Monday, December 1: “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” by Meghan Trainor
Although this song has been covered by the likes of Kacey Musgraves, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and yes, Meghan Trainor, it was originally recorded by a 13-year-old girl named Brenda Lee in 1958. For 30 years, the song stayed relatively unknown—until it was featured in the movie Home Alone, when Kevin uses mannequins and cardboard cutouts to convince the burglars that a party is happening in his house.
The scenes this song conjures seem absolutely improbable today. Sure, we still put up Christmas trees, but hardly anyone “rocks around” them. Dancing, for many of us, comes off as too earnest—too vulnerable. As the musician Tyler, the Creator put it in the lead up to his newest album, “I asked some friends why they don’t dance in public and some said because of the fear of being filmed… It made me wonder how much of our human spirit got killed because of the fear of being a meme, all for having a good time.” Caroling, too, can feel more like an intrusion than a Christmas blessing in the modern world. Like, Excuse me, why did you show up on my doorstep without texting first?
And yet despite all this, the song remains a Christmas classic. For many people, the line “You will get a sentimental feeling” is still true, even if the reasons for sentimentality now have more to do with the song itself and the decorations than, say, actually dancing and caroling.
Conversation starter:
“Have you ever really listened to the lyrics of this song? Why do you think our culture feels so different today?”
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