Depressing Christmas Songs

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Beer
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 08:45 AM

Your on stage for next year John. It's actually very good.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Actually Joe_F
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 03:21 PM

I believe that "The Harp Weaver" by Edna St Vincent Millay has been set to music.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 04:54 PM

John-

Very tasteful!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 05:19 PM

I find the following endlessly depressing, when played incessantly from mid-November until December 31:

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
Jingle Bells
Little Drummer Boy
Christmas Time in the City
Away in a Manger
Jingle Bell Rock
The First Noel
We Three Kings
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire
Feliz Navidad
Silent Night
and on
and on
and on
and on
and on
and on
and on
And over and over
and over and over
and over and over
et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam

Subjected to enough of the above, I might just shoot myself!

Bah! Humbug! To quote a great but misunderstood genius of past times.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,c.g.
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 06:17 AM

Oh sight of anguish, what weeping innocence is here/ A manger for his bed./ The brutes yield refuge to his woe./ Men, the worse brutes no pity show,/ Nor give him friendly aid.

William Knapp 1698 - 1768

Verse two starts 'Did he, that infant bathed in tears.'

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: MikeRebec
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 06:51 AM

Perhaps the most awful, but not necessarily lyrically depressing, Christmas song for me is that dreadful Slade song that gets trotted out every year. Thankfully I don't tune in to the radio stations that play it but it still gets through when in the supermarket for instance.
What about Jethro Tull's Christmas Song from the Living in the Past double album and also their Christmas album which is in fact an excellent album.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Carol
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 08:28 AM

Please Daddy don't get drunk this Christmas - no seriously it's got to be Stan Roger's First Christmas Away from Home - I only dare sing it twice a year!

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Beer
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 08:35 AM

Have to agree with you Carol on the Stan Rogers number. That is one heck of a tear jerker.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: bankley
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 08:35 AM

"Birkenau Tannenbaum" (in the Gypsy sector)

I'm working on it.... slowly

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Jim Carrooll
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 12:33 PM

Nice parody on Belafonte's 'Scarlet Ribbons' entitled 'Scarlet Ray-guns
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 05:37 PM

"Who persuades us to bankrupt ourselves?
SANTA, SANTA,
Sod him, his reindeer and his elves,
SANTA BLOODY CLAUSE..."
(Eric Bogle)
Amen.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Peace
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 05:39 PM

Truthfully, I find most Christmas songs depressing. But then, I find Christmas depressing.

Subject: Lyr Add: BOOTIFUL TURKEY (Dick Miles)
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 05:49 PM

Bootiful turkey.
Bootiful Turkey and christmas pud.
too much booze and too much food.
Too many old films on the telly,
Indigestion for brain and belly.

Bootiful Turkey what a fate
imprisoned in a tiny cage
whats he done to deserve this life
Raised and reared for the Butchers knife.

Bootiful Turkey for the western child
third world starving cannot smile
A Bowl of rice or malnutrition
must be this poor childs only vision

Bootiful Turkey we must sell more
prices up and profits soar
In praise of mamman, we hear them cheer
Merry christmas and happy new year. Dick Miles

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Stringsinger
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 06:06 PM

There is a Santa Claus Blues. From the 20's.

Blue Christmas performed by Elvis.

Subject: Lyr Add: IN THE WORKHOUSE (George R. Sims)
From: quantock
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 06:12 PM

Diane suggests this one:
"I'm getting nutt'n for Christmas 'cos I ain't bin nutt'n but bad."

Maybe the album title could be something like "Oh F**k! It's Christmas"

Seriously though, maybe you could put this to music. I remembered that there was something called "Christmas Day in the Workhouse". I typed it in Google, and found it immediately:

CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE WORKHOUSE
(A Poem by George R. Sims, 1847-1922)


It is Christmas Day in the workhouse,
And the cold, bare walls are bright
With garlands of green and holly,
Ad the place is a pleasant sight;
For with clean-washed hands and faces,
In a long and hungry line
The paupers sit at the table,
For this is the hour they dine.

And the guardians and their ladies,
Although the wind is east,
Have come in their furs and wrappers,
To watch their charges feast;
To smile and be condescending,
Put pudding on pauper plates.
To be hosts at the workhouse banquet
They've paid for — with the rates.

Oh, the paupers are meek and lowly
With their "Thank'ee kindly, mum's!'"
So long as they fill their stomachs,
What matter it whence it comes!
But one of the old men mutters,
And pushes his plate aside:
"Great God!" he cries, "but it chokes me!
For this is the day she died!"

The guardians gazed in horror,
The master's face went white;
"Did a pauper refuse the pudding?"
"Could their ears believe aright?"
Then the ladies clutched their husbands,
Thinking the man would die,
Struck by a bolt, or something,
By the outraged One on high.

But the pauper sat for a moment,
Then rose 'mid silence grim,
For the others had ceased to chatter
And trembled in every limb.
He looked at the guardians' ladies,
Then, eyeing their lords, he said,
"I eat not the food of villains
Whose hands are foul and red:

"Whose victims cry for vengeance
From their dark, unhallowed graves."
"He's drunk!" said the workhouse master,
"Or else he's mad and raves."
"Not drunk or mad," cried the pauper,
"But only a haunted beast,
Who, torn by the hounds and mangled,
Declines the vulture's feast.

"I care not a curse for the guardians,
And I won't be dragged away;
Just let me have the fit out,
It's only on Christmas Day
That the black past comes to goad me,
And prey on my burning brain;
I'll tell you the rest in a whisper —
I swear I won't shout again.

"Keep your hands off me, curse you!
Hear me right out to the end.
You come here to see how paupers
The season of Christmas spend;.
You come here to watch us feeding,
As they watched the captured beast.
Here's why a penniless pauper
Spits on your paltry feast.

"Do you think I will take your bounty,
And let you smile and think
You're doing a noble action
With the parish's meat and drink?
Where is my wife, you traitors —
The poor old wife you slew?
Yes, by the God above me,
My Nance was killed by you!

'Last winter my wife lay dying,
Starved in a filthy den;
I had never been to the parish —
I came to the parish then.
I swallowed my pride in coming,
For ere the ruin came,
I held up my head as a trader,
And I bore a spotless name.

"I came to the parish, craving
Bread for a starving wife,
Bread for the woman who'd loved me
Through fifty years of life;
And what do you think they told me,
Mocking my awful grief,
That 'the House' was open to us,
But they wouldn't give 'out relief'.

"I slunk to the filthy alley —
'Twas a cold, raw Christmas Eve —
And the bakers' shops were open,
Tempting a man to thieve;
But I clenched my fists together,
Holding my head awry,
So I came to her empty-handed
And mournfully told her why.

"Then I told her the house was open;
She had heard of the ways of that,
For her bloodless cheeks went crimson,
and up in her rags she sat,
Crying, 'Bide the Christmas here, John,
We've never had one apart;
I think I can bear the hunger —
The other would break my heart.'

"All through that eve I watched her,
Holding her hand in mine,
Praying the Lord and weeping,
Till my lips were salt as brine;
I asked her once if she hungered,
And as she answered 'No' ,
T'he moon shone in at the window,
Set in a wreath of snow.

"Then the room was bathed in glory,
And I saw in my darling's eyes
The faraway look of wonder
That comes when the spirit flies;
And her lips were parched and parted,
And her reason came and went.
For she raved of our home in Devon,
Where our happiest years were spent.

"And the accents, long forgotten,
Came back to the tongue once more.
For she talked like the country lassie
I woo'd by the Devon shore;
Then she rose to her feet and trembled,
And fell on the rags and moaned,
And, 'Give me a crust — I'm famished —
For the love of God!' she groaned.

"I rushed from the room like a madman
And flew to the workhouse gate,
Crying, 'Food for a dying woman!'
And the answer came, 'Too late.'
They drove me away with curses;
Then I fought with a dog in the street
And tore from the mongrel's clutches
A crust he was trying to eat.

"Back through the filthy byways!
Back through the trampled slush!
Up to the crazy garret,
Wrapped in an awful hush;
My heart sank down at the threshold,
And I paused with a sudden thrill.
For there, in the silv'ry moonlight,
My Nance lay, cold and still.

"Up to the blackened ceiling,
The sunken eyes were cast —
I knew on those lips, all bloodless,
My name had been the last;
She called for her absent husband —
O God! had I but known! —
Had called in vain, and, in anguish,
Had died in that den — alone.

"Yes, there, in a land of plenty,
Lay a loving woman dead,
Cruelly starved and murdered
for a loaf of the parish bread;
At yonder gate, last Christmas,
I craved for a human life,
You, who would feed us paupers,
What of my murdered wife!"

'There, get ye gone to your dinners,
Don't mind me in the least,
Think of the happy paupers
Eating your Christmas feast;
And when you recount their blessings
In your smug parochial way,
Say what you did for me, too,
Only last Christmas Day."

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Guest. David Jones
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 07:05 PM

A parody on The Mistletoe Bough is The Workhouse Boy where instead of hiding in a trunk, he falls into a very large kettle of soup and isn't found until years later when the other orphans have finished the soup. As for Christmas Day in the Workhouse, the version I remember from school in London is:
T'was Christmas day in the workhouse, the snow was falling fast,
We don't want your christmas pudding, stick it etc. etc.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 07:34 PM

Quantock-

That one, Christmas Day in the Workhouse, is certainly one to mull over during the holiday season. I can just hear Utah Phillips reciting it.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 07:52 PM

Sorry, but I'm one of those who has quite enough trouble this time of year and I won't do anything to make it worse.

Look, Christmas is bad enough even for the Up Beat people, why try to make it worse? We have in this town a large across the highway sign that says in lights--HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A 'Christian' preacher/minister here writes letters to the Editor every year about it....he is somehow 'insulted' by it not being Merry Christmas. I know the man personally, and must bite my tongue every time I see him this time of year.

Like, he thinks 'everybody' celebrates HIS Christ Mass? Sorry, but I just don't get it.










pssstttt....Jesus wasn't even born this time of year. There were young lambs present....'Christ Mass' is a not so subtle borrowing of the Roman Saturnalia....lots of mass drunkenness and great orgies!








Oh, and 'suicide is painless'. Right. Don't kid yerself.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Bruce Michael Baillie
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 12:35 AM

...If it's a nice melancholy Christmas song you're after I've got one you might be interested in on YOUTUBE, It's called 'the Ghosts of Christmasses past' and concerns an old woman on her own at christmas whose family have all grown up and moved on, and her husband is dead. Not particularly suicidal but definately melancholy! search under my username, 'bailliekins'

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 01:35 AM

I actually LIKE The Kinks' "Father Christmas" (I'm rooting for the little hooligans), as well as Chuck Brodsky's "For Christmas We Got Nothin' Cause We're Jews." But f you want to find a Christmas song even more depressing than Stan Rogers'"First Christmas," try Jody Alis' "Christmastime Alone." Makes me want to crawl into a hot tub full of hot buttered rum and glogg and slit my wrists;

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 01:36 AM

I actually LIKE The Kinks' "Father Christmas" (I'm rooting for the little hooligans), as well as Chuck Brodsky's "For Christmas We Got Nothin' Cause We're Jews." But f you want to find a Christmas song even more depressing than Stan Rogers'"First Christmas," try Jody Alis' "Christmastime Alone." Makes me want to crawl into a hot tub full of hot buttered rum and glogg and slit my wrists.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 01:40 AM

See, that Jody Alis song is so depressing it made me post twice!

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Pat-Ric Nasty (a complete bastard)
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 02:03 AM

Can someone please send me the lyrics to the Wall Of Voodoo Christmas song "Shouldn't Have Given Him A Gun For Christmas"? It would make me a VERY cappy hamper (...note the clever spoonerism...). Thank you.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NEW DREIDEL SONG
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 02:22 AM

I notice nobody mentioned depressing Hanukkah songs, so in the interests of diversity, here goes:

THE NEW DREIDEL SONG

I had a little dreidel, I made it out of clay .
It looked like dreck and never dried,   So I threw it away

    O dreidel, dreidel, dreidel—who makes them out of clay?
    The plastic ones are better:--They're easier to play.

I got a nasty splinter from a dreidel made of wood
But then it got infected And now I don't feel so good

      That lousy little dreidel sent me to the ICU
      With a drug-resistant staph And now I think I'm gonna sue.

I felt compelled to gamble so to Vegas I flew down
But all along the Strip no dreidel tables could be found

        O dreidel, dreidel, dreidel--It's your game that I crave
        I'd bet that Bugsy Siegel would be spinning in his grave

So I went to shoot some craps, but just imagine how I felt
When the croupier demanded chips Instead of chocolate gelt!

        O dreidel, dreidel, dreidel—what a stupid thing I did
        I forgot you're not for grownups,    But you're only meant for kids!

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 03:10 PM

The Pogues song is the best depressing Xmas song. The dreidle song is very funny.


But I was wondering if anyone wrote a song about how depressing it is to be Jewish and hear nothing but Christmas songs on the radio for a month and a half?

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,highlandman
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 05:35 PM

Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Father Christmas" has always been a source of amazement to me: it's endlessly popular on the radio stations around here every year, and nobody seems to notice how depressing the lyrics are. Just part of the holiday noise (and I for one love Christmas, thank you very much).
The song isn't exactly "folky," but you could make it work with a guitar and voice, or some such simple ensemble.
-Glenn

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Simon G
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 04:48 AM

The words for George Papavgeris's self-nominated song - Without You On Christmas Day - are here

http://www.folk4all.net/WithoutYouOnChristmasDay.htm

It is definitely emotional, but not sure its depressing, as its autobiographical and George must find it depressing, so then perhaps we should.

To me its a powerful song about missing someone and celebrating the role they played. It deserves tears for certain. Sorry I can't see depression.

The Stan Roger's song is depressing, the line that gets me everytime is
"Hoping maybe that the boys will think to phone before the day is gone
Well, it's best they do it soon." -- I bet they didn't.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Lindsay In Wales
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:12 AM

I love the Christmas season, but with the minimum of fuss, no trudging endlessly from shop to shop looking for elusive presents. Food shopping done on line, gift shopping done on line, nice meal on the day with what is left of the family, nice big barrel of Freeminer beer from the brewery in the Forest of Dean
Lots of decorations, especially in the front windows that can be seen from the street, just to prove to the PC brigade that I am proud to be celebrating....Perfect!!!


From the Australian comedian Kevin Bloody Wilson, and sung to Jingle Bells...

Ho, ho, f...ing Ho, what a crock of shit
We all work for Santa Claus, we've had enough, we quit
We do all the f...ing work while he stars in the show
So stick your Christmas up your arse, ho ho f...ing ho!

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Vic Smith
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:17 PM

Miles Wootton's "There Are No Lights On Our Christmas Tree"

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: oldhippie
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:59 PM

Christmas In Fallujah - Jefferson Pepper

Christmas Is Pain - Roy Zimmerman

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: The Sandman
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 06:00 PM

Vic,KENNY B,has listed [no lights]as by CyrilTawney,I thought he was the author too. Dick Miles

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Vic Smith
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 06:46 AM

"Vic,KENNY B,has listed [no lights]as by CyrilTawney,I thought he was the author too. Dick Miles"

You are right, Dick. Miles used to sing that song at our club and he invariably sung his own songs, so I made the assumption that he had written it

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Essex Girl
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 08:32 AM

What about 'Knocking on the Window' by Sidney Carter?

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: DMcG
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 08:55 AM

I'm quite fond of O Poor Little Jesus.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Celtaddict
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 09:04 AM

You could stretch it one day more with 'The St. Stephen's Day Murders.'
Danny O'Flaherty's 'Christmas Without Family' is pretty grim also.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Midchuck
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 09:09 AM

They're all depressing, but mostly the ones that are intended to be happy, but get overdone so much.

I mostly sing Jackson Browne's "The Rebel Jesus."

That one makes sense.

Peter

Subject: Lyr Add: SUICIDE CHRISTMAS (from Insanity)
From: GUEST,Felilx Copola
Date: 30 Nov 07 - 11:52 AM

http://neillcalabro.com/music/insanity/songs/Suicide%20Xmas.mp3

"SUICIDE CHRISTMAS" from Athens Georgia band, INSANITY
was released in 1994.
The band stopped recording after the lead singer died of
cancer in 2001.
_____________________________________________________
"Christmas time
The unringing phone, the unplayed chime
Sitting at a party, no one in the room
The decision to make to knock over your doom

The chandelier green with the lights blinking red
The strength it will carry until your dead
A present to all, it's around your neck
A holiday cheer they'll never forget

Lovers will love throughout the year
But the 25th is a December tear

[chorus]
------------------
Killing yourself for Christmas
A gift they'll never return
Alone in a crowd, no one is proud
To learn of life's concern
------------------

Little baby Jesus, he was born on this day
The parents he gave you didn't know what to say
Your manger has fallen from under your feet
The chair will be next for your final seat

[chorus]

To the ones that have cheer
Should you make a creed
And help a person
To fulfill his need

Open your eyes and make a new friend
A suicide Christmas is a lonely end."

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 11:24 AM

OK, here's my weigh-in (I can't believe this thread has been going for 10 years. Wait a minute,m as somebody who used to be clinically depressed, yes I can).
"Circle of Steel" by Gordon Lightfoot
"I believe in Father Christmas" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer
"My Mother's Eyes" by Lee Murdock, about the loss of the family's dad on Lake Michigan at Christmas
"Father Christmas" by the Kinks, about a department-store Santa being mugged by poor kids.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LITTLE BOY THAT SANTA CLAUS FORGOT
From: Rog Peek
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 01:48 PM

THE LITTLE BOY THAT SANTA CLAUS FORGOT

He's the little boy that Santa Claus forgot,
And goodness knows, he didn't want a lot.

He sent a note to Santa for some soldiers and a drum,
It broke his little heart when he found Santa hadn't come.

In the street he envies all those lucky boys,
Then wanders home to last year's broken toys.
I'm so sorry for that laddie,
He hasn't got a daddy,
The little boy that Santa Claus forgot.

Spoken: (You know, Christmas comes but once a year for every girl and boy,
The laughter and the joy they find in each brand new toy.
I'll tell you of a little boy that lives across the way...
This little fella's Christmas is just another day.
He's the little boy that Santa Claus forgot,
And goodness knows, he didn't want a lot.)

In the street he envies all those lucky boys,
Then wanders home to last year's broken toys.
I'm so sorry for that laddie,
He hasn't got a daddy,
The little boy that Santa Claus forgot.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,elfinsbl21
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 04:13 PM

I will be hating you for Christmas   by Everclear-Excellent
If I was Santa Claus by Atmosphere

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Kathryn
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 05:18 PM

I have yet to see:
"Santa never made it to Darwin"

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,Erminturder
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 11:51 AM

I really love Christmas. Am I odd?

Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS IS NOW DRAWING NEAR AT HAND
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 12:22 PM

While I'm actually very fond of "Chistmas is now drawing near at hand" as sung by the Watersons, it is really pretty miserable!

I can't find it quickly on Mudcat, so here's a cut-and-paste:

CHRISTMAS IS NOW DRAWING NEAR AT HAND

Christmas is now drawing near at hand
Come serve the Lord and be at His command
And God a portion for you will provide
And give a blessing to your soul besides

Down in the garden where flowers growing ranks
Down on your bended knees and give the Lord thanks
Down on your knees and pray both night and day
Leave off your sins and live fro' pray tae pray

So proud and lofty is some sort of sin
Which many take delight and pleasure in
Whose conversation God doth smirch as lie
And yet He shakes His sword before He stri'

So proud and lofty do some people go
Dressing theirselves like players in a show
They patch and paint and dress with idle stuff
As if God had not made 'em fine enough

Even little children learn to curse and swear
And can't rehearse one word of godly prayer
Oh teach them better, oh teach them to rely
On Christ the sinner's friend who reigns on high

----------------------------------------------------
sung by Lal Waterson on the Watersons' "Frost And Fire" (1965)

"This moralising carol was much used by beggars and others towards Christmas
time. Its tune turns over and again attached to such carols as "The Fountain
of Christ's Blood", "Have You Not Heard of our Dear Saviour's Love" and
"The Black Decree", also to the favourite old dialogue-ballad of
"Death and the Lady", traceable to the sixteenth century. Here it is...
in a form common among gipsies habitually drifting through the West Midlands
half a century ago." - A.L. Lloyd 1965



Regards

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 12:26 PM

Make it through December.....Merle Haggard

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 12:28 PM

Not sure why I couldn't find the DT version first time.

Here it is!

Regards

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: GUEST,selby
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 12:57 PM

Joni Mitchell - River - all time top depressing christmas tune

Subject: Lyr Add: I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's Apprentice
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 03:31 PM

the following song is probably more cynical that depressing, but I think it fits none the less.....Merry Christmas to you all.

"I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS"
-- Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Greg Lake/Peter Sinfield)

They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth.

I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and the distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
Eyes full a tinsel and fire.

They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
They told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite.

And I believed in Father Christmas
I looked to the sky with excited eyes
Than I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him through his disguise.

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish, pain, and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear.

They said there'd be snow at Christmas
They said there'd be peace on earth.
Hallelujah, Noel, Be it heaven or hell,
The Christmas we get we deserve.

Subject: Lyr Add: INNOCENT'S SONG (C Causley/P Beer)
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's Apprentice
Date: 12 Dec 07 - 03:45 PM

And there is this one from the Cornish poet Charles Causley, with music by Phil Beer


INNOCENT'S SONG

Who's that knocking on the window,
Who's that standing at the door,
What are all those presents
Laying on the kitchen floor?

Who is the smiling stranger
With hair as white as gin,
What is he doing with the children
And who could have let him in?

Why has he rubies on his fingers,
A cold, cold crown on his head,
Why, when he caws his carol,
Does the salty snow run red?

Why does he ferry my fireside
As a spider on a thread,
His fingers made of fuses
And his tongue of gingerbread?

Why does the world before him
Melt in a million suns,
Why do his yellow, yearning eyes
Burn like saffron buns?

Watch where he comes walking
Out of the Christmas flame,
Dancing, double-talking:

Herod is his name.

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Dec 07 - 01:17 PM

I don't think anyone has mentioned "Christmas Day in the Workhouse" which contains these two nautical verses:

It was the schooner Hesperus.
It was sinking with all hands on shore;
So we wired, "Send the lifeboat from Wigan,
We've never had that here before."

But the brave lifeboat men, sir, at Wigan,
Replied on a postcard, "No fear!"
It's too far to come to the Goodwins.
Wrap the wreck up and send it on here."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Depressing Christmas Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Dec 07 - 01:21 PM

100!

And here's the reference at Oldpoetry to the rest of the verses to "Christmas Day in the Workhouse" by Weston and Lee: click here for website!

These two are best known for composing "With Her head Tucked Underneath Her Arm."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble