Christmas Odds and Ends

Today, I thought I'd write a Christmas themed odds and ends entry.

For years, I thought that one of the lines in the Christmas song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was:

Christmas eve will find me
Where I long to be

The actual words are:

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light gleams

I like my words better; they make more sense. What the fuck is a "love light", anyway. It sounds kind of erotic, which I'm sure wasn't the intent of the songwriter.

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In the instrumental version of "Sleigh Ride", there is a sound at the end that imitates the sound of a horse neighing. Has anyone ever wondered how that sound was produced? Well, wonder no more as I'm about to tell you.

I was a trumpet player in the high school band and when our band played that song, it was my job to produce that sound. I produced that sound by pressing the valve only halfway down and by using either a cup or a Harmon mute. Worked every time.

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In January of 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton wrote a Christmas filk to the tune of "O Little Town of Bethlehem", in response to a German counterattack which destroyed the Belgian town of Houffalize:

O little town of Houffalize,
How still we see thee lie;
Above they steep and battered streets
The aeroplanes sail by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
Not any Goddamned light;
The hopes and fears of all thy years
Were blown to hell last night.