One of my favorite Christmas songs is...
..."The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams. I really like the big instrumental lead-in, the melody and his voice. I probably heard it so much as a kid that it just wouldn't feel like Christmas without it. I always turn up the radio when it comes on. But lately I've been paying more attention to the lyrics and I find it a little puzzling. It starts out predictably enough:
"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
"It's the hap- happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings
And gay happy meetings when friends come to call
It's the hap- happiest season of all..."
So far, so good. But then in the third stanza it goes on to say:
"There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow..."
Wait a minute. Marshmallows for toasting? Is that Christmas-sy? Isn't that something you do on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts? In August?
The song continues:
"There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases
Long long ago..."
Scary ghost stories? Again, isn't that something you do on that camping trip with the Scouts? We never told ghost stories on Christmas. And what about the tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago? Did you do that at your house on Christmas? What tales did you tell? I have some image in my mind of a medieval battle between knights in shining armor. But that's not very Christmas-sy. What on earth did the songwriter have in mind? Does anyone out there know?
After that it's pretty much boilerplate Christmas stuff. I still like it but it's got me scratching my head a little.
"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
"It's the hap- happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings
And gay happy meetings when friends come to call
It's the hap- happiest season of all..."
So far, so good. But then in the third stanza it goes on to say:
"There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow..."
Wait a minute. Marshmallows for toasting? Is that Christmas-sy? Isn't that something you do on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts? In August?
The song continues:
"There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases
Long long ago..."
Scary ghost stories? Again, isn't that something you do on that camping trip with the Scouts? We never told ghost stories on Christmas. And what about the tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago? Did you do that at your house on Christmas? What tales did you tell? I have some image in my mind of a medieval battle between knights in shining armor. But that's not very Christmas-sy. What on earth did the songwriter have in mind? Does anyone out there know?
After that it's pretty much boilerplate Christmas stuff. I still like it but it's got me scratching my head a little.
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