Missing the Point

[naomikritzer]

Dear Generous Benefactor Man from Maudlin Christmas Song The Christmas Shoes:

God did not send a little boy with a dying mother to you to teach you the true meaning of Christmas.

He sent a man -- with $20 to spare -- to a little boy with a dying mother, to offer him at least a small measure of comfort.

P.S. I hate you for making me tear up, even though it's a really stupid song.

(Edited to attempt to clarify that God is sending a man with spare cash to offer comfort to the boy, rather than that God is sending the man to give cash to the boy. In the song, for those who don't want to click, the boy is trying to buy shoes he can't afford, and the narrator pays for them.)

Comments

merf?

[thefaeway.livejournal.com]

$20 to a boy with a dying mother as some measure of comfort?

Um... if you were a little boy with a dying mother, would $20 give you any comfort?

Re: merf?

[naomikritzer]

This doesn't make sense unless you're either familiar with the song or read the lyrics.

The premise of the song is that the narrator is standing in line to pay for his Christmas shopping, and there's a little boy ahead of him trying to buy a pair of shoes for his mother. He tells the cashier, who apparently has a heart of stone, that these are for his mother, and he needs to hurry, because she's been sick for a long time and "I want her to be beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight." However, he doesn't have enough money to pay for the shoes, so the narrator of the story steps in to pay for them. And then reflects on how clearly God sent this boy to him to show him the True Meaning of Christmas.

Which seems to me to be missing the point; if God is present in this song, it's in sending the man with money to spare to pay for the shoes the boy desperately wants to give to his sick mother.

Re: merf?

[thefaeway.livejournal.com]

Ah. Perhaps I should change my flist layout so it's easier to find links. I understand now.

[squigsoup.livejournal.com]

That's a country-tinged song, isn't it? One of the many reasons I do not like country music is the fact that it seems to be about 85% pure schmaltz, such as that song, whereas the other 15% is celebratory of its own redneck-iness. ("Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" indeed.)

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

You might find older country music more tolerable.

In the very early days, it wasn't standardized. Record companies sent men around to record lowland Southerners singing, and got a diverse selection. For example, someone with a definite London accent singing the English music hall song "My Old Dutch."

They also recorded singers who knew enough to ask for payment.

Up till some time in the 1940's, the singers used Southern dialects native to them.

During the 1940's and 1950's, there was a mixture of Southern and South Midlands (West Virginia and other mountain areas settled from there) accents.

By the 1960's (I think), country music was standardized. And the accent was an artificial Hillbilly dialect which wasn't the way anyone spoke (or sang offstage). Genuine Hillbillies had to learn it the same way other country singers did.

[scalzi.livejournal.com]

That song makes me want to drive a spike into my ear. Two spikes, actually. One for each ear.