GAIL DRAKE: Carols of comfort and … hmmm?

“Then let us all rejoice amain, on Christmas Day in the morning.”

The holiday season is upon us with the resonating sounds of Christmas. While we love to fill our home with Christmas carols, I have to say there are a few classic carols that, while lively or engaging, can make you scratch your head.

“I Saw Three Ships” is an English carol from the 17th century, first published in 1833 in a folk song collection by attorney William Sandys. The nine verses ask and answer about three ships that sailed into Bethlehem on Christmas Day — in the morning. Britain is an island nation famed for its Royal Navy, but the logic of this English song has long escaped me. Bethlehem is nowhere near a coastline, and the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea 20 miles away. But hey, the song has an enduring tune.

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” originated a century before, with an early version dating 1650 that used several different melodies. The tune sung today in a minor key became popular in the days of Charles Dickens. An 1824 article in The Gentleman’s Magazine complained that no Christmas songs were sung in London “excepting some croaking ballad-singer bawling out ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.’”

At first blush, one wonders why these gentlemen need rest. The historic phrase “rest you merry” is cited in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “As You Like It,” and means that God would grant peace and happiness. Modern interpreters have incorrectly assumed “merry” describes the “gentlemen,” not the “rest.” The vivacious tune has been performed and recorded by artists from Gustov Holst in 1910 to Garth Brooks in 2000.

“O Tannenbaum” is a German folk song from the 16th century about a fir tree. It does not actually refer to Christmas or describe a decorated tree. Instead it cites the tree’s evergreen quality as a symbol of faithfulness. The original lyrics are: “O fir tree, how faithfully you blossom, through summer’s heat and winter’s chill, your leaves are green and blooming still.” In 1819 August Zarnack composed a tragic love song of a faithless maiden, inspired by this tree song.

The tradition of a decorated Christmas tree developed in the 19th century and this song became a Christmas carol. We Americans tend to load our always-green-because-they-are-artificial-trees with so many dangling ornaments and ribbons that the tree could turn brown and you wouldn’t see it.

One of the first carols I learned as a child was “The Friendly Beasts,” a 12th-century French carol. The song features solos by each of the nativity animals that brought gifts to the Christ Child. The donkey gave Mary a ride to Bethlehem, the cow shared her manger, the sheep donated her wool, and the dove “coo’d” the baby to sleep. My shy little sister was cast as the donkey and was given a shaggy bear coat and donkey hat. She protested. Why couldn’t she be the sheep with curly horn? The sheep has a much cuter costume. She shed her shaggy bear coat and lost her chance at stardom.

“Patapan” (not to be confused with the “Star Wars” emperor) is another carol from France first written in the Burgundian dialect in the late 1600s and translated into French. The song tells the Nativity story from the view of young shepherd boys playing the simple instruments of flutes and drums. The sounds mimic the sounds of the instruments (the $5 word is “onomatopoeia”).

The original lyrics declare: “When they hear the fife and drum, sure, our children won’t be dumb.”

Its “cousin” song would be “The Little Drummer Boy,” composed by American music professor Katherine Davis, based on a Czech carol. According to Wellesley College records, in 1941, Davis “was trying to take a nap, she was obsessed with this song that came into her head and it was supposed to have been inspired by … Patapan,” which “translated in her mind to ‘pa-rum-pum-pum.’”

The Van Trapp family singers recorded the song in 1951, propagating the tale of the boy who had no gift but played his best on the drum for the newborn king. Altered arrangements have since been recorded by artists from Harry Simeone to Bing Crosby/David Bowie to Justin Bieber. One wonders how a young boy whamming on a drum could be beneficial for a newborn and his exhausted mother.

In any event, “there is music in the air, you can hear it everywhere!” “We-e-e-e-e wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”