Category: Music

Sing Along on the Eighth Day of Christmas

John Masey Wright and John Rogers’ illustration of the poem, c. 1841

Happy New Year! The Eighth Day of Christmas is New Year’s Day. You can already guess today’s song, but chances are you’ve never sung the whole thing.

Wikipedia suggests that “‘for auld lang syne,’ as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as “for the sake of old times.” Usually we only hear the first verse of this song, which makes it seem both more sentimental and less substantial than it actually is. The Scots dialect of the original Robert Burns poem is nearly incomprehensible to us today, but today we’ll sing a pretty nice English version.

The stereotype of Scots is that they are supposed to be thrifty. You’ll notice that in the second stanza, the speaker never offers to actually buy the drink for his “trusty friend.” Nor does he expect his companion to buy for him. They’ll each buy their own, thank you. That “cup o’ kindness” only goes so far.

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

     Chorus:
     For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
     we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup! And surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

     (Chorus)

We two have run about the hills, and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne.

     (Chorus)

We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.

     (Chorus)

And there's a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne.

     (Chorus)

Click here for the recording.

Not sure what this is about? Click here!

Join us at https://lavezzi.us/ on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas to join in this virtual sing-along. Care to be a serial singer? Here you go:

Sing Along on the Seventh Day of Christmas

It’s all about the figgy pudding.

https://www.food.com/recipe/figgy-pudding-337148 Chef James Thomas

Our sing-along for Thursday, December 31, is a song about extortion: “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Somewhere I read that it once was a custom in Merry Olde England that the common people would invade the homes of their supposed “betters” at Christmastime and demand food and drink; if they were denied, they would trash the place. And evidently one trophy of these invasions would be a figgy pudding. You can find recipes all over the internet; it sounds pretty good, although for me it can never compete with Panettone.

We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

     Chorus:
     Good tidings we bring to you and your kin.
     We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
 
Oh, bring us some figgy pudding,
Oh, bring us some figgy pudding,
Oh, bring us some figgy pudding, and bring it right here
 
     (Chorus)
 
We won't go until we get some,
We won't go until we get some,
We won't go until we get some, so bring it right here.
 
     (Chorus)
 
We all like our figgy pudding,
We all like our figgy pudding, 
We all like our figgy pudding with all its good cheers.
 
     (Chorus)
 
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Click here for the recording. By the way, good luck singing the fourth stanza! It’s a bit of a tongue-twister.

Not sure what this is about? Click here!

Join us at https://lavezzi.us/ on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas to join in this virtual sing-along. Care to be a serial singer? Here you go:

Sing Along on the Sixth Day of Christmas

Our sing-along for Wednesday, December 30, is “Winter Wonderland,” but I’ve provided a surprise, which is referenced below.

Like a lot of secular “Christmas” songs, this one has nothing to do with Christmas: it’s really a wintertime song. Nevertheless, we probably won’t hear it on the radio once they stop playing “holiday” music, even though in this part of the world we’ll be shoveling “winter wonderland” for months yet.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?
In the lane snow is glistening.
A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird;
Here to stay is a new bird
To sing a love song while we stroll along
Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow, we can build a snowman.
We'll pretend that he is Parson Brown.
He'll say, "are you married?" We'll say, "No, man,
But you can do the job when you're in town."

Later on, we'll conspire
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid the plans that we've made
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Click here for the recording.

And now the surprise. Each year in the holiday season, The Plain Dealer publishes some parody songs on the opinion pages in their “Editorial Carolbook.” I’ve done my best with Lisa Garvin’s clever 2020 contribution, called “Walking in Coronavirus Land.” The singalong lyrics plus the other songs for 2020 are at the previous link, and my recording is here. (Plain Dealer friends, this is intended as a compliment, not a copyright violation. If you don’t like it, please let me know and I’ll take it down.)

Not sure what this is about? Click here!

Join us at https://lavezzi.us/ on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas to join in this virtual sing-along. Care to be a serial singer? Here you go:

My featured image for this post comes from a drive-through of the GE Nela Park holiday light display in 2017. Seemed like a Winter Wonderland to us!