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Fame is fickle, and so are reindeer
"You know Dasher and Dancer
And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and Blitzen.
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?"
At some point, someone had to hear this song for the first time. And they didn't know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. They didn't even know the most famous reindeer of all. I wonder if they felt like they should.
"Donner? Oh yeah, I know him. He's that... guy... who did that thing. Everybody knows about him. Don't you worry - I know Donner. And don't even get me started on Prancer."
[I suspect this post may be completely insane. I'm going to go back to sleep, without Christmas music this time, and see how I feel when I wake up again.]
srah - Saturday, 13 November 2004 - 8:02 AM
Tags: holidays, music
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Comments (12)
Mr B------ - November 14, 2004 - 3:02 PM - ℓ
Yeah, well that's different. What sort of freak wasn't born with innate knowledge of them?
That song must be like anime or Greek tragedies--everyone should just know all the characters already because they've become such a part of our popular culture.
Not a good explanation, yes, but... so there!
Patricia - November 14, 2004 - 3:14 PM - ℓ
It was quoted in Glamour (so you know it's true) that only female reindeer keep their antlers through the winter so all the reindeer pulling santa's sleigh were female. well, woulda been female if you know, santa existed and reindeer could fly. not that i'm implying that he isn't and they don't, just in case some of us still believe in the jolly guy. i sure do! *ahem*
Amanda - November 14, 2004 - 7:15 PM - ℓ
Whether or not people should know the reindeer depends on whether the story of Rudolph came before the song. If it did, than people could reasonably be assumed to know their names.
John - November 15, 2004 - 9:22 AM - ℓ
Um...I can't believe that all of you have forgotten "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" (better known by its first line "'Twas The Night Before Christmas") by Clement Clark Moore:
"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
Moore wrote his poem in 1822. The story of Rudolph was written as a promotional gimmick for Montgomery Ward department stores in 1939, made into a song, recorded by Gene Autry in 1949, and further popularized by the Burl Ives TV special in 1964. Since Moore's original poem had been around more than a hundred years before the Rudolph story was written (and enjoys unbroken popularity to this day), it's not surprising that the song assumes that people should know who the other reindeer are.
John - November 15, 2004 - 11:48 AM - ℓ
Why, thank you!
When I was little, we had two sheep named "Clement" and "Clark" (I only recently got the joke).
Considering what a pain they were, I'm glad we didn't have "Moore".
Everything in our world had to have been created by someone at some point in history. Someone thought of toilet paper. Once upon a time, there was no toilet paper and then it occurred to someone. How crazy is that?