Wrap Me Up by Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2023-’24

 

                                                        Wrap Me Up by Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor.

It is with no little regret that today’s Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival entry comes from the relentlessly self-promoting and hyperkinetic talk show host Jimmie Fallon and pop diva Meghan Trainor.  Fallon spent the last week shamelessly hyping their holiday collaboration on the Tonight Show, on his many other NBC projects, and wherever else he can get noticed.  His self-proclaimed goal has been to knock Maria Carrey and the ubiquitous All I Want For Christmas is You for the top-spot on the seasonal charts.  Last I heard the new release was #2 with a bullet.

Any alternative to Carey’s annual ear worm is welcome.  

 Can Write me Up finally dislodge Marriah Carey's death grip on the annual holiday music charts?

Wrap Me Up is a spritely pop holiday romantic tune in the lane of such double entendres asladen and suggestive songs as Santa Baby and Baby It’s Cold Outside only not so suggestive.  It is pleasant and generic enough to fit into any holiday radio playlist but is ultimately forgettable.  It will probably not go on to be a seasonal perennial reaping jaw dropping residual payments every year.

The way Fallon told the story, he casually mentioned the idea of a Christmas collaboration  to Trainor who has frequently appeared on his shows.  He even suggested the title Wrap Me for Christmas.  He probably was expecting, at best, a rap to use on  the show.    Trainor was non-committal but after a few days sent him a demo.   By changing the idea to Wrap Me Up she not only  scraped the urban edge, she channeled the song to pop.  The pair collaborated at a distance, sharing music files until a final version was achieved with contributions from Gian Stone and Sean Douglas.  Producers assembled the recording without all musicians in the studio at the same time. 

Fallon and Trainor even went of rival Jimmy Kimmel's ABC competitor to plug their song.

Trainor rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single All About That Bass, which reached # 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold 11 million copies worldwide. She has released five studio albums with the label and has received various accolades, including the 2016 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

 

Twas in the Moon of Wintertime or Huron Carol— Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2023-‘24

 

                                    The Huron Carol Twas in the Moon of Winter Time  performed by the Prairie Rose Rangers

Today for Native American Heritage Month we share a First Nations Christmas Carol.  The Huron Carol, also known as Twas in the Moon of Wintertime is a Canadian Christmas hymn. It is Canada’s oldest Christmas song, probably written in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people.   The song’s original Huron title is Jesous Ahatonhia—Jesus, he is born. The melody is based on a traditional French folk song, Une Jeune Pucelle or A Young Maid.

The English version of the hymn uses imagery familiar in the early 20th Century, in lieu of the traditional Nativity story.  This version is derived from Brébeuf’s original song and Huron religious concepts.  In the English version, Jesus is born in a “lodge of broken bark” and wrapped in a robe of rabbit skin.  He is surrounded by hunters instead of shepherds, and the Magi are portrayed as “chiefs from afar” who bring him fox and beaver pelts instead of the more familiar gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

                                                  One of many Canadian First Nations icons of the Madonna and Child.

This English translation uses a traditional Algonquian name, Gitchi Manitou, for God, which is not in the original Wyandot version. The original lyrics are now sometimes modified to use imagery accessible to Christians who are not familiar with aboriginal Canadian cultures.  The song remains a common Christmas hymn in Canadian churches of many Christian denominations. It is also found in several American hymnals, including The Hymnal 1982 of The Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Hymnal, and Evangelical Lutheran Worship (#284).

Brébeuf was killed in the 1639 uprising by the Algonquin-speaking Mohawks against the Jesuit missionaries and the Huron.  For his martyrdom he was canonized a Saint in 1930.

Martyrdom of Father Isaac Jogues S.J. Jogues and Brébeuf, two of eight Jesuits martyred over several years in North America during their missionary work in the 1600s The were canonized together in 1930.

This version of the martyred priest’s song was performed by the Prairie Rose Rangers at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper in Benton, Kansas on December 7, 2012.