The Rules: Pick a Christmas lyric that inspires silly thought and discuss it. Then either tag people or simply invite your readers to chime in with their own silliness.
Feel free to use the "Cousin Eddie" image by copying the following code and replacing the '(' and ')' with '<' and '>' :
(a href="http://markleslie.blogspot.com/2006/12/mark-leslies-silly-christmas-lyric.html")(img src="http://static.flickr.com/136/321235351_90abf16624_m.jpg" alt="Mark Leslie's Silly Christmas Lyric meme" /)
The Song: Frosty the Snowman. Written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson and first recorded by Gene Autry in 1950. (Original title "Frosty the Snow Man")
Lyrics in Question: "He led them down the streets of town right to the traffic cop. He only paused a moment when he heard him holler "Stop!"
The Comment: Before I dive into the lyrics I must confess that the song has always confused me. I've often questioned why Frosty would be a jolly, happy soul. I mean, sure, if the hat had some magic in it and brought Frosty to life, what sort of life would it really be? I explored that in a dark humour story I published a long time ago called "That Old Silk Hat They Found" - the story looks at what "life" might really be like for poor Frosty . . . born to the world with no legs to romp around on and feeble twigs for arms . . . . you can listen to the story for free via a podcast or even read the ebook version in my new ebook Snowman Shivers, which contains two of my snowman horror stories. Available on Amazon
and Smashwords.But enough of the self-promotion . . . on to my "over the top" analysis of the lyrics.
I think that there's evidence Frosty is a delinquent and a bad influence. After all, the moment he is created he goes thumping around over the hills of snow - one might imagine just how wreckless he is being, the kids following him as if he's some sort of Pied Piper figure, likely mimicking him in his wanton destructive behaviour instead of spending time with their family or perhaps even studying quietly, reading, volunteering at a soup kitchen or attending mass.
Frosty even admits that he's here for a good time, not a long time.
"Let's run and we'll have some fun," he says. "Before I melt away."
In the manner of bad influence rock stars, his melting away is an obvious ode to the concept of it being better to burn out than to rust. It's all about short-term living big.
He obviously won't have to own up to the consequences of his inhibitions and can run wild, leaving the children to clean up the mess he leaves behind as he runs here and there, all around the square laughing as the children try to chase him down.
His biggest indiscretion, of course, is the example he sets for the kids when he disobeys the traffic cop in the song. Instead of following the police officer's orders, Frosty merely pauses a moment, then, obviously, continues his horseplay, showing the kids that it's okay to run wild and carefree, paying no attention to any sort of law and order.
Of course, the clincher is that, at the end of the song, you can imagine him saying, in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, the line made famous in the original Terminator movie: "I'll be back! (again some day")
I say we should ban this song because of the terrible example it sets for kids.
What about you? Are you with me on just how nasty and terrible an influence Frosty can be on the kids? Perhaps it's another song. Steal this idea for your own blog or share your thoughts in a comment here. Have fun, be goofy. Go ahead, it's okay. Frosty would want you to do so . . .
[To read my previous Silly Christmas Lyric commentary, check out 2010 (Here Comes Santa Claus) 2009 (I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus), 2008 (Silent Night), 2007 (Silver Bells) and the original 2006 (The Christmas Song)]
2 comments:
This meme isn't funny enough! anyway thank you!
Sorry to disappoint you aquarium supplies - but I was shooting for "silly" rather than funny.
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