Do genetically engineered Christmas carols make you sick?
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So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit.
I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Just in general, conventionally-religious/pious takes on that song cause me some cognitive dissonance. I mean, Leonard Cohen?! Does anyone even read the lyrics from the less-often-covered verses: Yikes!
Even the routinely covered second verse is just odd if someone is trying to make it a religious song in that it conflates (or confuses) David and Samson. I like the song a lot, but this drives me batty because I'm the kind of person who listens to lyrics.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
[Note: pretty sure this is Bathsheba (and David, who the first verse also refers to)]
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
[Note: not Bathsheba (that story was that David got her husband Uriah killed in battle on purpose so he wouldn't find out about the affair). Clearly Samson and Delilah. Charitable interpretation, he's subtly changing who "you" is, but I really don't think so.]2 -
Well it's better than "Don't they know it's Christmas"and "Santa Tell Me" butit ain't no "O Holy Night" or even "Grandma got Run over"2
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Santa Baby is pretty aweful too.3
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I love this one!0 -
So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Oh my goodness, yes!
Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" - NOT a Christmas song
"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music - NOT a Christmas song
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lemurcat12 wrote: »So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Just in general, conventionally-religious/pious takes on that song cause me some cognitive dissonance. I mean, Leonard Cohen?! Does anyone even read the lyrics from the less-often-covered verses: Yikes!
Even the routinely covered second verse is just odd if someone is trying to make it a religious song in that it conflates (or confuses) David and Samson. I like the song a lot, but this drives me batty because I'm the kind of person who listens to lyrics.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
[Note: pretty sure this is Bathsheba (and David, who the first verse also refers to)]
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
[Note: not Bathsheba (that story was that David got her husband Uriah killed in battle on purpose so he wouldn't find out about the affair). Clearly Samson and Delilah. Charitable interpretation, he's subtly changing who "you" is, but I really don't think so.]
Well, in all fairness - Leonard Cohen. I don't know if he's a Messianic Jew or not, but I don't think Christmas is a thing with the Jewish people. . .and I agree.0 -
So I just listened to the OP song. Interestingly, if you don't listen to the words, it doesn't sound like a Christmas song to me. The article mentions "lots of bells" but I don't think bells really stand out in the song. It's a nice enough, vanilla pop song. It wouldn't annoy me if I heard it on the radio as Christmas music nearly as much as some of the other "flash-in-the-pan pop artist tries to write a holiday tune" songs do. But I wouldn't be downloading it off i-tunes or anything. I would expect it to ultimately become the theme song of a Hallmark channel holiday movie starring a soap opera actor and a model who thinks she can act.2
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So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Oh my goodness, yes!
Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" - NOT a Christmas song
"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music - NOT a Christmas song
Yeah, I mean, I'll give stations that are going 24/7 from Thanksgiving through 12/31 a little latitude with New Year's type sentiments, but that Folgelberg song is such a downer it shouldn't count regardless of other exceptions. Like I need reminders I'm old and dragging wasted time around like an anchor at this time of year lol.
The only time ANY Sound of Music songs are acceptable is the one time a year they are showing it on TV. Full stop.1 -
So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Oh my goodness, yes!
Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" - NOT a Christmas song
"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music - NOT a Christmas song
+1 Especially "My Favorite Things"! Does mentioning sleigh bells automatically qualify it as a Christmas song? Or is it the snowflakes?1 -
So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Oh my goodness, yes!
Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" - NOT a Christmas song
"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music - NOT a Christmas song
+1 Especially "My Favorite Things"! Does mentioning sleigh bells automatically qualify it as a Christmas song? Or is it the snowflakes?
Those do make it "seasonal".
Doesn't make me want to listen to it, though.0 -
So I just listened to the OP song. Interestingly, if you don't listen to the words, it doesn't sound like a Christmas song to me. The article mentions "lots of bells" but I don't think bells really stand out in the song. It's a nice enough, vanilla pop song. It wouldn't annoy me if I heard it on the radio as Christmas music nearly as much as some of the other "flash-in-the-pan pop artist tries to write a holiday tune" songs do. But I wouldn't be downloading it off i-tunes or anything. I would expect it to ultimately become the theme song of a Hallmark channel holiday movie starring a soap opera actor and a model who thinks she can act.
Confession time. I haven't heard it. The radio described how it was made and it sounds amusing, but completely soulless. All the music I enjoy started with a musician having a good musical idea, not an engineer figuring out how to get headlines.
Maybe I should listen to it as penance for staying this thread.1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »So I just listened to the OP song. Interestingly, if you don't listen to the words, it doesn't sound like a Christmas song to me. The article mentions "lots of bells" but I don't think bells really stand out in the song. It's a nice enough, vanilla pop song. It wouldn't annoy me if I heard it on the radio as Christmas music nearly as much as some of the other "flash-in-the-pan pop artist tries to write a holiday tune" songs do. But I wouldn't be downloading it off i-tunes or anything. I would expect it to ultimately become the theme song of a Hallmark channel holiday movie starring a soap opera actor and a model who thinks she can act.
Confession time. I haven't heard it. The radio described how it was made and it sounds amusing, but completely soulless. All the music I enjoy started with a musician having a good musical idea, not an engineer figuring out how to get headlines.
Maybe I should listen to it as penance for staying this thread.
It's less soulless than you would think, but more soulless than you would care for.
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cmriverside wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Just in general, conventionally-religious/pious takes on that song cause me some cognitive dissonance. I mean, Leonard Cohen?! Does anyone even read the lyrics from the less-often-covered verses: Yikes!
Even the routinely covered second verse is just odd if someone is trying to make it a religious song in that it conflates (or confuses) David and Samson. I like the song a lot, but this drives me batty because I'm the kind of person who listens to lyrics.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
[Note: pretty sure this is Bathsheba (and David, who the first verse also refers to)]
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
[Note: not Bathsheba (that story was that David got her husband Uriah killed in battle on purpose so he wouldn't find out about the affair). Clearly Samson and Delilah. Charitable interpretation, he's subtly changing who "you" is, but I really don't think so.]
Well, in all fairness - Leonard Cohen. I don't know if he's a Messianic Jew or not, but I don't think Christmas is a thing with the Jewish people. . .and I agree.
I am aware he was Jewish, and not everyone knows the Bible, of course, but King David and Samson -- Hebrew Scriptures. Hardly Christian specific (or about Christmas, as the song is not). He apparently grew up religiously Jewish too, so it's kind of weird.0 -
So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Oh my goodness, yes!
Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" - NOT a Christmas song
"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music - NOT a Christmas song
+1 Especially "My Favorite Things"! Does mentioning sleigh bells automatically qualify it as a Christmas song? Or is it the snowflakes?
Those do make it "seasonal".
Doesn't make me want to listen to it, though.
I think it's just Sound of Music -- wasn't it played on TV at Christmas for a long time? A theater near me (the Music Box, for anyone in the area) does a singalong Sound of Music at Christmastime sometimes. (Would agree it's not a Christmas song, though.)0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »Santa Baby is pretty aweful too.
Yeah, hate it. Although Do They Know It's Christmas is the worst (well-intentioned and perhaps did a lot of good, I'm talking specifically about the lyrics). Not only the fact that not everyone actually cares (in that not everyone is Christian), and they are hungry, not unaware of the calendar, this line cannot be forgiven, IMO:
"Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you"
Not exactly what I think of as the Christmas message.
Nor this idiocy:
"And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time"
Ah, the tragedy. (To be clear, not having snow in Africa, not bad. Starving, bad.)
"Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow"
Um, not true.
This part is so bad I like it, though:
"And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom"1 -
What do you think of the two (?) Beatles Christmas songs?
Had anybody in here heard the De la Soul cover?0 -
cmriverside wrote: »@tomteboda Thanks for the playlist! I'll listen to them even though you don't like "Mary,"
All great artists, I don't think I can go wrong.
You're welcome! Yeah my opinion on that other song is largely pedantic and due to objections too bad theological awareness couched as contemplation. With different lyrics I'd probably love it as well. Or if I just didn't get so laser-focused on what lyrics mean. It Is very pretty!
I dislike In The Bleak Midwinter for the same reasons. I doubt it was snowing in Bethlehem!0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »What do you think of the two (?) Beatles Christmas songs?
Had anybody in here heard the De la Soul cover?
To be pedantic, weren't they solo efforts, unless I'm brain farting seriously. I don't recall the Beatles themselves having any specific Christmas music.
Wonderful Christmas Time? Can't stand it. And I like Paul.
Happy Christmas (War Is Over)? I like it better than Wonderful Christmas Time.
I'd still rather listen to the obscure recordings the Beatles as a group did of their Christmas greetings. Those are weird and wonderful.0 -
I just ran into this one. I'd totally forgotten about Gaudete! (Plus this weekend is Gaudete Sunday.)
https://youtu.be/BaTeascyDq8 2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Just in general, conventionally-religious/pious takes on that song cause me some cognitive dissonance. I mean, Leonard Cohen?! Does anyone even read the lyrics from the less-often-covered verses: Yikes!
Even the routinely covered second verse is just odd if someone is trying to make it a religious song in that it conflates (or confuses) David and Samson. I like the song a lot, but this drives me batty because I'm the kind of person who listens to lyrics.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
[Note: pretty sure this is Bathsheba (and David, who the first verse also refers to)]
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
[Note: not Bathsheba (that story was that David got her husband Uriah killed in battle on purpose so he wouldn't find out about the affair). Clearly Samson and Delilah. Charitable interpretation, he's subtly changing who "you" is, but I really don't think so.]
Well, in all fairness - Leonard Cohen. I don't know if he's a Messianic Jew or not, but I don't think Christmas is a thing with the Jewish people. . .and I agree.
I am aware he was Jewish, and not everyone knows the Bible, of course, but King David and Samson -- Hebrew Scriptures. Hardly Christian specific (or about Christmas, as the song is not). He apparently grew up religiously Jewish too, so it's kind of weird.
I've always read the song as deeply expressive, well-crafted B.S. about sexual power and vanquishment, but that's doubtless influenced by my unfair perception of Cohen as a massively talented, intelligent, well-read, arrogant egotist. IMO, both stories (Bathsheba/David/Uriah and Samson/Delilah) would be on-point allusions in that context, the two being conflated because, after all, it's about Cohen. But not at all Christmas-y.
Yeah, I know, I'm a cheap, dismissive cynic. Meh.5 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Just in general, conventionally-religious/pious takes on that song cause me some cognitive dissonance. I mean, Leonard Cohen?! Does anyone even read the lyrics from the less-often-covered verses: Yikes!
Even the routinely covered second verse is just odd if someone is trying to make it a religious song in that it conflates (or confuses) David and Samson. I like the song a lot, but this drives me batty because I'm the kind of person who listens to lyrics.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
[Note: pretty sure this is Bathsheba (and David, who the first verse also refers to)]
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
[Note: not Bathsheba (that story was that David got her husband Uriah killed in battle on purpose so he wouldn't find out about the affair). Clearly Samson and Delilah. Charitable interpretation, he's subtly changing who "you" is, but I really don't think so.]
Well, in all fairness - Leonard Cohen. I don't know if he's a Messianic Jew or not, but I don't think Christmas is a thing with the Jewish people. . .and I agree.
I am aware he was Jewish, and not everyone knows the Bible, of course, but King David and Samson -- Hebrew Scriptures. Hardly Christian specific (or about Christmas, as the song is not). He apparently grew up religiously Jewish too, so it's kind of weird.
I've always read the song as deeply expressive, well-crafted B.S. about sexual power and vanquishment, but that's doubtless influenced by my unfair perception of Cohen as a massively talented, intelligent, well-read, arrogant egotist. IMO, both stories (Bathsheba/David/Uriah and Samson/Delilah) would be on-point allusions in that context, the two being conflated because, after all, it's about Cohen. But not at all Christmas-y.
Yeah, I know, I'm a cheap, dismissive cynic. Meh.
Yeah, that all seems right on.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »So a radio station around here that went 24/7 holiday music on Thanksgiving played a poppier version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah today and I'm calling BS. Just because a song includes a holy word does not make it holiday music, and no amount of bells added to the music makes that song a Christmas tune, dammit. I may have to write a strongly worded email.
Just in general, conventionally-religious/pious takes on that song cause me some cognitive dissonance. I mean, Leonard Cohen?! Does anyone even read the lyrics from the less-often-covered verses: Yikes!
Even the routinely covered second verse is just odd if someone is trying to make it a religious song in that it conflates (or confuses) David and Samson. I like the song a lot, but this drives me batty because I'm the kind of person who listens to lyrics.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
[Note: pretty sure this is Bathsheba (and David, who the first verse also refers to)]
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
[Note: not Bathsheba (that story was that David got her husband Uriah killed in battle on purpose so he wouldn't find out about the affair). Clearly Samson and Delilah. Charitable interpretation, he's subtly changing who "you" is, but I really don't think so.]
Well, in all fairness - Leonard Cohen. I don't know if he's a Messianic Jew or not, but I don't think Christmas is a thing with the Jewish people. . .and I agree.
I am aware he was Jewish, and not everyone knows the Bible, of course, but King David and Samson -- Hebrew Scriptures. Hardly Christian specific (or about Christmas, as the song is not). He apparently grew up religiously Jewish too, so it's kind of weird.
I've always read the song as deeply expressive, well-crafted B.S. about sexual power and vanquishment, but that's doubtless influenced by my unfair perception of Cohen as a massively talented, intelligent, well-read, arrogant egotist. IMO, both stories (Bathsheba/David/Uriah and Samson/Delilah) would be on-point allusions in that context, the two being conflated because, after all, it's about Cohen. But not at all Christmas-y.
Yeah, I know, I'm a cheap, dismissive cynic. Meh.
First time I ever heard that song was on a The West Wing and it was at a time of intense anger and grieving that Martin Sheen's character (who was Catholic) was going through. He was dealing with daddy issues and the death of his beloved personal secretary. I absolutely thought it was about power - sexual, occupational, and familial. It's a complicated song. Beautiful.
It's not Christmassy. It's just weird to play it on the Christian station at Christmas.
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we. . . . lll. i thought i knew where i stood. i had these two simple, rock-solid principles that were like the foundation of my entire existence at this time of year.
1. HATE the little drummer boy.
2. LOVE shane mcgowan.
and then i find this and now the only thing i know for sure is my world has imploded and it's @NorthCascades' fault.
also, there was a woman in the lobby all day where i work, playing a harp. just sayin'. i really really really really hate harps; i don't care what they play. bah humbug.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »"And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom"
chimes can't clang. that's like saying the 'thundering harp of destiny' or 'the harpsicord of majesty'. ain't going to happen.
man, i really AM in a bad mood i did find you this, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-VkjaZ2Mms
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NorthCascades wrote: »So I just listened to the OP song. Interestingly, if you don't listen to the words, it doesn't sound like a Christmas song to me. The article mentions "lots of bells" but I don't think bells really stand out in the song. It's a nice enough, vanilla pop song. It wouldn't annoy me if I heard it on the radio as Christmas music nearly as much as some of the other "flash-in-the-pan pop artist tries to write a holiday tune" songs do. But I wouldn't be downloading it off i-tunes or anything. I would expect it to ultimately become the theme song of a Hallmark channel holiday movie starring a soap opera actor and a model who thinks she can act.
Confession time. I haven't heard it. The radio described how it was made and it sounds amusing, but completely soulless. All the music I enjoy started with a musician having a good musical idea, not an engineer figuring out how to get headlines.
Maybe I should listen to it as penance for staying this thread.
In that case, yes. Yes, you should. You should put it on repeat until your ears bleed. Of course, that may only take 1 listening, but still...0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »Santa Baby is pretty aweful too.
Yeah, hate it. Although Do They Know It's Christmas is the worst (well-intentioned and perhaps did a lot of good, I'm talking specifically about the lyrics). Not only the fact that not everyone actually cares (in that not everyone is Christian), and they are hungry, not unaware of the calendar, this line cannot be forgiven, IMO:
Bob Geldorf has mentioned in interviews that he knows it's a terrible song, but the point of Band Aid was to raise money and the song itself was really secondary.
Anyway, I don't care for The 12 Days of Christmas, and I especially hate parody versions.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »Santa Baby is pretty aweful too.
Yeah, hate it. Although Do They Know It's Christmas is the worst (well-intentioned and perhaps did a lot of good, I'm talking specifically about the lyrics). Not only the fact that not everyone actually cares (in that not everyone is Christian), and they are hungry, not unaware of the calendar, this line cannot be forgiven, IMO:
Bob Geldorf has mentioned in interviews that he knows it's a terrible song, but the point of Band Aid was to raise money and the song itself was really secondary.
Anyway, I don't care for The 12 Days of Christmas, and I especially hate parody versions.
Yeah, they play some weird version of 12 Days around here that sounds like cartoon characters talking through most of it, but it's awful. The real 12 Days is fun to sing with children, but kind of like listening to 99 Bottles of Beer on the radio.0 -
I enjoy singing 12 Days as a memory test, but have no desire to hear it on the radio (99 bottles of beer is a good comparison!). Have not heard a parody version and prefer to keep it that way. (I never listen to the radio anymore, so probably miss out on much of this, as I get it only at stores.)0
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canadianlbs wrote: »we. . . . lll. i thought i knew where i stood. i had these two simple, rock-solid principles that were like the foundation of my entire existence at this time of year.
1. HATE the little drummer boy.
2. LOVE shane mcgowan.
and then i find this and now the only thing i know for sure is my world has imploded and it's @NorthCascades' fault.
also, there was a woman in the lobby all day where i work, playing a harp. just sayin'. i really really really really hate harps; i don't care what they play. bah humbug.
I love Little Drummer Boy sung with a proper choral arrangement by classical singers. The pop versions are largely horrible. Whitney Houston's wasn't bad but now it just makes me sad
. 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkX4-Dj7XeE
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