Sunday, December 10, 2006

Christmas Song Lyrics Are Weird

Radio stations like Warm 106.9 are playing non-stop Christmas songs this month, so I've gotten my fill of holiday tunes. But, I've noticed some songs are rather weird, when you really listen to them.

One example is that festive, merry song, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." The lyrics begin:
It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you
"Be of good cheer"
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Ah, yes - what canonical visions of the holidays! But then things get weird:
There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories
of Christmases long, long ago.

What? Ghost stories? Glories of Christmases long ago? What is this, a song about Blackbeard and stories of plundered treasure? War and strife? What gives, song? I don't think I've ever told someone a ghost story over a Christmas gathering, especially having to do with past glories of some sort.

I must be missing the point...who can enlighten me?

4 comments:

sangeet said...

I have no answers, but I'm cerainly laughing now. :) By the way, I have to ask.... what self-respecting radio station calls it self "warm" ? Not enough confidence to say Hot?

George said...

Apparently, "Hot" is teen & twenty-something dance, and then as you age you're down to "Warm". Their web site has the sub head of "continuous soft favorites", so the target audience is much less salsa and much more Kenny G. Ergh.

Mark Harr said...

Sorry, George for the late reply, but I just saw this item when I was searching for something else.

The "ghost story" for Christmastime is, naturally, The Christmas Carol. (Remember the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future?)

Further, Blackbeard was not a ghost; he was a pirate. Maybe it might help to read more classical literature.

George said...

Blackbeard is indeed a ghost, relative to the song lyrics; he's dead, after all.

While I can see the interpretation of that one line ("scary ghost stories") as being a Dickens reference, there's really not enough context to conclude that. For example, it could be that it's the ghost of Saint Basil (a la Greek Orthodox, versus the Coca-Cola red Saint Nick of the U.S.).