Does anyone else grimace each time “Here Comes Santa Claus” descends from sound systems at malls or supermarkets?
After doing a little research – thanks, Wikipedia! – I learned that Gene Autry, the song’s coauthor, rode a horse in the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade in Los Angeles, got inspired, and in 1947 recorded the first of many renditions of the perennial classic. Autry undoubtedly intended to express the delight he felt at participating in the parade and hearing the crowd chant, “Here comes Santa Claus!” Perhaps visions of spreading Buddy-the-Elf-like Christmas cheer for all to hear danced through his head as he penned the song’s lyrics.
So I realize I’m probably being downright Scrooge-like to think of raining on Gene’s parade. However, elements of this song bug me, and considering that most people probably haven’t gone to great lengths to research the song on Wikipedia like I have, I thought I might raise just a few points about its lyrics.
One line particularly makes me sad, even a little angry sometimes. It’s actually omitted from some versions of the song...just not the versions I seem to hear while I’m walking through the aisles of local toy stores. How are kids supposed to feel when they hear, “He doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor / He loves you just the same” if they happen not to be rich? I think I’d feel like Santa hated my guts if my stockings weren’t consequently stuffed.
And then the song drags God into it. Find your solace, boys and girls, in knowing that even if Santa doesn’t bring you presents, “Santa knows that we’re God’s children / That makes everything right.” Just wondering...is this same Santa still planning on eating whatever cookies and milk we leave out for him?
I alternately laugh and cringe when I hear the song’s litany of candy-coated mixed metaphors. A good one is, “Hang your stockings and say your prayers ‘cause Santa Claus comes tonight.” Perhaps, when the song was written, bedtime prayers were simply a matter of course, but today the singer sounds like he’s hedging his bets. The same goes for, “Let’s give thanks to the Lord above that Santa Claus comes tonight!”
The line that takes the cake, though, is “Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light.” I’ve spent several minutes pondering the meaning of this line, and I’m hard-pressed to reach any conclusion other than that we’re being abducted by aliens. No one on the planet will get hurt, provided that we proceed immediately to the bright beam under that saucer-like thing and abscond with their leader.
Oh, but first grab some milk and cookies.
3 comments:
Grandma didn't experience "Peace on earth..." when she followed the light, she got run over by a reindeer! Guess she should've checked to see if the light was actually Rudolf's nose.
"It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
Singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on."
Merry (post)Christmas, David!
Carol D
I don't think there's a problem with the rich/poor bit; for me I'm encouraged about his care for the poor.
My bigger problem is how the lyrics of this song directly put Santa Claus into the place rightfully held by Jesus, in the continuing extended metaphor of Santa as a Nordic deity.
And in that light, I do disagree with the rich/poor bit. For Jesus does care a great deal if you're rich or poor- he loves the poor, and God speaks clearly that the mere presence of wealth is an oppression of the poor. He loves the rich enough to call them to turn to Holy Sister Poverty, where they can know the true joy of depending on him.
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