How well do you know your park? Here are a few pics I captured of things I thought were particularly interesting at night. Can you name them? At the bottom will be the answers in Spoilervision (highlight the text with your cursor and it will show up). Please feel free to leave a comment saying how many you got right! But don’t include the answers–they’re already included ;).
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Answers!
Tomorrowland
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
The former loading dock of the Motor Boat Cruise, Fantasyland
New Orleans Square (specifically above the Cristal d’Orleans shop)
Now let me start out by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Feliz Navidad. It’s a decent song. Here’s your obligatory video, although I will warn you that Jose Feliciano is not looking too great here.
Yeah, I’m thinking the years haven’t been as kind as they could be.
But anyway, I don’t hate the song. What I hate is the fact that it has become the sole representation of the entire Spanish language at Christmas. It’s like whenever someone playing Christmas music decides they want to be multi-cultural, they pull out Feliz Navidad (and then pat themselves on the back for including a song in another language!) (not counting German). Never mind that there are more words in English than in Spanish. Or that it’s mind-numbingly repetitive (and this is coming from the person who doesn’t mind It’s A Small World). Nope, when it comes to Christmas Diversity, you’re talking Feliz Navidad.
There are millions of people in this world who speak Spanish. They come from hundreds of national, regional, and cultural backgrounds. Most of them celebrate Christmas. And yet the ONLY song we can come up with to represent ALL Spanish-speakers is Feliz Navidad??? SURELY somewhere among these vibrant and rich cultures, there’s a traditional song we can add to our holiday repertoire and give Feliz Navidad a well-earned retirement.
Look, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart just as much as the next guy, but it wouldn’t kill us to branch out a little.
(“Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Claus” doesn’t count)
Okay, so this gimmick song was kind of cute and maybe kind of funny the first time you heard it, but hundreds of play hours later, it’s neither cute nor funny. I did a little research to see how the singing dogs came about and was shocked to find out that it was recorded in 1955. NINETEEN FIFTY-FIVE, PEOPLE!!! Apparently it achieved a renaissance when it was re-released in 1971, and, for some godawful reason, has been around ever since.
I picked that particular video because of the fine looking hounds in the picture, which is its single redeeming quality. We’re real hound lovers here.
Anyway, there’s a very interesting article about the Singing Dogs in The Atlantic, and the fact that these stupid barking dogs get their own article in The Atlantic is a bit disturbing to me. Apparently the Singing Dogs represented some kind of massive breakthrough in recording technology. Which is fine, I guess, except if you’re going to come up with a massive breakthrough, why on earth would you make that breakthrough via a Christmas song sung by dogs? Because if that were me, I’d like to have a little something more–sophisticated and less annoying as my legacy.
And according to the Atlantic article, two different polls came up with the Singing Dogs as #1 most hated Christmas song in 2007. So why do people keep playing it? WHY??? It’s like when you’re at the family Christmas dinner and that creepy uncle, who thinks he has a good sense of humor but really doesn’t, has too much to drink and decides he’s going to crack everyone up by playing the funniest Christmas song ever recorded (“you HAVE to hear this one!!”), the singing dogs, completely forgetting that 1) he gets drunk and does this every year, and 2) it’s not a funny song.
I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of cat version out there too, but if you know the names or locations of such songs, please don’t link them. I’ve only got 8 more slots to fill on my 10 Worst, and I don’t want animals to dominate the competition. Thanks.
Yep, I’m veering off-track a little from the Disney thing, mostly because we haven’t renewed our passes yet and I have nothing more to post about until I go back (hopefully Sunday, so a Monday post). In the meantime, I am going to entertain you with my opinions about holiday music.
I am a Christmas fanatic, for starters. And I have a HUGE Christmas Music collection, but let’s face it–there are some real duds out there, many of which constantly get played on the radio. And I, Shelby, am here to decry each and every one of them.
I’m going from least worst to most worst.
#10. Madonna’s Version of Santa Baby
This one still gets continual radio play, and a little part of me dies inside every time I hear it. Now let me first point out that the original singer, Eartha Kitt, does an amazing version. Like, the first version. You know, the good one.
The song itself is a woman listing all of the things she wants from Santa (diamonds, furs, etc.). It’s supposed to be sung in a sophisticated, flirtatious way, which is exactly what Kitt does. Here’s her version:
See? Isn’t that nice?
Unfortunately, the world should have left the song alone after Kitt recorded it. And this did not happen.
Back in 1987, a bunch of popular stars got together and recorded a charity Christmas album, which my brother happened to get as a gift. I think. Or maybe he bought it. I can’t remember. Anyway, my one big memory of this album was Madonna’s version of Santa Baby.
And that’s not a good memory.
Here’s Madonna’s version:
Rather than singing Santa Baby, Madonna sounds like a baby. And that’s not attractive. Not attractive at all. The baby talk just feels, like, creepy. And that’s not the kind of feeling I want from my Christmas music.
Plus changing the line from “A ’54 convertible” regarding a car, to “An outer-space convertible” is just beyond ridiculous. I mean really? Outer space? Because seriously, a ’54 convertible in mint condition in 1987 would have been a lot more valuable than in 1955 when the song was originally recorded anyway. No need to be really lame like that.
Madonna should have left well enough alone. Instead she gets to be #10 on my worst Christmas songs list.
My Year With The Mouse 