Christmas is breathing fa-la-la down my neck and all I want to do is watch movies. (Am I the only one who longs to escape into a fictional world right now?) But first, let's check out fa-la-la...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
I wondered if fa-la-la was a bit like do-re-mi, and I guess I was in the general neighborhood with that thought. According to Newberry research fellow Katie Bank, "Non-lexical vocables—your fa-la-la’s and hey-nonny-no’s—didn’t originate as nonsense filler-syllables for brightening up a song. In Renaissance England, they were used to advance a song’s satirical critique of society or as a lyrical surrogate for something that couldn’t be expressed explicitly." You can listen to her podcast about the history and legacy of non-lexical vocables on her website here.
And when you're done with that...
... you can listen to an hour of holiday music sung by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc., by clicking on this link.
True "golden oldies." Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment