Christmas Song of the Day
Dec 3
Today’s entry is Rudolph the Red Noses Reindeer. Because when you have kids, you get to watch all the old classics all over again. Besides, for a commercial ditty, it has a nice message about not judging people by their appearances. Though, now that I am watching the show with my entranced tots as I blog, it becomes clear that I had somehow completely forgotten that this thing sucks. No one can sing, no one can say a line without trying to eat the scenery, and that stop-motion animation is giving me seasickness. The Abdominal Snowman is the most subtle performance in the show. Plus, Rudolph’s Dad is a complete dick.
Still, it does have a really good message.
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?Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You could even say it glows.All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say:
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
“Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history.
#1 by KTK at December 3rd, 2008
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I always like the kind of clunky stop-motion in these old Rankin-Bass Xmas specials. It was just surrealistic enough to make them seem somehow appropriate.
But where the hell did you get that recording? The original soundtrack was sung by Burl Ives (parodied by the chubby mustachioed snowman-narrator). Ives was a remarkably talented actor and singer who was hauled before HUAC in the 50s and named names (specifically, Pete Seeger’s). But he also did a bunch of these children’s specials, and so became the voice of Christmas to generations of tots who never even heard of the Wafarin’ Stranger.
#2 by Kevin at December 3rd, 2008
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I couldn’t find the Burl Ives version. This was the only one I could find that had clips from the show.
#3 by tgirsch at December 3rd, 2008
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Funny. We were watching it tonight, too, and I was having the same thought. Except that Santa was the one who struck me as a complete dick.
I still like Yukon Cornelius, though.
#4 by Elaine at December 4th, 2008
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Santa is a total dick. Rudolph should have told him to f*** off.
Here’s a fun bit of trivia for you. Have you ever wondered what was wrong with the doll on the Island of Misfit Toys? I looked it up a few years ago and found some article quoting one of the creators as saying that her problems were on an emotional level. Poor little manic depressive dolly . . .