Think Before You Sing

December 25 th has come and gone but in a lot of places it is just beginning to look a lot like a winter wonderland.  With that being the case I want to take a quick look at part of the song winter wonderland.   Winter wonderland was written by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. These lyrics seem to be used by Bing Crosby .  I want to look at who or what is the snowman. The line is sung twice, the first time: In the meadow we can build a snowman, then pretend that he is Parson Brown. And the second time: In the meadow we can build a snowman, And pretend that he’s a circus clown I don’t think there is any debate on what a Circus Clown is but who is Parson Brown? This is a heavily debated topic and you can find all sorts of articles on it. My conclusion has been that Parson Brown was the generic title used for traveling pastors that would tend to small towns. This would include weddings and that is when the line makes sense in contex...

  I want to talk about the song The First Noel, the great Christmas anthem that we all sing without stopping to think about what the word noel means and if we do know what it means we do not stop to teach it to others. Here is the Definition according to google: Christmas, especially as a refrain in carols and on Christmas cards. So the chorus of the first Noel has the exact same meaning as: Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Born is the King of Israel There are not necessarily any issues with that statement but I think we often think there is more meaning when we use the work noel instead and that is simply on the case. These issues do not stop there, let’s take a peek at the first verse. The first Noel the angel did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay; in fields where they lay keeping their sheep, on a cold winter's night that was so deep. So we have some things to look at briefly. First again is the use of Noel. Looking at the firs...

This week I want to leave you with something to help you think. If you watched the video about the Stryper Album God Damn Evil  then you know that I had some issues with it's form. I also expressed hope that Even The Devil Believes would not have the same issues.  I have completed my research on this and will be posting both charts below for you to make your own decisions about.  These charts break down each song by the lyrics listed in the included booklet as well as what you actually hear when you Listen to the lyrics. The added lyrics are then the Lyrics that you here that are not in the book and the closing section is the final section in the song. God Damn Evil   Even The Devil Believes I - Intro V - Verses C - Choruses B - Bridge E - Ending PC - Pre-Chorus LC - Layered Chorus RL - Repeated Line There was also some issues about errors in the lyrics in the booklet disused in the video. There are some errors still in the booklet included with Even The Devil Believ...

I personally believe you should think about anything before you do it. If you find yourself doing it simply because someone told you to then that is not good enough. I also believe that you shouldn’t ask anyone to do anything without explaining why to them. You are free to do what you want but let’s look at some reason that singing should not be simply repeating other things. First, let’s define singing. Dictionary.com gives us the definition as a verb of to utter words or sounds in succession with musical modulations of the voice; vocalize melodically. I personally like the definition given in The Music Man where singing is simply defined as sustained talking. Are you held responsible for the words you say? Have you ever said something and then regretted it? If singing is simply talking then the same concepts apply. Words have meaning and consequences. And it is not uncommon to hear someone tell someone else to think before you speak, so why is singing any different? ...