Today is a quiet day leading up to New Year so I thought I would drag up something good from the past. A little over a year ago my father in law wrote a fun silly poem about the fictional land of Canalia.
CANALIA
The vast red Down Under... the Great White North
Here's an Ode to the Land of Perpetual Pink.
Where cute little koalas sit there and freeze,
While the beavers eat bark off all the gum trees
Where the kangaroo shivers and the caribou sweat;
A chinook in July ain't a safe bet!
Where the temperature soars to forty below,
Wee fairy penguins frolic, on the ice and the snow
Where the great polar bear goes surfing for Christmas,
All bundled up in his toque and his mittens
Where Santa returns from his annual run
Cursing his burns from the infernal sun
Oh, to be back in the land of my birth
Counting the blessings of faraway mirth
Where my family is usually faintly amused
But my friends are generally always confused
By my serious silliness, sometimes I think
There in the Land of Perpetual Pink
2 comments:
So you want to appreciate Christmas in Australia?
I could not but be reminded of a song by Rolf Harris, from a good many years ago,
called “Six White Boomers”.
Here is a little explanation of some of the words from this song, for those who might need it:
Boomers - large kangaroos
booming - The sound the large kangaroo make as they hit the ground with each jump
Joey - A baby kangaroo
Marble Bar - A town in the far North West of Australia, consistently one of the hottest places in Australia
= = = = = = = = = = =
Six White Boomers
Firstly the introductory narrative.
Early on one Christmas Day a Joey kangaroo,
Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo.
'Mummy, where's my mummy? They've taken her away.'
We'll help you find your mummy, son. Hop up on the sleigh.'
The song commences here.
Up beside the bag of toys little Joey hopped,
But they hadn't gone far when Santa stopped.
Unharnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why,
Then he heard a far off booming in the sky.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Pretty soon old Santa began to feel the heat,
Took his fur lined boots off to cool his feet,
Into one popped Joey, feeling quite okay,
While those old man Kangaroos kept pulling on the sleigh.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Joey said to Santa, 'Santa, what about the toys?
Aren't you giving some to these girls and boys?'
'They've got all their presents, son, we were here last night,
this trip is an extra trip, Joey's special flight.'
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Soon the sleigh was flashing past right over Marble Bar,
'Slow down there,' cried Santa, 'it can't be far,
Come up on my lap here, son, and have a look around.'
'There she is, that's Mummy, bounding up and down.'
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Well that's the bestest Christmas treat that Joey ever had,
Curled up in mother's pouch feeling snug and glad.
The last they saw was Santa heading northwards from the sun,
The only year the boomers worked a double run.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
= = = = = = = = = =
I found the words of this song on: http://users.bigpond.net.au/bwi28/c/sixwhite.html
This song was written in Perth, Western Australia, in 1960. Rolf Harris was working at a television station with an American named John D. Brown and, thinking it was crazy to be singing Christmas songs about snow and ice when the temperature was around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (40C), they wrote this song.
This website also includes a download containing the music for Six White Boomers. You can play the midi file in your favourite audio player. It is just one piano line playing the melody, but it is a start and enough to give you the melody when looking at the lyrics.
Hi Wilf,
Thanks for the words. Interestingly, we often hear this song on Canadian radio around this time of year, but very rarely hear the Huron carol. The latter is too "Christian" I suppose.
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