It is time to write a Christmas post. And I was not really sure what to do. But then, I thought that, after blogging about my favorite pop-rock Christmas songs last year, I should take on a different song this year.
That song is “Christmas Eve in Washington” by Maura Sullivan. (You can read about the song’s origin here.)
I’m not saying that it’s the world’s greatest song (and from a music production standpoint, the vocals could use some serious de-essing), but for many years it was an inescapable part of the Christmas season here. Over the last decade, though, the song has largely vanished from local popular culture.
Nitpicking the lyrics of Christmas songs is probably not something that anyone wants to read (although I have done it before), but there is an inconsistency that I have noticed.
The song begins with the line:
It’s snowing tonight in the Blue Ridge
And that line always won my respect, because it tacitly acknowledges that the chance of snow on Christmas in the immediate Washington area is nearly nil. The only hope for a white Christmas might be found thirty-five miles away in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And therefore I got the impression that the song was written by some who really knows what Christmas Eve in Washington is like.
But, later in the song, there comes a contradiction:
Snowmen peak in through the windows
Snowmen can’t peak in through the windows, because there is virtually no chance of snow on Christmas, and not much chance of snow at any other time, for that matter.
Anyway, it’s something to keep in mind during the mirthful merriment of the season, or whatever.
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