More Music of Christmas – Day 14: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Wait, What?)

“I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”
By Leann Rimes

Wait, what? Didn’t we do this yesterday?

Yep.

Wasn’t it a Monday Music Monstrosity?

Yep.

But we’re doing it again?

Yep.

Don’t you hate country music?

Yep.

Have you lost your mind?

Ye– well… maybe.

I didn’t know this version existed until a few weeks ago, when I happened to come across it while flipping the dial on SiriusXM. I almost turned it off when it started. I didn’t like the like the original, I sure as hell wouldn’t like a country remake.

But I decided to chance it. And okay, the initial beat wasn’t bad. A different feel, a bit subdued. The first two lines weren’t bad, but then the next two lines suddenly sped up, throwing off the entire balance of the song. Ugh. Horrible.

The same pattern for the next verse — kind of nice slow feel and then double time awfulness.

But then….then the bridge.

The bridge suddenly transformed into this groove, this throwback from the early 1980’s where pop rock had funk infused into the DNA, with slow beats and funk guitar. And this Christmas song had it in spades. And it’s beautiful.

The song ends with a soundscape that encompasses a whole plethora of musical ideas, like you’re at a three ring circus with so many things grabbing your attention.

If the whole song had that groove funk I love so much, I’d have said this version is an instant classic. Unfortunately it has some odd tempo choices that lead me to wonder “What if…?”

Still, what’s good is AMAZING.

Tomorrow — dunno just yet.