Before we get to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” most of us start with a different kind of waiting and awaiting during Advent. As a kid, I didn’t associate early December with mourning in lonely exile, but with the greedy anticipation of presents. And by presents, of course, I meant toys — new, free, glorious toys.
Ross Bagdasarian still remembered that after he grew up and he wrote a terrific song about the anxious greed that Advent brings for small children. You’ve probably heard that song, but maybe didn’t think of it as particularly good since Bagdasarian’s claim to fame was less as a songwriter than as a Grammy-winning engineer who made his fortune through novelty records where he sped up the audio to create silly, kind of annoying, high-pitched voices. Specifically, he created the voices of Alvin, Simon and Theodore, the “Chipmunks.”
“The Chipmunk Song” became a No. 1 record and it still gets played to death every year during the Christmas season. Like it or not, it’s catchy, and can be an aggravating ear-worm you find yourself humming hours after leaving the store where it was played.
But underneath that novelty gag, Bagdasarian’s Advent hymn for children really is a solid song that captures something of the impatient longing in all the best Advent and Christmas music. Rosie Thomas strips away the chipmunk trickery and shows us the song underneath. I like this.
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