“A Title By Other Words Would Be … Confusing?”
Let’s continue with the game theme this week. My initial plan was to write a regular column until I read a fascinating article on www.mikewillnotfoolus.com that had to do with the first recording of “The Christmas Song” by the late, great crooner, Nat King Cole. According to my highly reliable souse—uh, source—Cole refused to sing the song because of its original title, “The Yuletide Chorale.”
“This is a stupid title,” Mr. Cole reportedly said. “It’s a Christmas song; why not just call it that?” Which is when a light bulb went on in the lyricist’s head (Bob Wells, in case you needed a factoid). The song title was rewritten, and the rest is musical history.
Not to be outdone by an article from such a prestigious and official website, yours truly went to great pains to find out if any other Christmas songs began with titles other than the ones we have known them by. And guess what, kids? I found several.
That is when I dropped the idea I was working on for this week’s column and came up with today’s game, which I sincerely hope you enjoy as much as I enjoyed making up researching the titles. What follows is a list of the original titles of some well-known and well-recorded Christmas songs. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to write down the rewritten, familiar title for each one. Answers follow the list, and feel free to score five points for each correct answer–top score would be one hundred and fifty points. Just remember, as with last week’s game, no peeking!
Ready, everyone? Here goes:
The Original Titles
1. Here’s the Fifteenth Letter of the Alphabet, You Woody Perennial Plant of the Season.
2. Pleasure and Happiness to the Collective Nations, Peoples, Flora, Fauna, and Natural Features of the Third Planet from the Sun.
3. Yours Truly Scrutinized an Odd-Numbered Grouping of Yawls.
4. Can Anyone Claim Knowledge of the Identity of the Parents of a Particular Unidentified Minor?
5. The Ternion Androcentric Eminences Originating from Eastern Asia Exist.
6. Igneous Object Circumambulating the Yuletide Abies Fraseri.
7. The Musical Devices are Enclosed, Rather than Having a Fixed Clapper.
8. An Ilex Good-Humored Natale.
9. I, And the Entire Ensemble, Sparing None, Express Felicitations That Your Yule Be Extremely Buoyant.
10. Lilliputian Judean area at 31.9466° N, 35.3027° E.
11. Exuberance Directed to the Planet.
12. Babushka Suffered from Severe Compression by Rangifer Tarandus.
13. I Command You to Proclaim Upon an Oversized, Steep, Natural Geologic Protrusion.
14. This Arctic Tundra Caribou With A Germanic Appellation, Possesses A Crimson Proboscis.
15. Unpigmented Natal Celebration as a Hallucinatory Phenomenon for Me.
16. Embellish the Vestibule.
17. In Awe of the Nocturnal Time Span Characterized by Sanctification.
18. Omnipotent Supreme Being that Elicits Respite to Ecstatic Distinguished and Polite Males.
19. Advance, Those of You Who Collectively Claim Belief.
20. I Command, and You Shall Obey that Your Yuletide be Not Only Festive but Miniscule, as Well.
21. Gleeful Yule (Hostility Concluded)
22. Deafened Nocturnal.
23. Amazon Prime Delivered My Package When Not One Cloud Obscured the Sky at One Second Past 12:00am.
24. No Other Presents, Thank You Very Much, Providing I Receive Your Physique and Chi.
25. Despite the Many Different Presents I Might Receive this Yuletide, Hopefully I’ll Get the Only Item on My Wish List: A Pair of Central Incisors.
26. Cute Name of a Homosapien of Crystallized Vapor.
27. Argentum Tintinnabulums.
28. Ilex Aquifolium and Hedera.
29. Is Your Auditory Perception Identical to My Own?
30. Canticle of Carillon.
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Answers
1. “O Christmas Tree”
2. “Joy to the World”
3. “I Saw Three Ships”
4. “What Child is This?”
5. “We Three Kings of Orient Are”
6. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
7. “Jingle Bells”
8. “Holly Jolly Christmas”
9. “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”
10. “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
11. “Joy to the World”
12. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”
13. “Go Tell it on the Mountain”
14. “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
15. “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”
16. “Deck the Halls”
17. “O, Holy Night”
18. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
19. “O Come All Ye Faithful”
20. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
21. “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
22. “Silent Night”
23. “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
24. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
25. “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth”
26. “Frosty the Snowman”
27. “Silver Bells”
28. “The Holly and the Ivy”
29. “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
30. “Carol of the Bells”
I need to lie down now. All this research was exhausting!
This week’s Street Advertising Smile:
