Guest Poet Dept., You Have to Start Somewhere Division: In 1909 -- 32 years before the first performance of "White Christmas" -- Irving Berlin penned the following lyrics, set to a tune by Ted Snyder (best known for "Who's Sorry Now?" and "The Sheik of Araby") unlike contemporary songs like "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now," this ditty failed to grab and hang on to the public's fancy. Could it have been because of the stilted syntax and cheapjack sentiment? Probably not. That didn't stop other such songs from taking off. I'm guessing that, even in those less song-saturated times, people were wise to the fact that this number could have been about any other holiday. While not even the most show-crazed among us ever dreams of a white Easter.
’Neath a shady maple tree;
She had promised him, “We’ll be married, Jim,
To the chimes of Trinity.
’Tis the month of May, but next Christmas day,
I will be your blushing bride;
Don’t you worry, dear, it will soon be here.”
But he looked at her and sighed:
“Christmas chimes mean happy times
For you and me, sweetheart;
Winter time means you’ll be mine,
And never more to part.
Honeymoon can’t shine too soon,
I wish it were today;
Girlie mine, don’t Christmas time
Seem years and years away?”
“There is nothing, dear, that I have to fear,
If I can’t afford the ring,
Santa Claus is kind, and I’m sure he’ll find
Just a plain gold band to bring.
It’s been just a year since I met you, dear,
But it seems like just a day;
If I only could, girlie dear, I would,
Turn December into May!
“Christmas chimes mean happy times
For you and me, sweetheart;
Winter time means you’ll be mine,
And never more to part.
Honeymoon can’t shine too soon,
I wish it were today;
Girlie mine, don’t Christmas time
Seem years and years away?”
No comments:
Post a Comment