There is nothing redeeming about this song musically-speaking. Truthfully, I can't even say I like it. However, it sure does stir up the memories of Christmases past. My sisters and I would stack up as many LPs as the record player would allow ("Awwww! Val! Mom's going to yell at you if she sees how many records you put on there!) and then crank up the stereo as loud as Mom would allow (Awwww! Val! Mom's going to yell at you if you turn it on that loud!). You can see how Val was the ringlea, um, bandleader in all of this, while me and Mel were innocent bystanders helplessly following her corrupt footsteps, right? Then we would proceed to sing this song at the top of our lungs complete with the over-enunciation of the "p" at the end of hula-hooP. It was as if our Mom was not a music teacher and had taught us exactly nothing about music and the proper performance of it. Anyone reading this from the Swanton Missionary Church and who also remembers the "Reach Out to Jesus" fiasco back in the 70's, please feel free to ponder this statement over the next few days. I'm sure you will have a renewed appreciation for our poor Mom!
You know that adage, "It sounds like music to my ears?" Our Mom was an accomplished musician and I guarantee this song made her ears itch until they bled and also instilled the desire for her to reach down our throats and yank our tonsils out by the roots (thankyouverymuch Jamie Hafner, University of Toledo Band Director for sharing that with our All County Band back in the 80's. I probably didn't learn a darn thing about music then either, but I loved this visual and have used it myself repeatedly through the years!). It's really no wonder that Val ended up not having any tonsils because either a) they were surgically removed or b) Mom removed them using the procedure described above. It really all depends on who's telling the story.
You should probably feel sorry for our Mom right now for having to put up with us all of those years. It's a wonder she's still mostly sane!
Admittedly, we did these things just to see how long we could get away with it. We knew it irritated our poor Mother who was out in the kitchen whipping up thousands of batches of Christmas cookies because she loved us in spite of us playing this ridiculous song on her stereo at sound barrier breaking levels. Needless to say, Mom hated intensely disliked this record! It ranked right up there with the album "Songs Your Mother Never Sang" which we also listened to whenever she was gone because she hated that one too even though it was her Dad's to begin with. For the record, she probably didn't really make thousands of batches of cookies, but she always said she had to quadruple any cookie recipe she made if there were to be any left for us to eat after giving them away for Christmas gifts. Since she made at least 14 different kinds, that probably equals somewhere close to thousands of batches if you do math like Val. I never did figure out what "left" meant. We always snagged our cookies while they were still warm. Everyone else got what was "left".
Anyway, enjoy...or step away from your computer and in honor of our poor Mother, don't listen to this song. And maybe you should say a prayer for her too. Sometimes I think she's still recovering from having to raise us!
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