“On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas, Although It May Seem Strange.”: A Holiday Tradition
December 5, 2012 Leave a comment
One of my holiday traditions is to listen to the following: “On the twelfth day of Christmas, although it may seem strange. On the twelfth day of Christmas, I’m going to exchange…” So sings Allan Sherman on his album, For Swingin’ Livers Only! In a contemporary satire on the carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Sherman enumerates the silly and trivial gifts he has received, including “green polka dot pajamas”, “a calendar book with the name of my insurance man”, “an indoor plastic birdbath”, etc. The carol has been the subject of numerous satires. Willard Espy provides one of the best in his Words At Play, In this satire, the writer imagines how a lady would react if she really did receive all the gifts listed in The Twelve Days of Christmas. The conclusion is most amusing. Just a note: the Victorians were fond of number games and it’s interesting that the number of fowl in the carol equals the number of musicians, 23. I wonder…