Carols roasting on an open fire

Let’s roast some Christmas carols!

I love Christmas carols. (Real Christ-mass carols, that is; miss me with vapid secular “jingle bells” nonsense.) Still, just as none of us is without sin, there’s something to criticize in every song.

The First Noel – my brother in Christ, may I introduce you to the concept of “scansion”? Fitting the three syllables “they looked up” to a line with seven notes just does not work, and it hurts every time you try.

Joy To the World – a favorite, nearly perfect. Still… “fields and floods” alliterates beautifully, and I get that it’s an archaic word for “rivers”, but I imagine people are wincing when they sing it in western North Carolina this year.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – I absolutely love it, but what’s up with the classism? Why is it addressed only to the gentry? Whatever happened to “he has brought down rulers from their thrones”?

Your turn!