Friday, December 16, 2005
Lines from Christmas Songs
Some of my favorite lines from Christmas songs:
"Yoo-hoo!" (Sleigh Ride) Don't you just love calling "Yoo-hoo!" throughout this song?
"Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then/ teacher says the hippo is a vegetarian!" (I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas) Actually, although hippos don't eat people, they kill more people than any other African animal.
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep." (I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day) Longfellow should have been a Mormon.
"Whoop-de-doo, and dickory dock/ And don't forget to hang up your sock!" (Happy Holidays) It sounds to me like both ends of this rhyme are forced. I love it. And I love saying "hang up your sock."
"Born that man no more may die," (Hark, the Herald Angels Sing) The meaning of Christmas in seven words.
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Some of my least favorite lines from Christmas songs:
"For poor ornery people like you and like I," (I Wonder As I Wander) Whoever wrote this should be shot unceremoniously by the Grammar Police. And who you calling ornery? Sinful, maybe, but that's not the same as ornery, dagnabbit!
"There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow./ There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago." (The Most Wonderful Time of the Year) What is this, a campout? Marshmallows and ghost stories? It's Christmas, not Boy Scouts!
"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.... But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?" (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) You know Buchanan and Tyler and Harding and Arthur. But do you recall George Washington? You know Greedo and Mon Mothma and Ki-Adi Mundi. But do you recall Luke Skywalker?
"Yoo-hoo!" (Sleigh Ride) Don't you just love calling "Yoo-hoo!" throughout this song?
"Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then/ teacher says the hippo is a vegetarian!" (I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas) Actually, although hippos don't eat people, they kill more people than any other African animal.
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep." (I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day) Longfellow should have been a Mormon.
"Whoop-de-doo, and dickory dock/ And don't forget to hang up your sock!" (Happy Holidays) It sounds to me like both ends of this rhyme are forced. I love it. And I love saying "hang up your sock."
"Born that man no more may die," (Hark, the Herald Angels Sing) The meaning of Christmas in seven words.
********************************
Some of my least favorite lines from Christmas songs:
"For poor ornery people like you and like I," (I Wonder As I Wander) Whoever wrote this should be shot unceremoniously by the Grammar Police. And who you calling ornery? Sinful, maybe, but that's not the same as ornery, dagnabbit!
"There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow./ There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago." (The Most Wonderful Time of the Year) What is this, a campout? Marshmallows and ghost stories? It's Christmas, not Boy Scouts!
"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.... But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?" (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) You know Buchanan and Tyler and Harding and Arthur. But do you recall George Washington? You know Greedo and Mon Mothma and Ki-Adi Mundi. But do you recall Luke Skywalker?
Comments:
I wondered about the "ghost stories" too. Turns out it's a reference to the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
The line isn't any less weird or any lees out of place, but it at least makes a little more sense to me now.
The line isn't any less weird or any lees out of place, but it at least makes a little more sense to me now.
I've thought about that possible interpretation before, but it's stupid. "A Christmas Carol" may be a story involving some ghosts, but it's not a ghost story. And it's not scary. Plus: marshmallows??!?
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