Contrary to the tone of most of my posts, I'm not always serious. Here's one just for fun:
A friend of mine recently posted about well-known Christmas songs whose lyrics are misunderstood and mispronounced. Shortly after reading his post I discovered a strange little holiday song I had never heard before entitled "Christmas is Coming." It's in one of my daughter's Disney Christmas Sing-Along books. Here are the lyrics as they are printed in her book:
Christmas is coming, the Geese are getting fat
Won't you please put a penny in the old man's hat?
If you haven't got a penny, a ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny, a smile's good too.
Strange, right?! It's obvious the song is outdated. I'm sure its main message centered around being generous to the degree that you could allow. Why did Disney think this would be a great tune to put in a sing-along book? Surely they could find another free "public domain" song that is a little more well-known. And what in the world is a ha' penny? I can only guess that "ha'" is a contraction for "half," which further dates the composition.
While I'm on the subject, why is it acceptable for old songs to use crazy contractions like that simply to make a phrase rhyme? I'm even bothered at church by the older well-known hymns (which are supposed to be artistic) that use use o'er for over, and other seemingly made up contractions. Where does all the contracting stop? I think I'll just start speaking in contractions to keep from having to say as much. Next time I'm in the drive-through at McDonald's I'll order a "Q'ter P'nder wi' cheese, l'ge fr'nch frie' and a c'ke." No - that would sound silly and end up being even more difficult to say. Why didn't anyone tell those old composers that?
Interestingly enough, SOMEONE out there HAS heard of this weird song about fat geese and ha' pennies. Check out this guy!
Merry Christmas!
PS - Have you discovered any weird, obscure Christmas songs this year?
A friend of mine recently posted about well-known Christmas songs whose lyrics are misunderstood and mispronounced. Shortly after reading his post I discovered a strange little holiday song I had never heard before entitled "Christmas is Coming." It's in one of my daughter's Disney Christmas Sing-Along books. Here are the lyrics as they are printed in her book:
Christmas is coming, the Geese are getting fat
Won't you please put a penny in the old man's hat?
If you haven't got a penny, a ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny, a smile's good too.
Strange, right?! It's obvious the song is outdated. I'm sure its main message centered around being generous to the degree that you could allow. Why did Disney think this would be a great tune to put in a sing-along book? Surely they could find another free "public domain" song that is a little more well-known. And what in the world is a ha' penny? I can only guess that "ha'" is a contraction for "half," which further dates the composition.
While I'm on the subject, why is it acceptable for old songs to use crazy contractions like that simply to make a phrase rhyme? I'm even bothered at church by the older well-known hymns (which are supposed to be artistic) that use use o'er for over, and other seemingly made up contractions. Where does all the contracting stop? I think I'll just start speaking in contractions to keep from having to say as much. Next time I'm in the drive-through at McDonald's I'll order a "Q'ter P'nder wi' cheese, l'ge fr'nch frie' and a c'ke." No - that would sound silly and end up being even more difficult to say. Why didn't anyone tell those old composers that?
Interestingly enough, SOMEONE out there HAS heard of this weird song about fat geese and ha' pennies. Check out this guy!
Merry Christmas!
PS - Have you discovered any weird, obscure Christmas songs this year?
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