One of my favorite Christmas songs is a haunting melody with words that are difficult to sing properly so that the audience understands. "I wonder as I wander out under the sky . . ." It is tough as a vocalist to distinguish between "wonder" and "wander" without getting your lips all contorted. At least that's been my experience.
I've liked the song for years. Unfortunately one of the main reasons I liked the song is based on a misunderstanding of the lyrics (other than that wonder/wander problem.) I always heard the lyric to continue "how Jesus my Savior did come for to die, for poor ornery people like you and like I . . ."
I like the idea of Jesus dying for ornery people. I have been kind of ornery lately. Don't like it much, but I just can't seem to shake it. So you might want to avoid me for a couple of months. It has been a great comfort that Jesus tolerates my orneriness. He hasn't avoided me, bless His heart.
As it turns out "ornery" is written in the lyrics as "or'nry". That's supposed to be an Appalachian dialect spelling of "ordinary". Actually that's pretty good too. Not as good as ornery, but also comforting to an ordinary, ornery guy.
For the history of that song check the Wickepedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wonder_as_I_Wander
I'd rather be ornery.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Streisand sang a version...awesome.
One of my top favorite Christmas songs, too! So haunting.
ReplyDeleteGreat visual of you contorting your lips to distinguish between wonder and wander :)