Christmas Carols Number 3 - We Three Kings of Orient Are - The Robert Shaw Chorale

This is a firm favourite as far as Carols go for me as it brings back happy memories of my brother and myself engaged playing as young children.

My father from an early age had a good voice and he was in the local village choir.  His voice was that good and described by my granddad to me as him having the voice of an Angel that he auditioned for the Lincoln Cathedral Choir.  This was more complicated as one of the requisites of being in the choir was that you had to pass the entrance exam for the Cathedral school and to this end the local Vicar Mr Guy tutored him with the extra work and subjects.  Needless to say my father passed and was part of the choir for over 10 years.  So from the age of 8 his life revolved around the Cathedral and singing and music. He was Head Chorister and soloist.  His voice broke late after he was 18 which was when he left the choir.  However it did not stop him singing at full whack as he had been taught it was just the results were not quite the same and sadly I never got to hear how good his voice was.

One of the remnants of music was that at one stage we had a piano in the house.  It was passed on to someone else much to my chagrin.  However the piano stool stayed and all Dad's sheet music and the family photographs were kept in there for many years.

In the front room mum also had a slimline coffee table which was frequently turned upside down and we used to row our boat down the river.  At the same time she had purchased two vinyl red and grey pouffes and a new coal scuttle which was black bucket but brass lid.

So in the run up to Christmas this was our playground.  The sheet music would come out of the piano stool, the coal scuttle would become the cymbal and the two pouffes were the drums (we had two not one) complete with a pair of my mum's knitting needles (which were stored in the drop down table) we turned this into our musical accompaniment and sang our hearts out as only children could (not necessarily in tune but sing our hearts out we did).  We Three Kings was a favourite, we had the sheet music for that (although at that stage we could not read music) however our version was less traditional something along the lines of:

We Three Kings of Leicester Square

Selling women's underwear

Their fantastic

No elastic 

Only a penny a pair!

Very irreverent I know but part and parcel of being children at the time.

I look back at that time now that I am oh so much older at the joy, simplicity and happiness that we had as children and the scope to use our imaginations and create our own fun.  I sometimes wonder if my brother remembers those happy times when we were kids and being grown ups was so far off.  Happy days.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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