Christmas Carol Trivia: Secular Carols & Songs Quiz

Answer: New Year's Eve (December 31)

"Nos Galan" actually means "New Year's Eve", and the carol was both sung and danced to in anticipation of the New Year. The original first line in Welsh: "Oer yw'r gwr s'yn methu caru" (don't ask me how that's pronounced) means "Soon the hoar old year will leave us"; the remaining lines and verses bear almost no resemblance to the traditional text of "Deck the Halls".

The "Fa-la-la-la-la"s were originally not sung, but played on the harp or another such instrument. "Nos Galan" dates from about the 18th century. (Information from the "New Oxford Book of Carols".)

Answer: Thanksgiving

Pierpont was born in Medford, Massachusetts in 1822, the son of a Untiarian minister. Although his family were Northerners and abolitionists, Pierpont came to side with the Southern cause in the War between the States and would fight in the army of the Confederacy against his home state.

In 1857, Pierpont married Eliza Purse (his second wife; he was previously married to Millicent Cowee, who died in 1853) and moved to Savannah, Georgia (Eliza's father, Thomas Purse, was the mayor of Savannah). It was probably in sunny Savannah that the song was written, though it recalls the winter sleigh rides of Pierpont's New England youth (an ongoing battle still rages between Medford and Savannah about the provenance of the song; each city has a plaque commemorating its composition in that city.).

The song was first performed as part of a children's Sunday School programme for Thanksgiving; it proved such a success that it was repeated for the Christmas programme the following month. It has been indelibly associated with Christmas ever since, though the lyrics make no mention of any holiday.

Originally titled "One Horse Open Sleigh", it probably came by its current name when a friend of Pierpont's praised it as a "merry little jingle". Known almost exclusively for this one song, Pierpont composed many others, including a few Confederate anthems such as "Strike for the South", "Our Battle Flag", and "We Conquer or Die". Pierpoint died in 1893; he was the uncle of the great financier J.P. Morgan.

Answer: Up on the Housetop

Hanby was born in 1833 in Rushville, Ohio; his family was deeply committed to the abolitionist cause. "Hanby House", now a historical site in Westerville, Ohio, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. In addition to "Up on the Housetop" (published in 1860 and simply titled "Santa Claus"), Hanby wrote a religious Christmas hymn entitled "Who is He in Yonder Stall?" and the popular song "Darling Nelly Gray", whose seemingly maudlin and sentimental lyrics are actually a lament by a slave for the woman he was to have married, who was taken away to another plantation. Hanby, a United Bretheren pastor, is bellieved to have written about 70 songs during his brief life; he tragically died in 1867, at the age of 33, in Chicago, Illinois. "Up on the Housetop" is believed to have been inspired by Clement Clark Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas".

Answer: Maryland

"O Tannenbaum" was a German folksong which, originally, consisted of a dialogue between the singer and the fir tree ("Tannenbaum" means "fir tree", not "Christmas tree", which is "Weinachtsbaum" or "Christbaum"), in which the latter praises the good God for making it so sturdy and green, since it has no other parents.

The lyrics had nothing to do with Christmas; however, with the beginnings of the Christmas tree tradition around the 16th century, it began to be used as such. The tune has been used for a number of other texts; originally, it was a folksong entitled "Es Lebe Hoch".

The poem "The Red Flag", by American poet James Smith, was once set to this melody, much to the dismay of the poet, who hated the tune and said that he would rather his poem had been set to the Dead March from "Saul". George Bernard Shaw also took a dislike to the tune, claiming that it sounded like "the funeral march of a dead eel." Nonetheless, it continued to be popular and was, at one time or another, used as the melody of the state songs of Delaware, Missouri, Iowa, and Maryland. Eventually, Delaware and Missouri adopted other tunes for their state songs (this is not surprising in the case of Missouri, since the first line "O Missouri, my Missouri" sung to this melody sounds distinctly like "O misery, my misery"!); however, Maryland continues to use the tune for its state song (I'm informed that Iowa still uses it as well).

Answer: Good health!

"Here We Come a-Wassailing" is almost as well-known in the U.S. as in England. Its refrain "Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too/ And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year/ and God send you a Happy New Year" appears at the end of Mel Torme's recording of his "The Christmas Song". Wassailing is a very old Christmas tradition in England; wassailers would carry a wassail bowl which would be filled at the homes where they stopped. Wassail was a hearty drink usually comprised of some form of alcoholic beverage mulled with spices, oranges, and apples. Occasionaly solid refreshment was offered to the carolers as well, as per the request in verse 6: "Bring us out a table and spread it with a cloth/ Bring us out a mouldy cheese and some of your Christmas loaf" (the "mouldy cheese" would be a Stilton or other blue-veined cheese).

They were also given money on occasion. There are different Wassail sngs from nearly every village and county in England; my personal favorite is the "Gloucestershire Wassail", which contains the verse "Come butler! Come fill us a bowl of the best, and we'll pray that your soul in Heav'n may rest/ But if you do bring us a bowl of the small [beer] then down will go butler, bowl and all!"

Answer: We Wish You a Merry Christmas

This song, easily as ubiquitous around the holidays as "Jingle Bells" and "Deck the Halls", follows a very simple formula: 1. Good Wishes! ("We wish you a merry Christmas-3X-and a Happy New Year." 2. (Now that the formalities are out of the way) Feed Us! ("Now bring us a figgy pudding-3X-and bring some out here") 3.Broad Hint ("For we all love figgy pudding-3X-so bring some out here.") 4. (If the hint doesn't work) Open Threat ("And we won't go until we've got some-3X-so bring some out here.)

Answer: True

There are a lot of birds in "The Twelve Days of Christmas", the partridge, the turtle doves, the French hens, the colly-birds, the geese-a-laying and the swans-a-swimming. This aviary may possibly also include the five gold rings, which may have been either "goldspinks" (Scottish dialect for goldfinches) or "gulder cocks", which were turkeys (also called "gulderers). "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally a Twelfth Night forfeits game, in which each player had to remember the objects mentioned by the other players and add one of his own.

Some have argued that the song originated during the reign of Elizabeth I, when Catholicism was outlawed, as a cryptic way for English Catholics to discuss matters pertaining to the faith. Thus, the three French hens represented the Trinity, the four colly-birds were the four Gospels, the ten lords a'leaping were the Ten Commandments, the twelve drummers drumming were the twelve Apostles, etc.

This explanation seems unlikely, however, since many of the things hinted at in the song (the Trinity, the Apostles, the 10 Commandments, the 4 Gospels) were observed by the Anglican church as well, and would not need to be referred to with any secrecy.

Moreover, although the song is extremely popular in the English-speaking world, it is believed to have originated in France.

Answer: White Christmas

"Holiday Inn" was released in 1942; composer Irving Berlin had been hired to write the score for the film, which required a song for each major holiday. Berlin was particularly concerned about the Christmas number, which would be the high point of the film.

Although Jewish, Berlin had fond childhood memories of the enormous Christmas tree which graced the home of one of his Irish-Catholic friends. After completing the song, Berlin called his transcriber Helmy Kresa (Berlin could not read or write music; Kresa would thus take down the songs as Berlin sang and played them). With typical modesty, he told Kresa "I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend.

Not only is it the best song I ever wrote; it's the best song anybody ever wrote!" Kresa, who knew Berlin well, took this egotistical statement in stride, but even he was quite impressed by what he heard.

As sung by Bing Crosby, "White Christmas" became one of the most beloved Christmas songs, particularly by soldiers overseas at the height of WWII who nostalgically remembered their own childhood Christmases. Crosby's single of "White Christmas" became the best selling single in any music category, having sold an amazing 30million copies worldwide.

It held this distinction for fifty years, until 1998 when Elton John's remake of "Candle in the Wind" in honor of the late Princess Diana, broke its record. Crosby reintroduced "White Christmas" in the 1954 movie of that title starring Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney.

Answer: Silver Bells

"The Lemon Drop Kid", based on a Damon Runyon story about a con-artist who has a change of heart, represents one of the few times in Hollywood history that a remake improves upon the original. It was originally done in 1934 starring Lee Tracy; however, the 1951 version not only follows Runyon's story more closely, but featured a number of songs, a better cast, and exploited the comedic talents of Hope, then in his prime. Both versions featured William Frawley (Fred Mertz from TV's "I Love Lucy"). "Silver Bells" is only one of a number of memorable songs Livingston and Evans wrote for the movies; others include "Mona Lisa", "Tammy", "Buttons and Bows", and "Que Sera, Sera", sung by Doris Day in the 1956 Hitchcock thriller "The Man Who Knew Too Much". Believe it or not, the title of the song was originally to have been "Tinkle Bells", until Livingston asked his wife what she thought of the title.

When Mrs. Livingston couldn't stop laughing long enough to reply, he realized that the word "tinkle" had to go. TRIVIA FACT: "Silver Bells" was the favorite Christmas carol of President Kennedy.

Answer: The Christmas Song

Torme was only 19 when he composed this ballad on a hot summer day in 1944 (so many great Christmas songs were written during this period). He and co-lyricist Bob Wells were trying to keep cool by thinking winter thoughts (such as "Jack Frost nipping at your nose" and "Folks dressed up like Eskimos", though I hardly think "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" would go very far toward cooling one off). the song became a hit as recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946 and has been subsequently recorded by nearly every great popular singer, including the "Velvet Fog" (Torme) himself.

Answer: True

"Rudolph" began as a children's coloring book created by Robert L. May, a copywriter for Montgomery Ward Dept. Stores. May was asked to come up with the book as a promotional holiday giveaway to Montgomery Ward customers. The book became amazingly popular and, by 1946, about 6 million copies had been distributed. May's boss had been somewhat concerned about Rudolph's red nose, fearing associations with alcoholism, but he was won over when he saw the drawings.

In 1948, May's brother-in-law Johnny Marks, a composer, set the story to music and sent demos to various artists, including Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como, none of whom was interested.

As an afterthought, he presented it to country singer Gene Autry, who was looking for some new songs to record. Autry wasn't impressed by the song and said that he felt Santa already had more than enough reindeer, but his wife read the lyrics and found them very touching.

She persuaded him to record the song which, of course, became a hit. Besides "Rudolph", Marks also wrote a fine setting of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", based on the Longfellow poem "Christmas Bells". An animated feature which appeared on television in the 1960s was also tremendously popular and is today considered a classic; it features the breakaway favorite "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas", sung by Burl Ives. TRIVIA FACT: Mays considered the names Rollo and Reginald for his reindeer hero before settling on Rudolph.

Answer: I'll Be Home for Christmas

Like "White Christmas", this bittersweet ballad was introduced by Bing Crosby and remains popular today. Composer Walter Kent had earlier collaborated with lyricist Nat Burton on another WWII ballad, "The White Cliffs of Dover". "I'll Be Home for Christmas" has the distinction of being the first Christmas song to be broadcast to outer space. On December 17, 1965, the astronauts aboard Gemini 7 asked that the Crosby recording of this song be broadcast to them on their return journey to Earth.

Answer: True

The song takes place on Christmas Eve, the day before the Smith family's departure for New York City. Esther Smith (Garland) has just been proposed to by her beau at a Christmas party and comes upon her little sister (O'Brien) who has just realized that she will be leaving her family of snowmen. Esther sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to the tearful child.

As originally written, the song's lyrics were much darker and sadder; moreover, the first line was "Have yourself a merry little Christmas/ It may be your last." According to Blane, Garland objected strongly to the tone of the song; she felt that, since the scene was sad to begin with, the lyrics should have been more hopeful and less downbeat.

She also pointed out that the first line was, to say the least, unfortunate (why are there not more female lyricists, I wonder?).

The lyrics were changed accordingly and the changes, no doubt, contributed greatly to the song's subsequent popularity. Other songs from the film include "The Trolley Song", The Boy Next Door", and "Under the Bamboo Tree".

Answer: Carol of the Bells

The lyrics of "Shchedryk" tell of a swallow returning from the South at the end of winter, bringing the warmth of the sun and spring flowers. It was to be sung on the Ukranian New Year (January 13) called "Malanka", and ends by wishing for a bountiful harvest, prosperity, and a beautiful wife for those who till the soil.

The American composer Peter Wilhousky (of Czech ancestry) rearranged "Shchedryk" as a Christmas carol with quite different lyrics, which recall the old Ukrainian legend that, when Christ was born, all the bells in the world began to ring of their own accord.

The brilliance of Wilhousky's choral writing, evoking the rnging of bells, has made the piece a favorite virtuoso number for choirs and has ensured it a lasting place in the Christmas repertory.

Answer: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Wilson was born in 1902 in Mason City, Iowa (he would immortalize his home state in "The Music Man"). He studied the flute and piccolo at the Damrosch Institute (now the Julliard School) and played under John Phillip Sousa and Arturo Toscanini (in the New York Philharmonic).

He co-wrote the score to the Charlie Chaplin film "The Great Dictator". Before his successes on Broadway, he wrote two symphonies. Wilson died in 1984. Although "Here's Love" did not enjoy a long run on Broadway, it is frequently revived around the holidays by community theatre groups.