Did I Hear That Right?

Here's my grandson Grant watching my brother Gary strum a Christmas carol at our holiday get-together this past weekend. The little guy is so fascinated by music and musicians.

During the party I teased my nephew that I know how they sing "Deck The Halls" in his hometown of Traverse City, the lyrics having been changed slightly to "Don we now our bright apparel, fa la la . . . " by an elementary teacher up there in the tip of northern Michigan.

Apparently, the teacher couldn't get her charges to stop giggling at the line, "Don we now our gay apparel." Of course, news of the change went viral and brought outrage upon the school. Ironically, Traverse City had just passed a gay rights ordinance during the November election.

I like listening to carols new and old. And speaking of changes, I detected one in the wintry "Baby It's Cold Outside." The version with Dean Martin has the lady relenting to staying "just a cigarette more."

But in a more recent version with Jessica Simpson, that line has been replaced by "just a half a drink more." Just as smoking has become verboten on television and movies, it's being eliminated in updated covers of popular Christmas carols.

Christmas songs are often the subject of revisions and controversy, which is too bad. I did a little research and found out that "O Come All Ye Faithful" had one of its lines changed, apparently by someone who thought "Oh Come Let Us Adore Him" was too sexist. One church changed that to "Oh Come In Adoration." I swear I've also sung it as "Oh, Come Let Us Adore Thee."

Wonder how the Latin version translates. I remember singing the Latin version in public grade school. My guess is that you don't hear "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful", Latin or English version, sung that often in public grade schools in this day and age.

Even on the radio, it seems that traditional Christmas hymns play second fiddle to songs about Frosty, Santa and reindeer. When was the last time you heard "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming" or "The Coventry Carol"? There should be a place for traditional Christmas songs among all the commercialism and pop.