I've recently written about my 10 least favorite Christmas carols. I decided to go this route after writing about my two favorite Christmas carols last year. However, 10-2 seems unfair, so I thought today I'd even things up a little bit by writing about a traditional carol that I actually like. That song is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."I don't know how carefully you've listened to this song while it's being sung, but if I had to sum it up in one word, this is the word I'd choose: ballsy. This song has guts.
Think about it. In verse one, the song is like every other Christmas song. The song simply expresses a hope that the listener will have a nice holiday:
We wish you a Merry Christmas.
We wish you a Merry Christmas.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we send
To you and your kin,
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Pretty innocent, right? It's all a deception, though. In the next verse, the song goes from pleasant little ditty to what basically amounts to a bullish demand:
So bring us some figgy pudding.
So bring us some figgy pudding.
So bring us some figgy pudding and bring it right here.
"And bring it right now"! We're through singing to you, sucka! Now pay up with some figgy pudding!
The next verse is even worse. The second verse is just bossy, but in the third verse is a threat of a sit in. It's like the carolers are radical political kids from Berkley:
We won't go until we get some.
We won't go until we get some.
We won't go until we get some,
So bring it out now.
The song then repeats the first verse about wishing you a merry Christmas. It's as if the singers are trying to gloss over the whole threat that was made in the middle verses. Maybe they added this because they realized that they're one more harsh verse away from being labeled not Christmas carolers, but terrorists.
I just admire the moxie of the song.
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