1 The "C" Word

In September I cannot mention the "C" word...the festive period in December...the time of midwinter celebration...you know what I'm on about?  I like "that time of year" as much as anyone else and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the music involved, well, some of it.  Its just that for me and folk like me (ie music teachers) it starts in August when we need to start rehearsing for it.  I'm lucky that I usually manage to put it off until about mid October - ie in a week when I go back after half term -  but its always there nagging in the background or lurking somewhere in the music department.  Sleigh bells, cheesy slushy string arrangements, chestnuts roasting...from early October onward on TV (I have already seen a Christmas "C-word" ad on TV.  1st week of October)...at least supermarkets have the decency these days to go overboard about Halloween so at least you get "The Monster Mash" or similar for the last week of October.




But then it will be wall to wall jollity with the occasional piece of slow fluff for grandma.  To be fair to all the songwriters of the 30s-50s at least their songs had some sense of longevity and were well constructed (OK, Slade are OK too).  But then last year even Status Quo did one...


How the mighty have fallen.

A few years ago I was asked to present an assembly to our entire senior school (1200 11-18 year olds in a hall) about carols and then produce a cheesy "sing-along" backing track.  I'm sure they were fascinated (not) by the historical perspective of the carol as a celebratory song sung to a circle dance and so on.  Well, maybe not. They at least sang with gusto for a change.  Still, the cheesy backing had all manner of sleigh bells and jingly synth sounds and I'm really quite ashamed of it.

However, we at least have the doyen (however it is spelled and whatever it means) of popular song composers to cut through to the heart of the matter.  All power to Tom Lehrer's elbow!