As I said on Christmas Eve, I decided to experiment with a “12 days of Christmas” series on the blog this year. One song a day, some with a few comments. Not ranked.
Second up is a brand new one! By me! I wish I had time to polish the recording and add a couple of things, but I want to get it out before it is too late, because it is called “Christmas Party.” (Not that we can’t swap out “Christmas party” for “solstice party” or just “join our party”) To rush this out now, even while it's “raw,” is intended to avoid making the perfect an enemy of the good. Click here for my quick and dirty recording.
The first time I heard this tune, three weeks ago, was during a concert that I will talk about later in this series. I didn't understand a single word other than (I suspected) “Yule lights.” But the tune was stunningly great, so I decided to run with it and try for some words that fit—with or without comparing them to the original ideas if I ever discovered them.
After I had finished my first draft, I found out that this is a traditional Swedish song associated with St. Lucia day rituals near the solstice, and that this version was developed by Esbjörn Hazelius. This fascinated me because my circle of friends/family knows more about Scandinavian traditions than 98% of people in the US, and within this circle I know more about it than most. But I had never heard of this song.
My instinct was to put an experience of pain (or sorrow, or darkness) at mid-winter into contrast with hopes of joy or light: "Later we can sing of pain--come along with me and sing of joy today."
Happily I later found out that something akin to this structures the traditional song, too. Its repeating lines, ending each verse roughly mean “although it is still dark, the stars still shine”--which of course that has strong resonances when sung in mid-winter in Sweden.
But I am getting ahead of myself. I will bring another form of this song (without English lyrics) back later in this series, and at that time I'll say more about the Scandinavian aspects. Today I want to focus on the Christmas party.
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