Anyone want to join in this bit of nonsense to Help Keep Sol in Solstice?
I was inspired by a "War. On. Solstice." diary and an "It's beginning to look a lot like Gingrich" video clip. The diary is here and here's the clip:
Of course, for serious inspiration there's the Iceland series of diaries by Rei.
My attempt at rewriting so far:
It's beginning to look a lot like Solstice
with the sun so low.
Take a look when it's 5 p. m.,
it's ev'ning once again,
with shorter days
while longer nights still grow
It's beginning to look a lot like Solstice,
sunny nevermore,
Til the prettiest sight to see
is the morning that will be
when our sun will soar.
A cheerful mood in the gloom
and a game in their room
is the way of Barney and Ben.
Days that are dark
and no walks in the park
are the fate of Janice and Jen.
And Mom or Dad can hardly wait
for sun's return again.
It's beginning to look a lot like Solstice
in New Zealand, though
there the sun reaches high to tell
it's solstice there as well;
the other kind that never has the snow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Solstice
when light's return will start
and the thing that might help it spring
is the pots and pans you bring
to bang with all your heart.
I started this rewrite defensively -- just as a way of resisting the familiar onslaught of cloying Xmas songs. Originally, I was going to post the first few lines and then ask for other people's contributions but I kept doing little bits while going about my day. (Once the tune's in your head, you might as well reword it.) Anyway, if anyone wants to chip in with a few lines I'll keep updating/discussing along with them.
You can get all your Bing and Johnny Mathis, etc. through Google here.
Here's the Solstice lyrics with the original lyrics on the right:
(Even if you're not interested in the solstice version, the original lyrics are kind of amazing for their frozen-in-amber moments from the early fifties. I wonder how many people know more than the invidiously catchy opening line -- which started life as "It's beginning to look like Christmas" which probably would have gotten nowhere!)
As you can see, I used a lot of the original words (and mostly matched the rhymes) which leads to some strange syntax. The main problem, of course, is approximating the metre while making at least some sense and trying to keep a little of the smartly trotting clip-clop that Burgess Meredith achieved (but then he got paid for it).
I ended up with an extra syllable in the "...start" and "...heart" lines at the end (oh well...) and I chose New Zealand because it has 3 syllables while Australia and Argentina have 4.
(And I could do without the second stanza completely or at least with something better than "our sun will soar").
If someone else can make it clearer or catchier by wandering further from the original, then please do.
I guess the basic contrast depends on the concrete realism for most of the cheery toys-and-stores lines and then a little silliness at the 'sincere' from-the-heart conclusion.
-- And, of course, if anyone uses it in their caroling situations and can upload some video I would love to see it. Let's all do our part to relieve the unremitting false cheer of the season with whatever genuine lightheartedness and/or warmheartedness we can muster.