sense in the context. Also, given the era, Martin would say it was also written with the soldiers fighting overseas in the war. But Vincente Minnelli did not like those lyrics. Martin would probably have stuck by his decision had Judy Garland herself not refused to sing those lyrics, saying "If I sing that to that sweet little Margaret O’Brien, they’ll think I’m a monster!" [We'll forget for now that "sweet" is not exactly the word to describe a character willing to pull off the potentially deadly prank in the Fall section, sings drinking songs in 1903, or someone who keeps killing off her doll collection] so he relented and came out with these lyrics:





A bit lightened, but the impact is a bit blunted compared to what would have been. Maybe this would have been the song to get the Oscar nomination and not The Trolley Song. Or maybe I'm just projecting my own biases on an Academy that rewards whatever the fuck it wants to reward to the point where I think it only got the Best Picture award right twice since I was born. And then, it gets to its current form in 1957, when Frank Sinatra tells Martin to rewrite the lyrics yet again. And he says "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?” And since nobody says no to The Chairman of the Board, he rewrote the version we all know today, and once you see this metamorphosis, you can't unsee how disjointed it really is.





And then, one day in December 2012, the song came on WLIT and I decided to sing the original lyrics. My mother noticed I was singing these strange lyrics, and I explained that these were the original lyrics. Dad even looked it up and read out the original lyrics. That was the only time I can remember my mother hitting me.

I tend to prefer more traditional, and often instrumental, Christmas music.  The pop remakes generally leave me unimpressed at best.

'Greensleeves/What Child is This' is one song I like.  I like most Christmas music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  My preference is to not have to hear any - I think I have had my fill over the years, especially when stores are piping in crap versions starting long about Halloween.  I don't happen to care what Mariah Carey wants for Christmas.  

As for updated versions - I love Lindsey Stirling, so this works for me.

https://youtu.be/1A3i0GATnRI

Snoopy’s Christmas.
Stop the cavalry.
Twelve days of Christmas by father Jack.

(December 11, 2019 at 8:55 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: I tend to prefer more traditional, and often instrumental, Christmas music.  The pop remakes generally leave me unimpressed at best.

'Greensleeves/What Child is This' is one song I like.  I like most Christmas music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  My preference is to not have to hear any - I think I have had my fill over the years, especially when stores are piping in crap versions starting long about Halloween.  I don't happen to care what Mariah Carey wants for Christmas.  

As for updated versions - I love Lindsey Stirling, so this works for me.

https://youtu.be/1A3i0GATnRI

That was lovely.

Boru

Boru