Musical numbers
In the previous thread, Surly Ermine asked me if I had any new favorite Christmas carols since moving to Merry Olde. There is a whole ‘nother stable of standard Christmas music here and it falls into three broad categories.
The stuff that gets the most radio play. What I think of as the crooner songs – the mid-century movie classics like White Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I hate those songs. Always have done.
I also hate the expression “mid century” to mean something common from my childhood that is now regarded as a genuine and sought-after rarity. The antiques programs are all over it. But I digress.
Second are a small group of carols that I know well, but are sung to a completely different tune here. Away in a Manger is one of those. We don’t go to the carol service any more since they moved it to Christmas Eve, but I always found it really difficult to read those words and sing a totally different tune.
Finally there are the carols that are completely unfamiliar to me. The one that stands out is the Tudor-era Coventry Carol, which sounds a sweet little song until you realize it’s a mother singing a lullaby to quiet her baby before it gets slaughtered in Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents. Christmassy!
December 13, 2023 — 7:31 pm
Comments: 5