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Post by dth1971 on Nov 27, 2022 7:13:39 GMT -5
With each passing year, I get sadder hearing the references to obscure and outdated things: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"...Figgy pudding is something I've never seen, let alone tasted, but it sounds gross. "Winter Wonderland"...We still don't know who Parson Brown is, or was. Is a parson similar to a minister? "Sleigh Ride"...I'm sure Currier and Ives were fine fellows, but can you get their stuff on Amazon? "Deck the Halls"...I doubt that gay apparel was meant to refer to pink sweaters, thigh-high shorts, and sandals. "A Holly Jolly Christmas"...Another lyric line the kids shouldn't internalize, in more ways than one: "Have a cup of cheer." Could be grown-up eggnog, could be laundry detergent. Speaking of "Winter Wonderland" and Parson Brown: Do you remember the 1976 Rankin-Bass animated special "Frosty's Winter Wonderland" (a sequel to the Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman) which featured a human parson who is really named Parson Brown (voiced by Dennis Day) who helps Frosty and his bride to be Crystal get married by making a snow parson? And Parson Brown makes the snow parson come to life by puting the good book (The Bible) in one of his hands. |
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Post by trekkielo on Nov 27, 2022 7:59:40 GMT -5
It's nice that the Rankin/Bass animated holiday specials are still rebroadcast to help people understand some of these Christmas song lyrics!  With each passing year, I get sadder hearing the references to obscure and outdated things: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"...Figgy pudding is something I've never seen, let alone tasted, but it sounds gross. "Winter Wonderland"...We still don't know who Parson Brown is, or was. Is a parson similar to a minister? "Sleigh Ride"...I'm sure Currier and Ives were fine fellows, but can you get their stuff on Amazon? "Deck the Halls"...I doubt that gay apparel was meant to refer to pink sweaters, thigh-high shorts, and sandals. "A Holly Jolly Christmas"...Another lyric line the kids shouldn't internalize, in more ways than one: "Have a cup of cheer." Could be grown-up eggnog, could be laundry detergent. Speaking of "Winter Wonderland" and Parson Brown: Do you remember the 1976 Rankin-Bass animated special "Frosty's Winter Wonderland" (a sequel to the Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman) which featured a human parson who is really named Parson Brown (voiced by Dennis Day) who helps Frosty and his bride to be Crystal get married by making a snow parson? And Parson Brown makes the snow parson come to life by puting the good book (The Bible) in one of his hands. BINGO, you see, it's just like I'd said and they're still on TV, DVD or probably streaming somewhere, so there ya go! at40fg.proboards.com/post/203846/thread |
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Post by chrislc on Nov 27, 2022 14:48:20 GMT -5
And in 1968 Herb Alpert made a James Bond theme out of it, which didn't make the Christmas label more understandable. Well, there was also a reference in the song to sleigh bells. But it really wasn't an "on the nose" Christmas song. Maybe Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't want to include an obvious Christmas song in a musical about Hitler. I wonder if that's where Mel Brooks got his idea. Never thought of that before. Calling "The Sound Of Music" a musical about Hitler is a major stretch. Yes, the Von Trapp family's ordeal of escaping from the Nazis is a key part of the storyline and the climactic event of the story. But the musical doesn't revolve around it. In fact, his name is hardly mentioned, except for a few obligatory "Heil Hitler" greetings. Okay, but that's a few more Heil Hitler greetings than you'll find in many Broadway musicals. Maybe a major stretch though, or a Major Hochstetter Stretch. Which kind of sounds like a dance craze. I'm Archie Bell of the Drells, and this is the music we use to do the Major Hochstetter Stretch with. Now make it mellow. |
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Post by chrislc on Nov 27, 2022 15:01:05 GMT -5
With each passing year, I get sadder hearing the references to obscure and outdated things: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"...Figgy pudding is something I've never seen, let alone tasted, but it sounds gross. "Winter Wonderland"...We still don't know who Parson Brown is, or was. Is a parson similar to a minister? "Sleigh Ride"...I'm sure Currier and Ives were fine fellows, but can you get their stuff on Amazon? "Deck the Halls"...I doubt that gay apparel was meant to refer to pink sweaters, thigh-high shorts, and sandals. "A Holly Jolly Christmas"...Another lyric line the kids shouldn't internalize, in more ways than one: "Have a cup of cheer." Could be grown-up eggnog, could be laundry detergent. Speaking of "Winter Wonderland" and Parson Brown: Do you remember the 1976 Rankin-Bass animated special "Frosty's Winter Wonderland" (a sequel to the Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman) which featured a human parson who is really named Parson Brown (voiced by Dennis Day) who helps Frosty and his bride to be Crystal get married by making a snow parson? And Parson Brown makes the snow parson come to life by puting the good book (The Bible) in one of his hands. I hope they were planning on building that snowman anyway, because going through all of that effort just to be able to pretend it is a person (or parson) and ask it a question - or in this case answering a question the snowman had asked - seems like time that could be better spent elsewhere (like spending it typing these messages, for example). Of course there was no internet when Winter Wonderland was written. So maybe sending funny - or "funny" - letters back and forth to someone. Like one of those play-by-mail chess games. |
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Post by Michael1973 on Dec 3, 2022 10:27:56 GMT -5
I'm totally with you on Baby It's Cold Outside. Talk about songs with an endless number of versions, it's insane. There are so many great holiday songs that never get played anymore, but we get to hear a dozen different versions of this one.
And don't get me started on the raging debate over the song's meaning. I get that it was intended to be innocent back in the 1950s but the lyrics are very easily misconstrued in today's world.
I'm glad we have options like digital streaming nowadays because that's the only way I get to hear some of my all-time favorites anymore.
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Post by mkarns on Dec 3, 2022 10:31:39 GMT -5
I'm totally with you on Baby It's Cold Outside. Talk about songs with an endless number of versions, it's insane. There are so many great holiday songs that never get played anymore, but we get to hear a dozen different versions of this one. And don't get me started on the raging debate over the song's meaning. I get that it was intended to be innocent back in the 1950s but the lyrics are very easily misconstrued in today's world. I'm glad we have options like digital streaming nowadays because that's the only way I get to hear some of my all-time favorites anymore. "Baby It's Cold Outside" wasn't originally conceived as a Christmas song. Interestingly, two versions of it hit the top 5 in Billboard--by Margaret Whiting with Johnny Mercer and Dinah Shore with Buddy Clark--in the summer of 1949. Maybe people wanted a musical break from the heat? And the annual debate over it has become tiresome and repetitive. |
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Post by dth1971 on Dec 3, 2022 16:03:53 GMT -5
One Christmas song I can't stand is the Drifters version of "White Christmas". 1950's doo-wop take, huh?
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Post by LC on Dec 3, 2022 16:20:39 GMT -5
One Christmas song I can't stand is the Drifters version of "White Christmas". 1950's doo-wop take, huh? Aw, I really like it because it's such a different take. Who needs 500 people doing pale imitations of Bing Crosby? The only way to stand out is to do something really distinct. |
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Post by rgmike on Dec 3, 2022 17:18:09 GMT -5
I never could understand how / why "My Favorite Things" (one of its too many versions was sung by Fraulein Maria in The Sound of Music) ever got labeled as a Christmas song. Is it just because it mentions brown paper packages and/or snow flakes? Apparently we have Jack Jones to blame -- he was the first to put it on a Christmas LP, in 1964. The following year the Supremes followed suit, and that album sold a ton of copies so the floodgates then opened. |
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Post by Michael1973 on Dec 5, 2022 13:12:29 GMT -5
I never could understand how / why "My Favorite Things" (one of its too many versions was sung by Fraulein Maria in The Sound of Music) ever got labeled as a Christmas song. Is it just because it mentions brown paper packages and/or snow flakes? It's similar to how Same Old Sang Syne is now considered a Christmas song, even though it only makes a passing reference to Christmas but otherwise has nothing to do with it. The song was originally popular several months after Christmas. |
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Post by trekkielo on Dec 7, 2022 12:46:54 GMT -5
I never could understand how / why "My Favorite Things" (one of its too many versions was sung by Fraulein Maria in The Sound of Music) ever got labeled as a Christmas song. Is it just because it mentions brown paper packages and/or snow flakes? It's similar to how Same Old Sang Syne is now considered a Christmas song, even though it only makes a passing reference to Christmas but otherwise has nothing to do with it. The song was originally popular several months after Christmas. The song's opening lyrics reveal that the narrative takes place on a snowy Christmas Eve and they end with a second acknowledgment of snow. Since the song's release, these references and the musical quote of "Auld Lang Syne", a song traditionally sung on New Year's Eve, have increased the song's popularity during the month of December. The song debuted on the Hot 100's top 40, at #37, on December 27th, 1980, between Christmas and New Year's Eve. |
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Post by trekkielo on Dec 7, 2022 13:00:41 GMT -5
I've gotta a reverse grievence, last Friday, December 2nd, 2022, believe it or not, I heard "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" by Wizzard from 1973 at McDonald's in Valparaiso, Indiana, this song never hit here stateside, but did get to #2 on the UK chart and has recharted there almost every year since '73! |
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Post by chrislc on Dec 7, 2022 15:44:57 GMT -5
I never could understand how / why "My Favorite Things" (one of its too many versions was sung by Fraulein Maria in The Sound of Music) ever got labeled as a Christmas song. Is it just because it mentions brown paper packages and/or snow flakes? Apparently we have Jack Jones to blame -- he was the first to put it on a Christmas LP, in 1964. The following year the Supremes followed suit, and that album sold a ton of copies so the floodgates then opened. And that was coming off Wives And Lovers, for which I'm surprised Jack hasn't been assassinated by now. Or maybe Hal or Burt. |
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Post by chrislc on Dec 7, 2022 15:49:30 GMT -5
One Christmas song I can't stand is the Drifters version of "White Christmas". 1950's doo-wop take, huh? Aw, I really like it because it's such a different take. Who needs 500 people doing pale imitations of Bing Crosby? The only way to stand out is to do something really distinct. Weird (to me) that this would be mentioned, in that I was just thinking the last few days that I hear Bing singing it all the time, but rarely any other versions. It's such a beautiful and emotional song. I know Bing had the elephant in the room (or 800 pound gorilla?) but I like hearing it sung by other singers. Has anyone ever tried calling 1-800-#GORILLA? |
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Post by 80sat40fan on Dec 7, 2022 20:36:42 GMT -5
My least favorite Christmas song, like others, is "Baby It's Cold Outside" for the reasons already mentioned. My least favorite Christmas record is "Last Christmas" by Wham. It sounds like it was produced for $10. It sounds very chintzy. My other Christmas grievance is with Billboard. When I went to look at the most played Christmas tunes recently, I found it under a list called, "Holiday 100". Link: www.billboard.com/charts/hot-holiday-songs/The Holiday 100?! Really?!?! REALLY?!?!?! REALLY?!?!?!?! BILLBOARD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!?!The songs that make up the "Holiday 100" are CHRISTMAS SONGS, not holiday songs! The facts that most of these songs stopped getting played at 12:01 a.m. on December 26 pretty much means THEY ARE CHRISTMAS SONGS!!!!! Please call that chart the "Christmas 100" in the future!  For a transcript of the preceding, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: 80sat40fan's Rant PO Box 7800 Hollywood, CA 90028  We now return you to your regularly scheduled program... |
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