Each day until Christmas, I am going to write briefly about a Christmas song I enjoy. Because I can, that’s why. And I an unabashed corny dork.
I feel the title of this song is a little misleading. It is not a story of a Snoopy helping Woodstock find the true meaning of Christmas, or Charlie Brown teaching Snoopy not to be so commercial. Nope. It’s about a dog, a Sopwith Camel, and the Christmas Day that the Red Baron let the little dog live, knowing that they would try and kill each other on Boxing Day. On the one hand, a tad misleading for a children’s song I feel. On the other hand, completely on-brand for a Charles Schutlz production.
It also weirdly highlights how conditional modern Christianity has become. The two opponents are fine with the idea of going right back to killing each other the day after Christmas. One of the reasons the commander son both sides came down so hard on the original Christmas Truce is that they didn’t want any actual Christian feeling to get in the way of their war. It would do no good for people to think that the fellows on the other trench were real people, deserving of the same Christian charity as the man next to you or you yourself. And perhaps, given that, there might be a better way out of this political mess than wholesale abandonment of several of the commandments.
Still a great song though, and some Christian spirit is better than none.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum
Do kannst mir sehr gefallenThe news had came out in the First World War
The bloody Red Baron was flying once more
The Allied Command ignored all of its men
And called on Snoopy to do it againWas the night before Christmas and forty below
When Snoopy went up in search of his foe
He spied the Red Baron and fiercely they fought
With ice on his wings, Snoopy knew he was caughtChristmas bells those Christmas bells
Ring out from the land
Asking peace of all the world
And good will to manThe Baron had Snoopy dead in his sights
He reached for the trigger to pull it up tight
Why he didn’t shoot, well, we’ll never know
Or was it the bells from the village belowChristmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to manThe Baron made Snoopy fly to the Rhine
And forced him to land behind the enemy lines
Snoopy was certain that this was the end
When the Baron cried out Merry Christmas, my friendThe Baron then offered a holiday toast
And Snoopy our hero saluted his host
And then with a roar they were both on their way
Each knowing they’d meet on some other dayChristmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to manChristmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to manChristmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
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