Mostly whimsy and drivel of no consequence. And CHEESE.
I have always DETESTED the Carol of the Bells for myriad reasons. It’s overdone (usually badly), it’s anxiety-producing (bad form, you’d think, in a Christmas Carol that talks about anything “sweet”), it provokes an entirely inappropriate (for the subject matter) ominous feeling, and basically it has a bad fit of lyrics to a tune – it scans HORRIBLY (I believe it’s a Ukrainian tune that might be nice with – say – Ukrainian words on an entirely different subject) – how the lyricist (who shall remain nameless because I shan’t even BOTHER looking up such a hack – and I don’t want to know if it was someone good who was temporarily on CRACK or the like) thought that phrases such as “Hark how the bells, Sweet silver bells, all seem to say, ‘Throw cares away,'” should EVER be coupled with that portentous tune (portending EVIL bells, I would say HELL’S BELLS!!!). Don’t even get me started with the chorale arrangements of the beastly thing, which invariably turns into some sort of thumping, marcato nightmare. “Sweet” MY ASS. (Sorry, sometimes there is just no “gilding the lily”). I could go on (Really? One might ask in feigned astonishment).
But Jenny has found the salve for my discontent with this Holiday Carol. Click below to see it in all its glory:
I cannot begin to tell you how happy this song makes me. It is the PERFECT pairing of lyrics with the tune (if you’re going to do it in English, at least), capturing the urgency of the melody and fitting each syllable with faultless beauty. And the PERFORMANCE is utterly FLAWLESS. I LOVE this guy (his name is “Skipper,” too – how perfectly lovely it THAT). Thank you, Jenny. And thanks, too, American Angst.com.
Alex
December 21st, 2005 at 3:43 pm
lol!
Thank you.
.. sometimes I wonder if there is a mystical connection to things I write and post and similarly themed stuff I then see elsewhere.. some fast food commercial I saw with people in the car singining stupid things and now this.
I also saw a local TV ad that began with someone saying “The End is Near!” with the same inflection as this.
But maybe I just have a big head if I think what I create actually gets around 🙂
Kate
December 21st, 2005 at 11:18 pm
Hmmm. The lyrics got a little angrier since I posted this…