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December 24, 2021 11:12 PM   Subscribe

Carol of the bells Trans Siberian Orchestra live. There are two kinds of people in the world. This goes out to one of them. Happy Merry. [Strobe warning] posted by philip-random (9 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
So awesome
(Needs a strobe warning!!)
posted by panhopticon at 11:55 PM on December 24, 2021


Mod note: added!
posted by taz (staff) at 12:09 AM on December 25, 2021


For those who aren't aware (pretty sure I learned this here on MeFi), the best parts of Carol of the Bells are lifted straight from a traditional Ukrainian folk chant celebrating the new year, which was arranged in 1916 and titled Щедрик (Romanized as "Shchedryk"). The English lyrics, which have no relation to the original, were written by Peter Wilhousky in 1921.

The original lyrics talk about a swallow bearing the news that "ewes have given birth / and the lambkins have been born", which doesn't make a lot of sense for a midwinter carol, but the traditional celebration of the new year in pre-Christian Ukraine was apparently in April, generally one of the most desperate and starvation-prone times for subsistence farmers.

Here's the closest I have found to the OG, pre-Christian version. Another version performed by a larger chorus. And here is an instrumental version played on the traditional bandura.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:05 AM on December 25, 2021 [21 favorites]


Short snip of alternate lyrics. More relevant today than ever!
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 4:33 AM on December 25, 2021


That uses the Carol of the Bells and Rest Te Merry Gentleman as the base, but the song is called Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24

The metal and orchestra pieces symbolize the two sides fighting in the Bosnian Civil War with the lone cello between them, calling for peace on earth.
posted by jmauro at 7:03 AM on December 25, 2021 [3 favorites]


Wonderful -- what I would have described as 'Floydian' in my younger, concert-attending days.

About this music... a few years ago, WaPo reporter Alexandra Petri ranked all the Christmas songs. For this group,
84. That One Song From Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
There are two songs from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. One is good; the other is vile. This is the vile one, which is some children singing nonsense Christmas lyrics to Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' for no discernible reason.
25. That Other Song From The Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
This is the one I really like! But I always get the titles confused. This one is good and kind of metal with guitars, and it gets used a lot when people build elaborate outdoor lighting displays to anger and impress their neighbors.

posted by Rash at 10:35 AM on December 25, 2021 [2 favorites]


My kid says: That's too many screens! They're everywhere!
posted by Catblack at 11:04 AM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


That stage is next level.
posted by furtive at 2:41 PM on December 25, 2021


Love it. The other other song from Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

I have been a performing musician for more than thirty years. I put in some time in a bar band in the late eighties but most of my time has been spent playing acoustic folk and jazz. There is zero reason why I should be able to tolerate the cartoonish excess of TSO, but I love almost everything I have ever heard from them.

The closest analogy that comes to mind is some one I dated around the turn of the millennium who ate mostly a strict vegan diet save that every six months or so she’d demolish a plate of ribs.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:50 PM on December 25, 2021 [2 favorites]


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