Royalty Free Lyrics “History of Snowmen”

Another trick when you’re running on empty–artistically–is found poetry. We speak, conversationally, in metrical cadence (usu. iambic pentameter). So ANYTHING overheard can be a song (and sometimes is). But I prefer pilfering published prose to borrow ideas as well as text. A touch of editing and verse might appear. (Not going to force the rhyme, here. That’s too much work.)

History of Snowmen

Documentation of the first snowman's unclear.
Bob Eckstein, in History of the Snowman,
Found snowman art of the Middle Ages in
European museums, art galleries, and libraries.

The earliest he found was an anti-Semitic
Marginalia from a 1380 book of hours.
Michaelangelo was commissioned by 
Pero de Medici to make one in 1494.

[chorus]
While the origin of snowmen remains unclear,
They have been used in history to make statements.

In 1511 Brussels's snowman festival
Hoped to appease its hungry and poor.
However, instead of building snowmen,
The people built pornographic sculptures.

The concept made its way to America
By the Schenectady Massacre of 1690.
It is said that two guards in charge 
Left snowmen at the gate while they went drinkin'.

[chorus]

Now this brazen plagiarism is abetted by two factors: i stole it from Wikipedia (where i pledge several pennies every year), and i own–and have read–this book (a gift from my sister, the librarian). So this rambling might possibly work as a folk screed manifesto.

Royalty Free Lyrics “Away in a Reflective Suite”

Into the fourth week of churning out a song a day (i don’t know how Dolly does it!) and, boy, are my cantos tired. So here’s a creative writing nudge i learned long ago: random phrase! If you can generate two words (easiest would be adjective-noun) then meditate upon them you will learn two things: nothing is truly random for our brains, and writing is just sorting through the nonsense anyways. I like to use dice (10d) to generate page and line and word numbers to grab out of any book (which often results in ‘and-the’), but in updating my prompter i sought out the website randomwordgenerator.com. It’s not precisely suited to my needs, but i got two adjectives (reflective, legal) and two nouns (suite, brand). This doubles the chances of ideation. For some reason reflective suite seemed festive. Then it occurred to me: What a great place to be ‘Away in.’ So I began scribbling…

Away in a Reflective Suite

Hey, Mary, are you pregnant?
Won't you come our way?
Got a copter, it'll take you
To our ski chalet! (distant: passes gratis!)

[chorus]
Everyone knows the news!
We all heard the story!
The penthouse is still open--
Endorse us with Glory! (distant: no contracts. no worries!)

Don't listen, we can beat that--
Give you loads to eat!
Got the heat on and some mirrors
In our reflective suite! (distant: let there be light!)

[chorus]
Everyone knows the news!
We all heard the story!
The penthouse is still open--
Endorse us with Glory! (distant: such clean lavatories!)

Ditch the burro, use our town car;
Staff nurses standing by.
No Herods here, only concierges
Who'll sing lullabies! (distant: rum pum pumpum)

[chorus]
Everyone knows the news!
We all heard the story!
The penthouse is still open--
Endorse us with Glory! (distant: two thousand year sorry!)

Doors are open, room at The Inn,
Just give us a chance!
Won't be sorry, wait'll you meet
Three wise doormans! (distant: Gord, Frank, & Merv!)

[chorus]
Everyone knows the news!
We all heard the story!
The penthouse is still open--
Endorse us with Glory! (distant: annunciatory!)
          (distant, fading: full bar inventory... we'll never be boring....)

So, yeah, another What if the Jay-by were born today? But, in this case, we were all steeped in X-tiananity already and hoping–and hyping in competition with other hostelries–to make up for past sins when Mary and Jo came trundling up. There are songs out there that proclaim: If it’d been me, I woulda given you MY bed, Lord. Seriously. Pop commercial jingle style music here. Or folk (ironically).

Royalty Free Lyrics “The Twelve Years of Christmas”

After blowing up my skills on an earlier ’12 Days’ parody, i still have to admit to liking those caroldies of ’12’ that never repeat any of the lines (while i still loathe the original for its headache inducing redundancy). So another idea i’d been batting around was baby’s first Christmas… times twelve. In other words, what’d we get the kid each year until teenagery twisted the whole present-thing up into uncertain resentments. That would mean plenty of room to list or explain more presents each try, as one does, to buy the love of that little person. (I do have a grownup offspring; so i do have to say that, even though i began this as a list of regular gifts, it gets personal.)

The Twelve Years of Christmas

On my child's first Christmas
We truly gave to him
His full name on a glass ball

On my child's second Christmas
We truly gave to him
Santa onesies
And shoes that blinked when you took steps

On my child's third Christmas
We truly gave to him
Chocolate mints
A fire truck
Dr. Seuss books that we read to him

On my child's fourth Christmas
We truly gave to him
A baseball mitt
A Lite Brite
Red roller skates
And a Batman action figure

On my child's fifth Christmas
We truly gave to him
Rubik's cube!
Toobers & Zots
Three pairs socks
Some Mega Bloks
And a big stuffed alligator

On my child's sixth Christmas
We truly gave to him
Two coloring books
Lego sets!
Dinosaur books
Turtle necks
Bionicles
And six videos (of) Pokemon

On my child's seventh Christmas
We truly gave to him
Rescue dog from the pound
More Bionicles
Magnetix!
Yu-gi-oh cards
Underwear
Foaming bath wash
Set of chocolates from the world

On my child's eighth Christmas
We truly gave to him
The Simpsons' Clue game
Super Marbler Construct(ion)
Lego pirate ship
Rock tumbler!
Creepy Crawlers
A dart board
A Paint'n'Swirl
And a bubble blowing machine

On my child's ninth Christmas
We truly gave to him
A woodburning kit
Crystal growing kit
Pokemon Arena
Pop Bottle Science
Stratego!
Chemistry set
Connect Four
A Whoopee cushion
3D puzzle of Titanic

On my child's tenth Christmas
We truly gave to him
Marble Run Vortex
Harry Potter books
Card Captors board game
Puzzle sphere of the earth
Digital wrist watch
Twelve card decks!
The game Mousetrap
Crochet hooks
Operation
Dungeons and Dragons starter set

On my child's eleventh Christmas
We truly gave to him
Jackie Chan Adventure shows
Hercules board game
More Pokemon decks
Nintendo Gameboy
Chess & checkers set
Velcro shoes!
Heroscape
A stuffed wolf
Carcassonne game
Dungeon Master's Guide three point five

On my child's twelfth Christmas
We truly gave to him
Dragon figurines
Big Guy & Rusty puzzle
Another stuffed wolf
Discworld books
A venus flytrap
Atlantis Stargate discs
Settlers of Cattan
Punching bag!
Heroclix
Risk board game
Air Hogs R/C
Pounds of loose rings to knit chain mail

Meter scans for crap, and this song never cared about the rhyme. But i feel like this is a psychological study into a person. You could redo this idea into the profile of a budding nut job with weirder and weirder offerings. I mean that wasn’t my intention. Many of these things are up in our attic, and our son is fine (largely). So this might just be for me… Next!

Royalty Free Lyrics “The X-Mens’ Xmas”

Been a comic book reader since 1966 or so. Collected way back when. Not much left. In fact, i’m not sure what superheroes are up to these days (apologies to my middle school drawing buddy, Ron). But you are what you read, and this title was there for the taking, so–

The X-Mens’ Xmas

Professor Christ-savior sent mental commands
For all elf and mutants to do what they can
To save the holidays from the greedy and damned
While wearing black and yellow for no reason.

   Scott's eyebeams led them through the snow and fog,
   Jean's telekinesis dropped gifts down flus,
   Iceman helped the sleigh travel through Florida,
   And Beast beat down the doors with no fireplace.

Then governments sent Sentinels to stop the joy
Making parents shop on line for every toy.
Another generation would needs must be deployed,
More mutants helped--once Magneto they destroyed.

   Collosus hefted furniture as gifts,
   Kitty Pride peeped though walls to see kids sleep,
   Nightcrawler 'bamf'ed the presents under trees,
   Wolverine killed Scrooge, The Grinch, and Hans Gruber, three.

The public turned against them, picketing the grounds,
And the Professor's killed--the seventh time around.
Future versions warned them: Yule's doomed as doomed can be,
So New Mutants used Warlock as a Christmas tree.

   Cannonball made quick work of deliveries,
   Sunspot powered up the sleigh--which had used wood,
   Madrox made multiples to fight The Tick's nemesis,
   Legion changed all reality to good.

Chock full o’ inside jokes. Which i may have gotten off base, as i was never a big fan of this romance comic turned anti-racist primer. Retro rock for this, a la Herman’s Hermits or sumpin’. (I think.) And if Disney/Fox wants to come after me for honoring this legacy’s early years… they know where to find me.

Royalty Free Lyrics “Christmas College”

I have spended much of life in education. (Stopped pursuing a PhD, however, due to money and irrelevance.) Still a passion, viz: my toilet book at this time is a composition textbook i picked up in a little library. So this was more fun to pen.

Christmas College

At Christmas College
Yuletide knowledge 
Is more than arts & crafts.
All the classes
Are proactive
Although we're understaffed.

Your tuition
And ambition'll
Getcha'on the Dean's Nice List.
Bet you can't wait
To relocate...
This quad's the iciest.

You will choose from
Curriculums
That specialize in Yule.
Then you'll be graded
Or upbraided
Until you're supercool.

Graduation
To vocations
Can take four years or more.
Beyond that tour,
Grade school is for
Xmas warriors' armor.

[freeform]
Meet the undergrads!
Marjorie majors in magi studies...
Melvin minors in menorahs...
Tate takes Twelve Days in his spare time...
Inez interns in tinsel stenciling...
Carrie's curriculum is cookie crumbs...
Woodrow's workshopping wooden toys...
Babs has a lab in fab wrapping...
Eli's electives are Elvish...

[more freeform]
Here comes the staff!
The Grinch is Dean of Admissions--you ain't gettin' in!
Frosty's the faculty's frontman--but his doors're froze closed!
Krampus is big man on campus--yet his attendance's poor!
Rudolph is off on sabbatical--writing his memoir!
John McClane keeps your nose clean--as security!
George Bailey will make you believe--in student loans!
Heat Miser's your advisor--he's too much!
Santa sent yer semester grades--keep in touch!

Okay, i’m not sure what i meant by ‘freeform,’ it’s just that the alliteration took me over like a fit or something. Had to do it, Mother Matriculation. So… rap? I didn’t exactly work on the rhymes, but… white-boy rap?

Royalty Free Lyrics “The Christmas Menu”

This should’ve turned out more clever with lots of references to cuisine like Bûche De Noël, fruitcake, goose, mince pies… all that stuff. But i seem to have some grudge against family going on, so i just went with it. Sorry, relatives.

The Christmas Menu

[intro]
To please avoid anomaly
When entertaining family,
Remember this one homily:
Martha Stewart's not got shit on me.

Appetizers, best of all,
Keep guests from filling up on meats:
Chips and crackers with shovels,
And last year's bowl of rock-hard sweets.

Friends of Bill for cocktail hour?
Drown the vodka/gin with water,
Pickle juice in whiskey sours?
Eggnog's sweeter with Mylanta.

Cousins from the Everglades?
To keep from sitting where they please:
Placecards framed with razor blades
And bolt down chairs with expertise.

Entrees should be cut and dried
So everyone gets their fair share:
Might I suggest freeze-dried deep fried?
Or noodles full of footlong hair?

Desserts get complicated
Just ask for a simple head count:
For those not got their coats yet,
Release the right number of hounds.

[repeat intro as you like]

No apologies. It’s a song. It could be humorous to the right folk. Whatever floats your gravy boat. Ray Stevens style madcap country music? Robert Earl Keen ploddery? Gospel revival?

Royalty Free Lyrics “The Greatest Game of Christmas Hide ‘n’ Seek There Ever Was”

Sometimes a title occurs to a body in some dreamlike state. And maybe that’s enough. AKA throw enough words against a screen to see what sticks.

The Greatest Game of Christmas Hide ‘n’ Seek There Ever Was

The house was full of cousins
Around the holidays.
Too busy for our buzzin's
Folks said: Go out and play.

   We tweaked our plan that week
   To whilst the time away:
   A game of hide and seek,
   A true battle royale.

I hid behind the furnace...
It must have been two hours.
Then stakes got much more earnest
They hid our dog Bowser.

   It didn't seem too bleak
   (He's in the fold-away).
   This game of hide and seek
   Started to get real strange.

So when I hid their presents,
They hid my brother Tim,
But then I hid their parents--
To make them say I win.

   So never show you're weak
   When family comes to stay:
   Suggest some hide and seek
   And yell Yippee-ki-yay!

This just sounds like some movie pitch or something. I dunno. Might be an idea in there somewhere. Spooky kidsong music for it? Something gothic inspired?

Royalty Free Lyrics “A Crossword for Christmas”

I prefer Scrabble to crosswords, never much cared for the oh-so-clever clues. Full disclosure: i have never completed one of those New York Times puzzles on my own. I do like easier ones. So, this looks like misplaced aggression on my part, i suppose. Or some kind of fantasy. And a bit of agenda.

A Crossword for Christmas

When I say A-cross, I don't mean Christ,
I mean that grid in the New York Times;
It's best Sundays, or holiday-sized...
My crossword puzzle at Christmastime.

[chorus]
Let's keep the 'X' in our newspaper,
Which may fail due to costly labor.
Will Shortz developed us this favor,
For Christmas don't let it disappear.

"Mrs. Claus name" in just five letters,
Seven down is "Holy Monseigneur,"
A question mark means a play on words,
But the title is "Architect-cheer."

[chorus]

Pour the nog and put the timer on.
Let's fill it before the time is gone.
I won't look at crosswordsolver.com.
My morning ritual in ink... and done!

[chorus]

Not exactly snobbish, but this self-certainty might work best with a symphonic lead in and a pop/rock bridge. I’ll leave it to you.

Royalty Free Lyrics “Reindeer Games”

That line from that 1949 song has engendered some debate: some think it’s about bullying frat traditions, some think it’s about team-building training exercises. But i figured we’d combine those two for a novelty song.

Reindeer Games

I challenge you to antler toss,
Or polo--played with bowling balls.
Now try corn hole up (a) buck's anus
Or fly your hooves for Quidditch-Claus!

[refrain]
Welcome to the Eighty-Seventh
Reindeer All Star Invitation-al;
Each major or minor event
Gets no honorable mention--y'all.

So check your stats and bet the odds
We love all competitions.
Except that one that was outlawed
...something to do with A-1 sauce.

[refrain]
This ain't your dad's Monopoly,
These feats of strength for all to see;
There's no time outs to be calling
With just one champion to be.

So get your hinds off my racecourse:
My best time is oh point oh four.
Your record jump will not beat ours--
With your ass we will mop all floors.

[refrain]
We're all a bit competitive,
But then we all are relative.
These games are not recreative
Because there's no alternative.

[Fading shouts]
The first rule of reindeer games...
Is you don't bitch about reindeer games...
To the death...
To the death...
To the death...
to the pain....

I tried (a little) NOT to get all redneck with vernacular and phonetic corruptions of language. But this might needs be psychobilly in musical genre. Or punk metal. Ad libs of call-outs may be added as whimmed (Donner’s going down! Vixen with all the fixin’s! Dash-yer hopes!… like that).

Royalty Free Lyrics “‘Twas Elf Davey’s Crispness”

Misheard lyrics can be funny. Not that i’m big fan or anything. Just thought i’d play around a little and see if any of this comes across. Sing along, you know the tune!

‘Twas Elf Davey’s Crispness

Auntie's furred damselfish mush
Mike's troubled bravery
A cartridge in an arm'ry

Fond of secant above Cost Plus
Mitral valve-ectomy
To purple pugs
Up a part o' speech commentary

Prawns have thirst ambergris must
Metro league guarantee
Tea frequent
Too thirsty Dougs
With a part'san, name of Perry

Awning forced dazed of concuss
My rye loaf game theory
Football cusswords
Me benchpress
Few comes to shove
A plenipotent'ary

Yonder faith die off cripples
Mein Kampf of slavery
Fight goalies
For better (or) worse
Thee henchmen
True ladylove
Part pigeon--oh--apparently

Ganja synth day old crispness
Mistrust all Gemini
Sis, please, I'm lying
Fife fing'rings
Or kilohertz
Feed Karens
Why not, because
A particular skill set, see?

Gonna sever Chekhov's critics
O whereof knavery?
Severe cancer symptoms
Striptease Hawaiian
Frijoles
Free fall in verse
Green has-beens
Blue-purple buzz
With a smart midget canary

Oughta aid Dadaist muse
Milieu lunch gaucherie
Hate made me millions
Safe saucer swinging
Since niece is staying
Hand holdings
Forkful singers
Get Thee hence
Crude octopus
To a party at DoubleTree

Fondue night hit-and-miss nuts
Mildewed lucidity
Nitration (of) Benzene
Eyeshades in moleskin
Overran a swordsman
Styx feeds Malayan
Vile mold'rings
Formal liquors
Five & Tens
Woo fertile bugs
With a heart aching artery

Tanya tint dado crisscross
My new lobotomy
Tinhorns beekeeping
Niag'ra mansion
Abrade a villain
Sentence answers seemly
Sissies allying
Fine goph'ring
Forestall crosswords
God forfends
Chew myrtle dust
Flowcharts were switched with spaghetti

Donder elegant dairy doldrums
Me Too loves gaveling
All level piebald bipeds
Tense horses sleeping
Night makes me handsome
Lay lady lay, Bing
Self serving at summer
Sips cheese in layers
Eye hole kings
Former lingers
The'ter friends
Workbench hair plugs
Say not 'Parting's such sweet sorrow'

Con job elf day old crescents
Make do costumery
They'll've drumsticks drama
All even plywood pliant
Timeworn and legal
New Hades fam'ly
Amaze Amerind
Severance for seamen
Fix greased flambe'd beans
Ficus strings
Forceful angers
Really dense
Who overdoes
When you part fridge from your dairy

I’m not kidding, you have got to sing this word salad. To read it is to dismiss it–or go mad. This is parody of carol, what i call caroldy. (If you’re really not sure which carol, just go on to the next thing, really.) …oof, i tried.