HOLIDAY SONGS (ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE)
HOLIDAY SONGS (ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE): meaning and examples
Welcome back, everyone! It's the second day of our week of Holiday Songs. Today we are looking at the #2 most popular holiday song, according to Billboard Magazine. It's Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." The song was written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958.
This song uses the word "rocking" (which can mean "partying" or "dancing" or "playing music"). You will notice that the "G" is missing from the word: it is spelled "rockin'."
This is common in English: it's informal, and it changes the way that we pronounce the word. Words ending in -ING end with the sound "ING."
Here are some examples:
Rocking
Dancing
Singing
Playing
However, it is common to drop the "G" from the end of -ING words. This changes the pronunciation so that the word ends with the sound "-IN." Here are some examples:
Rockin'
Dancin'
Singin'
Playin'
You will notice that this song does this twice: with the words "rocking" and "dancing."
You can listen to the full song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3HJgCcSUqQ
Here are the lyrics to the song:
Rockin' around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
Every couple tries to stop
Rockin' around the Christmas tree
Let the Christmas spirit ring
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie
And we'll do some carolling
You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear
Voices singing, let's be jolly
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Rockin' around the Christmas tree
Have a happy holiday
Everyone dancin' merrily
In the new old-fashioned way
You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear
Voices singing, let's be jolly
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Rockin' around the Christmas tree
Have a happy holiday
Everyone dancin' merrily
In the new old-fashioned way
Notice that we add an apostrophe to the end of the word Rockin' . This is where the "G" originally was.
That's all for today. Thank you for reading!