12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com

Greetings, my true loves! Merry Christmas. Today is the 1st day, which means you get a partridge in a pear tree! What are you supposed to do with a partridge in a pear tree, you may ask? Well... um... Partridge is delicious! Or, if you're a vegetarian, perhaps they can be trained to deliver messages. Or.. Hey! Train them to deliver pears to people! I wonder what the average air speed of an unladen partridge is?

Anyway... It's time to count down YOUR favorite, and least favorite Christmas songs or all time. We got many, many interesting votes, but s few kept coming back around. Also, I put in my 2 cents, and that skewed the totals a bit. But here we are, and here we go.

Your number 12 song that brings a tear to your eye, and the Christmas spirit to your heart is.... Deck The Halls. It's just such a classic that it's undeniable. I can think of no song written since that captures most effectively the joy of decorating at Christmastime. And the Fa La La part is fun to play with. I've heard it done in 7/8 time, reharmonized, and even set to the tune of other classical pieces. It just... never gets old.

The number 12 tune that makes you all cringe with nausea around the winter season is... Do They Know It's Christmas? Yeah... I remember the 80s, too. I remember back when the famine in Ethiopia was so terrible, that Bob Geldof decided to help out with the proceeds from this song. It also brought about a new genre of music, the "Getting superstars together to raise money for a cause" genre. Often mocked, and, let's face it, no longer effective. Apparently, the famine was solved, because between Band Aid, Live Aid, and USA for Africa, we no longer hear about hunger in Africa. Now, we hear about genocide in Africa. Now, I don't know if the two are related at all; all I know is that this song is no longer relevant, not that it was a very good song in the first place.

Well, I'm off to find someone who sells turtle doves. No real reason. See you tomorrow!