What makes this song particularly bad is that it is performed by someone who was - supposedly, can't see it meself - a great singer: Peggy Lee; and by a - genuinely, truly - great songwriter: Irving Berlin.
I can only presume that this one was salvaged from his reject bin, pieced together, and issued while he was held at gunpoint.
Then again, there's no particular reason why we should expect a lapsed Jew to produce a genuinely good Christmas song. Becoming ridiculously popular for his subversive duds rather than his romantic marvels is hardly Berlin's fault!
Indeed, Berlin was, of course, responsible for White Christmas which was, allegedly, the most frequently-sung song in the world after Happy Birthday To You (from which much can be inferred concerning the human race); about which the only positive thing that can be said, is that it is considerably better than Happy Holiday.
Anyway... 'enjoy'...
* We celebrate Christmas because it is a Christian celebration - so to refuse to call Christmas Christmas is simply looking for any excuse to express hatred. Like using CE (Common Era) instead of AD (Anno Domini). The calendar system just is based on the (assumed) birth of Christ, but renaming it to pretend it isn't is exactly the kind of deniable, passive-aggressive, girly-slap-fight wimpishness that we can reliably expect from politically correct academics.
Note: Let's remind ourselves that Berlin could write a lovely song, performed here by the late and (by me) lamented Peter Skellern:
When I was a child, I always heard it as "Happy Holidays" (plural), and I always assumed the "holidays" were Christmas and New Year. But nobody ever explained the meaning of the phrase, so maybe I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the phrase now has sinister implications, as you say.
@Alan
ReplyDeleteIn this version Christmas gets a mention at the end.
"May your every wish come true" is a sentiment that needs to be carefully directed, I'd have thought. Or perhaps the intention was subversive?
Happy holiday, happy holiday
While the merry bells keep ringing
May your every wish come true
Happy holiday, happy holiday
May the calendar keep bringing
Happy holidays to you
Seeing old friends, oh, the fun of it all
At holiday time, holiday time
Presents and goodies and everything fine
At holiday time, holiday time
Happy holiday, oh, happy holiday
While the merry bells keep ringing
May your every wish come true
Happy holiday, happy holiday
May the calendar keep bringing
Happy holidays to you
Merry Christmas
Happy holiday, happy holiday
This atheist scorns "Happy Holidays": it's always "Merry Christmas" for me.
ReplyDeleteI invite you to share my favoured pronunciations: CE = Christian Era, BCE = Before the Christian Era.
What the world needs is a well-turned word or phrase corresponding to 'Islamophobia' but for Christianity.
The two Irving Berlin Christmas songs you deprecate are indeed horrible. I rate "Puttin' on the Ritz" as his best. But beware: you mustn't warble the original lyrics - not PC.
For something more wistful I rate "What'll I Do?" and "The Song Is Ended (But the Melody Lingers on)".
I'd forgotten Skellern; a little treat. Thank you. Here's a swap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAES7BhzSDg
Skellernish?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaEflIvOZxU
'Happy Holiday' makes much more sense as referring to the entire calendar in the context of the film it originates in, Holiday Inn.
ReplyDeleted Agreed. Although the Lancashire accent and brass band give a different feel.
ReplyDelete@m - Sure. These things happen by stages; and early ones are 'deniable'.
ReplyDeleteYes, this song is a real corker: Bland, infantile, vaguely sentimental, inchoate, almost incoherent lyrics (rearranging the lines in almost any alternative order would make no real difference to such message as the song can be said to convey, which is always telling). The most predictable and meandering of jazz noodlings, drooping themselves listlessly over an almost hysterically frenetic, nervous beat that seems to be striving far too hard to sound upbeat and jaunty while succeeding more in conveying the impression of impending nervous debility. Vocal melody, accompaniment and beat moreover all sound quite disjointed and disconnected from each other, as though they were all intended for different songs and were haphazardly slapped together at the last moment.
ReplyDeleteThe singer doesn't actually sound too bad to me in terms of actual talent; the more pressing problem is that she seems distant and unengaged, listlessly drawing out random syllables at intervals in what is presumably intended to be a sultry nightclub drawl (rather incongruous given the subject matter) in a painfully obvious effort at artificially instilling the struggling lyrics with an impression of depth and meaning. Given that there is nothing inherently seductive in the content of either lyrics or music, singing like this will not magically make them become any more so, however, except perhaps for those who have Sex (and very little else) permanently on the brain.
It boggles my mind that this awkward, floundering song could ever actually have achieved much popularity, except among those who didn't care much either for Christmas or Music (perhaps therein lies the secret to its success, as it effectively subverts both quite comprehensively, while ostensibly seeming to join in the spirit of the thing).
@H - That's it in a nutshell!
ReplyDelete