A Different Christmas Carol
On my Christmas Eve last perusal of DailyKOS and other sites I found it. I found a Christmas carol I can relate to. Don’t get me wrong I have all of Mariah Carey’s Christmas albums, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Babyface, Gloria Estefan, Vanessa Williams, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, among many others. I love the music. Ultimately, they are all the standard Christmas carols in some incarnation with an elusive faith message.
This guy’s got the melody and the lyrics that speak to many of us who love Christmas for reasons other than the presumed reasons that aren’t really so. And it is funny.
I love Christmas. I love the fellowship with the family and friends. I love the noise. I love the laughter. I love the food. I love the arguments. I love the politics. In the end that is what it is to me.
White Wine in the Sun
Australian comedian Tim Minchin
I really like Christmas
It’s sentimental, I know, but I just really like it
I am hardly religious
I’d rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu, to be honestAnd yes, I have all of the usual objections
To consumerism, the commercialization of an ancient religion
To the westernization of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer
But I still really like itI’m looking forward to Christmas
Though I’m not expecting a visit from JesusI’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sun
I’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sunI don’t go in for ancient wisdom
I don’t believe just ‘cos ideas are tenacious it means they’re worthy
I get freaked out by churches
Some of the hymns that they sing have nice chords but the lyrics are spookyAnd yes I have all of the usual objections
To the miseducation of children who, in tax-exempt institutions,
Are taught to externalize blame
And to feel ashamed and to judge things as plain right and wrong
But I quite like the songsI’m not expecting big presents
The old combination of socks, jocks and chocolates is just fine by meCos I’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sun
I’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sunAnd you, my baby girl
My jet-lagged infant daughter
You’ll be handed round the room
Like a puppy at a primary school
And you won’t understand
But you will learn someday
That wherever you are and whatever you face
These are the people who’ll make you feel safe in this world
My sweet blue-eyed girlAnd if my baby girl
When you’re twenty-one or thirty-one
And Christmas comes around
And you find yourself nine thousand miles from home
You’ll know what ever comesYour brothers and sisters and me and your Mum
Will be waiting for you in the sun
Whenever you come
Your brothers and sisters, your aunts and your uncles
Your grandparents, cousins and me and your mum
We’ll be waiting for you in the sun
Drinking white wine in the sun
Darling, when Christmas comes
We’ll be waiting for you in the sun
Drinking white wine in the sun
Waiting for you in the sun
Waiting for you…
Waiting…I really like Christmas
It’s sentimental, I know…
(h/t Meteor Blades at DailyKOS)