U2 has released a cover of Greg Lake's (ELP) 1975 tune "I Believe in Father Christmas" for their Project (Red)Wire. Here is a video.
It is definately a song about the commercialization of Christmas and people debate whether it is an anti-Jesus song (Is he a fairy tale like Santa Claus?) or a song that points to the "Israelite" as the real meaining of Christmas. Here are Greg Lake's lyrics.
"I Believe in Father Christmas"
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas you get you deserve.
La la la la la la la la la la….
The most interesting post I found on U2's song describes how Bono changed two or three words (change of tense) to make it more clearly a song of faith and grace.
Bono changes,
"They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite"
to
"They sold me a Merry Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
They sold me a fairy story
But I believe in the Israelite."
I also note that another familiar line from a U2 song "Mofo" from "Pop" also suggests all that is wrong with the commercialization of Christmas when Bono sings that he is, "Looking for the baby Jesus under the trash".
No comments:
Post a Comment