Hark the Harold Angel Sings
I admit I'm a sucker for Christmas music, but some of it grates. I don't care if I never hear The Little Drummer Boy and "tara ta tum tum tum tum ta ta ta tum" again. It's the best reason I know to stay out of malls. And if I had a shotgun I'd be delighted to take out Alvin and the other chipmunks. Whose bright idea was it to resurrect that treacly trio? I'm guessing the family values crowds is responsible for the fact we never hear I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus anymore, though I never quite could envision how they managed to get "underneath" the Christmas tree. The carol that always puzzles me is the one where "the first noel the angels did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay." I can't parse it. Is "certain" supposed to mean some shepherds were told and others not? Or is it meant to be a verb, and the angels were running around certaining everybody who was tending his sheep?
posted by John M Crowther @ 7:23 AM
8 Comments:
I never liked the part in "Silent Night" describing Jesus as "tender and mild"...makes him sound like a filet mignon...
Love your cartoons John!
And until I saw the sheet music I could never figure out whether it was “God rest ye merry gentleman” or “God rest ye merry, gentleman.” (It’s the version with the comma.) And while we’re at it, how about this describing Rudolph, the one with the vinous nose:
“All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.”
What could they possibly have called him other than “Rudy” which is hardly offensive, judging by the name of the man who may be our next president. And what sort of games do reindeers play other than banging their antlers together? I can’t imagine that anyone would object to being excluded from such adolescent and noisy nonsense.
Thanks, Mary!
Gee, prof, with eleven months off each year the reindeer must find something to do other than just make more reindeer. We mustn't underestimate the capacity of the reindeer to invent games and invective.
John,
I should hope so. I would like to think that reindeer, given the time off they must have up there on the Pole, might find something more amusing to do than bang their heads together the way humans do.
In addition, since posting earlier in the day I have learned that in 18th Century slang the word “merry” was often associated with raucous sexual activity. Rochester wrote of King Charles II: ”Restless he rolls about from whore to whore/A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.” Can we conclude therefore that the merry gentleman celebrated in the famous carol may have been in a bordello when they were reminded by the madame of the sanctity of the season? "Remember Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day" may have been the first time in history when customers were warned that if did not behave themselves accordingly and seasonally they would soon be eighty-sixed or CXXXVIed. If so, permit me then to return to the archaic meaning of the word and wish all of you here who follow John on his fool’s journey --those who choose or choose not to don gay apparel-- a very merry merry Christmas. Fa, la,la,la,la la,la,la,la!
Thanks for the greetings, prof, which I second and, of course, speed back atcha. E anche un Buon Natale!
Could it be that the original lyrics, before some turn of the century circuit preacher redacted them, were "God bed ye Mary, gentlemen?" Oh, those bawdy Brits.
hahaha love all the comments... hilarious!!
And John... I love the cartoon! Have to agree the words to some of these carols are truly absurd. They leave themselves way open to questionable interpretation.
For years... I lived in fear of running into hark the hairy angel singing... down a dark lane late at night! (((giggles)))
Ooooh, "the hairy angel"... love it, Jean!
Good cartoon, great play on words.
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