sovay: (Claude Rains)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote in [personal profile] poliphilo 2017-12-17 09:25 pm (UTC)

The verses- which no-one sings any more- are a bit of fluff about horny young men picking up girls and going for joy rides- and the one-horse sleigh is a cock-rocket de jour- the 1850s equivalent of the T Birds and little Deuce Coupes the Beach Boys used to sing about.

I've read the verses and this is a wonderful summary of them.

I won't link. I don't want to do anything to perpetuate the drama.

Hamill's "'The Story I Must Tell': 'Jingle Bells' in the Minstrel Repertoire" (Theatre Survey 58:3, September 2017) is entirely available online, if you want to link to that. I think she must have written about the song's origins before, because I knew (although I couldn't have told you where I learned) that it came from minstrelsy, but I understand it is the sort of news that is perpetually outraging, or at least a good excuse for outrage, for some people.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting