Sounds of the Season

[vovat]

It's about time for the radio stations to start playing Christmas music, and here I am without a functioning car radio. At least that means I won't have to hear that "Christmas Shoes" song, though. I can't believe I know people who actually think that song is a tearjerker. Come on, a kid's mom dying on Christmas is just too easy. It's schmaltzier than a kosher deli, and some people are buying it. No wonder everyone has such a low opinion of the American public. I do like Christmas songs in general, though.

Speaking of Christmas songs, thanks to the Allan Sherman box set that I just got (thank you, bethje!), I learned that the version of "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas" that I've known for years is actually slightly edited. The fifth gift was originally identified as "statue of a NAKED lady with a clock where her stomach ought to be." Interesting, huh? Well, it was to me, anyway.

Last night, Beth and I went to see her cousin in The Crucible, which was a lot longer than I would have expected. I'd seen the movie before, but I didn't remember it too well. I have to wonder if the Puritans were really as dumb and repressive as history and popular culture make them out to be. I know all societies are subject to mass hysteria and such, but the Puritans seemed to be over the top even so.

Comments

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

Have you heard the theory that the Salem village was plagued by an outbreak of ergot at the time? That's supposedly the reason behind the hallucinations and mass hysteria. Anyway, I've read about some of the European witchcraft trials, and most of them are isolated cases and/or cases of sexual deviancy, not actual witchcraft phenomena such as what happened here. Read up on the Lancashire/Pendle Forest/Mother Demdike (same occurrence, difference names) case from England. It's the most similar to the Salem trials.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Have you heard the theory that the Salem village was plagued by an outbreak of ergot at the time?

I hadn't heard that, but I guess that would make sense.

[science.livejournal.com]

Christmas shoes and that dude that's supposed to be Santa talking about the war veteran in the shack are two songs that I won't mind not hearing ever again in my life.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

that dude that's supposed to be Santa talking about the war veteran in the shack

LOL, I haven't heard that one. Is it a country song? It sounds like it would be. People love tearjerker songs too much, especially when they're about Christmas.

[science.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's a country song, but I'm sure it has wide appeal. It's a slow rendition of "Silent Night" and a guy with a Wilford Brimley-esque voice (but with more marbles in his mouth) breathily reading a letter or something as if he's Santa Claus.

Actually, I found it, it's called "Soldier's Christmas", and someone made a video for it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lbH0YqrCqY

This comment on the page sums up my thoughts on the song:
"Sentimental schlock, and emotional exploitation.

This "soldier" must have not been a good one if he is living in a shack and won't slit the throat quickly of this "stranger" all of a sudden in his shack watching him sleep."

[bethje.livejournal.com]

Wow! That was so mind-blowingly terrible! Not to mention the comments. It does sound like something country radio would play. Or something Sean Hannity would play...

I hope Santa Claus doesn't really sound like that.

In the related videos, there are a bunch of similar kinds of exploitational drool. The kind that are extra American.

Are these things made on PowerPoint?

I can't get over this!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I hope Santa Claus doesn't really sound like that.

Yeah, I always thought he was supposed to sound jolly, not grizzled.

Are these things made on PowerPoint?

Probably. What I really wonder, though, is why there's a picture of Tim Allen in it.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Allan Sherman! *runs off to do Limewire search*