![]() ![]() The Red Plastic Bag (lovingly known as “De Bag”) boldly went where no one has gone before. ![]() It takes a masterful lyricist to tell a story of how Santa Claus was his wife’s outside dude. Lyrics: Island Lyrics | Drink a Rum (Lord Kitchener) 2. “Drink a rum and a punch a crema, drink a rum ĭrink a rum and a punch a crema, drink a rum ĭrink a rum and a punch a crema, drink a rum.” A few years ago, the lyrics of the song were used in a jingle to encourage safe drinking during the holiday season. Sung by Lord Kitchener, one of the finest calypsonians in the world, Drink a Rum is a popular refrain throughout the Caribbean at Christmas time. This is a classic Caribbean Christmas song that highlights the presence of liquor in the holiday season. The songs that make my list of must listen Caribbean Christmas songs, are from singers and songwriters in Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and St. ![]() The beat of the music is like no other and the lyrics are familiar and speak of situations that I know. I’m not a fan of Dolly Parton or Kenny Rogers’ Christmas songs, but I would readily listen to holiday tunes from my favourite Caribbean artistes. However, this year, I started listening to Caribbean Christmas songs in November and now I am sharing them with you. Then, Christmas activities kick into high-gear and Christmas delicacies follow swiftly behind. ![]() Then, Christmas music comes in on the 1st December, right after independence day in Barbados. I usually start watching Christmas movies in October (even though I started in April, thanks to COVID-19). And, because I live in the Caribbean, I can enjoy the glorious mix of traditions, which make the holiday season memorable. For me, Christmas movies and music are the icing and decorations on the cake that make the season feel just right. There is something about catchy holiday beats that signal Christmas is here. It’s not Christmas unless I hear my favourite Caribbean Christmas tunes. These are some of my Caribbean Christmas songs that will put a pep in your step for the holidays. If you can’t get to the Caribbean, you have to bring the Caribbean to you. “Jingle Bells” was not intended to be a Christmas song.Are you missing Christmas in the Caribbean this year? Have no fear. (Hamill surmises that Pierpont wrote the song in the early summer of 1857 while temporarily living in a Boston rooming house.) One thing that is not in dispute is that Pierpont drew upon snowbound memories of sleigh rides and sleigh races in Massachusetts, not Georgia, when writing the song. In 1985, Savannah erected an historical marker of its own across from the Unitarian church where Pierpont was music director at the time the song was published, and possibly soon after it was written in the city. The date, if not the place, of the song’s composition is unlikely given that Pierpont probably wouldn’t have waited seven years to publish it and research by Boston University faculty member Kyna Hamill has found that he was still in California chasing gold at the time. (Credit: Public Domain)Ī historical plaque in the Boston suburb of Medford, Massachusetts, claims that Pierpont wrote his famous tune while nursing a drink in the Simpson Tavern in 1850, a year after his father took over a nearby Unitarian church. Plaque provided by the Medford Historical Society. Plaque commemorating the authorship of the song “Jingle Bells” by James Pierpont at the Simpson Tavern (now 19 High Street) in Medford, Massachusetts. The “Jingle Bells” songwriter was a rebel in more ways than one. Several months after the death of his first wife in 1856, the songwriter married a daughter of Savannah’s mayor and left the two children from his first marriage back in the North with their grandfather. Returning home several years later no wealthier than when he left, Pierpont departed from his family again in 1853 to become the organist at a Unitarian church in Savannah, Georgia, that was pastored by his brother. When the California Gold Rush struck in 1849, Pierpont left his wife and children behind in Massachusetts while he chased riches in the West. At the age of 14, he ran off from boarding school, joined the crew of a whaling ship and spent nearly a decade at sea. From an early age, James Lord Pierpont sought adventures far away from his family in Boston. The “Jingle Bells” composer was the son of a fiercely abolitionist Unitarian minister, Reverend John Pierpont. The commemorative plaque for James Lord Pierpont and his “Jingle Bells” in Savannah, Georgia, USA. ![]()
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