Some of you who know me, know that I really enjoy Christmas music. Have since I was a kid. I still remember learning all the words to all of the songs in grade school. In many of the songs, I can even sing those 2nd verses that often get left off of modern recordings.
In fact, in years past I have written blog posts about my favorite Christmas songs as well as my not so favorites.
That being said, there is one song in particular that amuses me, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. You all know that song and have heard it a million times from a thousand different artists. But, what amuses me about it is a couple lines in the song:
Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.
Nice sentiment right? Christmas is a time to reflect back to the good old days. It is also a time for friends and family to come together and enjoy each other again. I’m sure this is just as true in your family as it is in mine.
However, if you listen to many of the versions out there, the artist mistakenly (or otherwise) swaps two of those lines which completely changes the meaning of the tune:
Faithful friends who are near to us
Will be dear to us once more.
It’s a subtle swap that you probably never thought about, but basically turns from expressing the joy of having far-flung loved ones around for the holidays to the following…
“You know, you scumbags are around all the friggin time…Â You rotten son-a-bitches really piss me off the rest of the year, however it is Christmas time, so I guess you’ll be dear to me again… But I swear to God, come January you people are all back on the shitlist!”
Can you see why that amuses me so?
Merry Christmas everyone!