Google is such a powerful tool. Gosh, we can find out almost anything almost as quickly as you can type. Watch a commercial and you know that you know that actor from somewhere. No problem. One minute of googling tells you he had a small recurring role on Little House on The Prairie, married a girl he met on the set and had 4 kids. He now does commercials and writes children’s books. Aw, isn’t that nice?
That is the upside of google. The tool has the potential for good, but alas information giveth and information taketh away. Sometimes you are just better off not knowing things. Like the singer of a song you really like donated a million dollars to Planned Parenthood. You can never listen to that song again. You wish you never googled it.
This is what happened to me today. One of my all time favorite Christmas songs is “What Child is This?” That song, more than just about any other has always put me in the Christmas mood. When Burle Ives or the Chipmunks couldn’t get it done, “What Child Is This?” never failed me. Never. Well, that is until this Christmas.
Up until yesterday I was vaguely familiar with the song Greensleeves, but had never really though about it. That was until I saw this Snickers commercial.
How fascinating, thought I. My favorite Christmas hymn has the identical musical settings as some ol’ English ditty. Why, let me Google it to find out more about this fascinating bit o’ history. That was when the I got hit with the double whammy of Google/Wikipedia TMI. Too much information. Turns out that this beautiful, beautiful music that never failed to conjure thought of the Angelic hosts was most likely written 500 years ago about a hooker. Yes, that is right, a hooker.
Wikipedia glibly informed me that “It is widely thought that Lady Green Sleeves was a promiscuous young woman and perhaps a prostitute.[1] At the time, the word “green” had sexual connotations, most notably in the phrase “a green gown”, a reference to the way that grass stains might be seen on a lady’s dress if she had made love outside.”
Goodbye angelic hosts, goodbye Christmas, So long Santa 🙁 I hope you are happy Google. I worried I would never be able to listen to that song again without that [cursed] “information” in the back of my mind. But I decided to try. So I went to YouTube and found this lovely version by a lovely young angelic Catholic girl named Charlotte Church. Give a listen.
Isn’t that beautiful. You know, I should Google Charlotte Church to find out more about this beautiful lil’ angel.
Oh. Crud.
November 13, 2008 at 5:43 am
We have a Charlotte Church Christmas CD from many years ago and I treasure it dearly, but we will never buy anything else she’s ever made. We think about what a shame it is whenever we listen to it. Stunningly beautiful music.
November 13, 2008 at 6:07 am
I have also heard that Greensleeves was attributed to Henry VIII (probably falsely). Isn’t that the icing on the cake? Kit
November 13, 2008 at 7:07 am
Charlotte Church is truly awesome. Her voice is so incredibly powerful and pure.
At any rate, I have the remarkable ability to forget inconvenient instances of TMI, so that really helps. 😉
~cmpt
November 13, 2008 at 7:19 am
does putting your fingers in your ears and shouting “LA LA LA LA LA” help with things you read, too? 🙂
November 13, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Think of the music for Greensleeves as being cleansed and redeemed with the lyrics of “What Child is This?”
The FatMan
November 13, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hey, I’ve got one for ya. Have you ever wondered why dogs sniff each other when they meet? Well, here’s another “old English ditty” that was redeemed by the words to “The Church’s One Foundation.”
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiDOGMEETG;ttDOGMEETG.html
The lyrics are adapted slightly to a different tune. Use your imagination.
November 13, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Eeeew.
But I think I shall do a little googling to see if green M&M's tie in with this…
November 13, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I totally get not being into stuff when you find out where it came from or things about who sang it, but I’d suggest you don’t need to ditch What Child just yet. In my I’m-not-a-historian-but-I-love-history-and-folksongs opinion, this melody was probably a folk melody. It probably had a number of different lyric versions, but Greensleeves is the one we know because it was published as such in 1584.
Surely its redeeming lyrical qualities outweigh its shady melodic associations? Here are the full lyrics; most hymn books these days are missing the second halves of verses two and three.
1. What Child is this, who, laid to rest,
on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
while shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
the babe, the Son of Mary.
2. Why lies He in such mean estate,
where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear for sinners here
the silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
the cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
the babe, the Son of Mary.
3. So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
come peasant, king, to own Him;
The King of kings salvation brings,
let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise the song on high,
The Virgin sings her lullaby;
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The babe, the Son of Mary.
November 13, 2008 at 2:48 pm
This comment has been removed by the author.
November 13, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Lee Gilbert said…
Are you kidding me? Wikipedia is not exactly an authoritative source. It can be written by ANYBODY and I would not think of anything found there as “information.” At best, it can point you to authoritative sources.
What if it said, “It is widely thought that Adeste Fideles was written by Luccullus in honor of the god Jupiter”? Would that scandalize you?
We Christians have enemies, and there is nothing they like better than to apply a coat of filth over everything we treasure.
So buck up. It is widely thought that Wikipedia is a very unreliable source.
November 13, 2008 at 2:57 pm
“So buck up. It is widely thought that Wikipedia is a very unreliable source.”
That depends. The vast majority of entries are heavily footnoted, and the footnotes are linked to the sources, so facts can be checked for reliability.
Considering it is the work of thousands of volunteers in all arcane manner of expertise, Wikipedia is a remarkable enterprise.
Remember, check the footnotes.
November 13, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Mr. Gilbert,
If you promise not to tell anyone I will let you in on a little secret. (shhh, I don’t really care about greensleeves). plus (I am not really scandalized by anything.) I was using the occasion of greensleeves and Charlotte Church to make a larger point in a slightly humorous (if perhaps too subtle) way.
So please consider me adequately bucked.
November 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I had always heard that the setting “the morning after” after she had given up her maiden head.
The woman was protesting to her lover that she had never had another man but him.
She was protesting him breaking up with her over charges of giving in too easily. Surely a lesson that many could use today.
November 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I had always heard that the setting “the morning after” after she had given up her maiden head.
The woman was protesting to her lover that she had never had another man but him.
She was protesting him breaking up with her over charges of giving in too easily. Surely a lesson that many could use today.
November 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I had always heard that the setting “the morning after” after she had given up her maiden head.
The woman was protesting to her lover that she had never had another man but him.
She was protesting him breaking up with her over charges of giving in too easily. Surely a lesson that many could use today.
November 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I had always heard that the setting “the morning after” after she had given up her maiden head.
The woman was protesting to her lover that she had never had another man but him.
She was protesting him breaking up with her over charges of giving in too easily. Surely a lesson that many could use today.
November 13, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The way I heard it, the melody was a traditional English folk melody which doubtless had many different lyrics set to it. The lyrics we traditionally associate with the melody are attributed to King Henry VIII.
This happens frequently with traditional melodies. (Think “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “The ABC Song” or “My Country Tis of Thee” and “God Save the Queen”.)
November 13, 2008 at 11:25 pm
@sleeping beastly – I get it, sort of like how you can sing “I’m a Little Teapot” to the Jeopardy theme.
November 14, 2008 at 12:36 am
As someone who has studied a bit of music history, I can say that it was not uncommon for devout folks to put holier words to songs that had questionable content, as a way to sort of purify them. Musicians even went so far in the Renaissance period as to use popular melodies for the Mass parts such as the Sanctus or Agnus Dei to make them more appealing to the common folk. Now where have I heard that before??
November 14, 2008 at 1:45 am
Patrick, thank you for ruining it for
the rest of us.