Today, we explore one of the reasons why Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has been growing in popularity in recent years.
Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of pop culture history that interests me that doesn’t quite fit into the other features.
The other day, I noted that while Mariah Carey will almost assuredly maintain her chart-topping dominance this December with her perennial Christmas hit, “All I Want For Christmas is You”, the only artist who might have a chance at matching her is Brenda Lee, with the 64-year-old Christmas song, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”. Lee has been catching up on Carey in recent years, but has not closed the gap fully.
Well, reader Michael O’Brien noted in the comments that one of the major reasons why Lee has been making up the gap each year on Carey is because “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has become a hit on the social media video hosting service, TikTok.
And the reason?
About a decade ago, it briefly became a “thing” that when Lee sings “Pumpkin pie,” it really sounds a lot like she’s saying “F**king pie.” Not so much the literal lyric, and really more the CADENCE of it, and when you listen for it, you can totally hear it. Check it out…
And while I mean this as no shot at ALL to TikTok, a common thing on the site is something that was once a “thing” years ago gets made a “thing” all over again on TikTok, as a new generation discovers it (NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT).
And anyhow, the song has become very popular on the site, with people obsessing over the “Pumpkin pie” line…
@nursemollie I’m always ready for some F***ing Pie 😁 #tistheseason #pumpkinpie #christmas22 #rockinaroundthechristmastree #xmassong #foodcoma #lvf #goodgollynursemollie
And that has helped the song make up some of the ground on Mariah Carey’s steamrolling of the Billboard charts. Fascinating!
Thanks so much to Michael for the head’s up. If anyone else has an interesting pop culture bit that you’d like me to write about, drop me a line at brian@popculturereferences.com!
I’m working forty-five hours a week this month and have not heard Mariah Carey a single time. Baby It’s Cold Outside thankfully is absent too. Saves me from yelling at the speakers ‘It’s a weather report, not a Christmas song!’ Now if I could just figure out how you can give someone your heart (falling in love with them) can be given away. Does he just make the singer fall in love with someone else?
He gave her/him his heart last Christmas, but he/she rather quickly gave it away (discarded it, broke up with him) and this year, he’s giving it to someone new. However, the fascinating thing is that he acknowledges that he/she could get him right back if they tried, that’s how susceptible he remains to their charms.