Dispatch from the holidays...

[ceebeegee]

...from my message board, in a thread about holiday music:

"Silent Night" gets on my nerves a little because I feel like somehow the powers that be decided it's the ultimate Christmas carol, and all other carols bow before it.

BTW--I totally agree with that. I've never cared much for that one, a little too slow and stodgy, and then I hear from John Denver on the Muppet Xmas album that apparently it's the world's most beloved carol! Methinks your German is rearing its head, John ;)

and

From a traditional standpoint, I have to agree with others - "O Holy Night" can just destroy a room if done properly.
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Yep. If you got someone really belting it out, when they get to "FALL on your knees!" you almost feel obliged to do just that, lest the angels strike you down for your impudence.

and the best:

A few years back, someone at my old office decided that it would be nice for a bunch of us to gather in the lobby on the Friday before Christmas and sing carols as people came in for the work day. Not only that, but he hooked us up to the P.A. so that the entire building could be delighted by our dulcet tones.

One problem: none of us could sing. Another problem: we hadn't rehearsed. No-one had thought it necessary. After all, everyone knows the lyrics to "Jingle Bells", right?

Oh my GOD, did we suck. But the worst was yet to come.

Someone had the bright idea for us to sing O Holy Night. I nearly fainted. "Are you NUTS?" I hissed, but it was too late - we were off. I knew what was coming - we probably all did - but it was like a car-wreck in slow motion. And there it was - the High Note to End All High Notes. Except when we did it, it sounded like a bunch of cats being strangled while somehow managing to croak out "Ohhhhh niiiiight, DEEEEVIIIIIINNNNNE!!!"

We all straggled back to our desks afterwards and tried to act nonchalant, but no-one ever let us forget it.

Comments

[darksheik.livejournal.com]

"O Holy Night" has kind of been tainted for me by South Park and Eric Cartman's rendition during Mr. Hanky's Christmas classics. So, when I hear "Fall on your knees", I see him with clenched fists and a big "X" where his eyeballs should be.

[nppyinzer.livejournal.com]

Having never been much for Christmas carols, I discovered a new love for that song due to South park.

All I really need in the way of holiday music is Cartman, Bob and Doug Mackenzie singing the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Paul Simon's "Graceland" album (which for years was the only tape that everyone in my family could agree on for the drive to my grandparents' house).