Page 6, AC Phoenix, December 1991
Taking A Spirited New Look At A Fancifui Oid Tune
by Patricia Smith-Deering
Phoenix Managing Editor
The music of the Christmas
season is as much a part of the
celebration as are turkey dinners,
family reunions, and religious
services. Each generation carefully
rehearses the words of songs both
religious and secular and then
passes the tunes faithfully on to the
next generation to carry on the
tradition. And as with other time-
honored traditions, sometimes the
original meaning or a tune’s words
become lost or are no longer
familiar or relevant to the memters
of the newer generation.
Let’s take, for example, a favorite
that is hummed, sung, or serves as
back^ound music to a number of
television commercials - “The
Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Although the author is oinknown,
the traditional melody and words
are believed to date back to the
Middle Ages (that’s 10th - 16th
century A.D. for those who slept
histOTyX It was a time when knights
in suits of armor fought for the
hands (lily-white) of fair ladies and
lords lorded it over huge castles on
more land that R.J. Reynolds’
original estate.
In the song, some young and
definitely rich Lochinvar (that’s
lover, to those of you who slept
English Lit.) gives a succession of
somewhat exotic gifts to his true
— eleven pipers piping;
—- ten lords a-leaping;
— nine ladies dancing;
— eight maids a-milking;
— seven swans a-swimming;
-— six geese a-laying;
love on each of the twelve days of
Christmas. Each day he gives her a
new gift and adds a repetition of the
ones he gave on all the days before:
On the twelfth day, the luck lady
receives:
— twelve drummers drumming;
Over 50 Years of Service to Winston-Salem and
Surrounding Communities
RUSSELL
FUNERAL HOME
DEDICATED..."TO SERVE YOU BETTER"
PHONE: (919) 722-3459
822 Carl Ru.ssell Avenue at Martin Luther King Drive
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101
FLORRIE S. RUSSEU. - President
THE CHURCH NEEDS YOU and YOU NEED THE CHURCH
The Church represents a group of people like you and me. Its
mission is to build Body, Soul and Spirit. It starts with the
children, training them in the better things of life, and throws its
doors wide open to all Races, Colors and Creeds. .
Wishing You A Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year
CII
— five gold rings;
— four calling birds;
— three French hens;
— two turtle doves; and
— a partridge in a pear tree.
All of this she added to the other
days’ receipts for a grand total of
371 drummers, pipers, lords,
ladies, maids, swans, geese, gold
rings, calling birds, French hens,
turtle doves, and partridges. No
small cost at today’s prices for
musicians, cows, fowl, and gold -
hard to find or afford if you make
minimum wage and live in a low-
income neighborhood, as was
recently pointed out to me.
Awhile back, some Black and
Latino friends of mine in a New
Jersey project development were
kicking around ideas on how the
tune (which they had just heard on
TV) could “be made relevant” to
their ghetto and barrio experiences
and shared their version with me.
So with apologies to those in the
minority community who are too
high-toned to poke fun at them
selves, here is what my street
friends developed as their own New
Age gifts for the “Twelve Days of
Christmas”;
— Twelve rappers rappin’;
•— Eleven winos leanin’;
— Ten Lords in bomber jackets;
— Nine M.C. Hammers break
dancin’;
— Eight Sun-Man superheroes
flyuig;
— Seven huge pierced earrings;
— Six pink plastic flamingoes;
— Five gold neck chains;
— Four ghetto blasters;
— Three barking pitbulls;
— Two Michael Jordan Nikes;
—And a pigeon on the project
rooftop.
Theirs may not be as elegant as
the ones in the original tune, but
they’re certainly cheaper. And after
all, it’s the thought that counts!
I
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