When I was a kid, this
was the Saturday when we finally could bring the Christmas tree inside, set it up
in the bay window of the living room and decorate it. Dad hung the lights
(including bubble lights, which no one else in the neighborhood had), and Mom
strung the tinsel garland around. Then we offspring could hang the ornaments,
some of which had had their color worn off from so many years of use. When the
tree went up, we were officially on our way to Christmas.
Technically, “O
Tannenbaum” is not about Christmas
trees. A Tannenbaum is a fir tree, and the song is about the evergreen as a
symbol of constancy and faithfulness. So, it’s not so much of a stretch to
include it in the songs of the season.
The lyrics date from
1824 and the melody is an old Silesian folk tune that was known as far back as
the 16th Century. It’s interesting (to me), that when I was
searching for a version of “O Tannenbaum” that didn’t make me throw up in my
mouth, one of the results that popped up was this propaganda piece from World
War II:
Looking at all the happy
merry folk wrapping gifts and such, the first thoughts that popped into my head
was all the perfume, wine and other luxuries that the Occupation troops in
France were sending home to their loved ones. That and, “Hey—no footage of
Stalingrad? ‘Cuz that one’s got less than two months to go belly up.”
But that’s just me.
With the appropriation
of “O Tannenbaum” to the actual, decorated Christmas tree, it always strikes me
that it should be sung by a children’s choir. So here it is from the granddaddy
of all boys’ choirs:
1 comment:
Lieber GOTT, CHRISTIE!
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