A Story of Misheard Christmas Song Lyrics
My daughter has recently been getting into the festive spirit by singing the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Unfortunately she only knows the words to the first part of the song and she has decided to sing them in a constant loop. It’s very cute to hear her singing in English but after a while we started to wish she would move on to some other song in the wide variety of Christmas hits. Sadly she is very content with just the one Christmas classic. In an attempt to give us at least some small relief my wife tried to teach her the second part of the song recently. This had the side effect of giving me a surprise revelation of misheard Christmas song lyrics as I listened to her do this from the kitchen.
Wife
(Singing)
“Good tidings we bring to you and your kin. We wish…”
Me
(Interrupting in sudden shock)
“Wait! Did you just sing you and your kin?!”
Wife
“Yeah.”
Me
“Oh my god! I thought it was you and your King.”
Wife
“Ahhh. So that’s what you’ve been singing.”
Me
“That’s what I’ve been singing for the past thirty-seven years!”
Wife
(Suddenly a little less sure)
“Well… I’m pretty sure it’s kin.”
Me
(Suddenly convinced)
“It must be. That makes so much more sense!”
We quickly googled it and discovered that she was right. This year for Christmas my wife got me the correction of a song I’ve been singing wrong my entire life (And I’m supposed to be the native English speaker in the family).
Our daughter has continued to sing the first part of the song on a loop but she does now occasional throw in a line from Jingle Bells for variety. I wonder what other misheard Christmas song lyrics I’ve been singing my whole life. Merry Christmas.
If it makes you feel any better, Stu, I’ve always thought it was ‘king’ too. Must be a guy thing.
Maybe not. Shortly after this post went live I discovered that my Mum and Dad also thought it was King.
That would be “Jingle Bells”, not Jiggle Bells… but you knew that, right? :P
Of course… Invading Holland: Wishing you a dyslexic Christmas since 2006.
Ha, Stu, if I’m honest, I’ve never even thought about it and just sang something that could have been kin, king or even bin. It was what ever sounded right without worrying about meaning….I confess I’m not big on song lyrics, so I can totally understand how you came to mix that up. At least now I also know what it is for sure instead of just making sounds with my mouth that can’t really be deemed words at all :)
I like the bin version :)
I thought it was King too!!
I’m discovering a lot of people do :)
How about” while shepherds wash their socks by night” That’s a classic
Until I was about 30, I thought Good King Wenslas last looked out on the feast of Stephen.
It’s not?