MPR’s David Molpus interviews a winner of Merry Happy Lyrics’ "Hark the Herald Angels Sing” category. The entry is by a cowboy poet who goes by the name of Wally Firesteel.
Firsteel is from Gary, South Dakota.
MPR’s David Molpus interviews a winner of Merry Happy Lyrics’ "Hark the Herald Angels Sing” category. The entry is by a cowboy poet who goes by the name of Wally Firesteel.
Firsteel is from Gary, South Dakota.
SPEAKER 1: (SINGING) Hark the retail angels sing,
Glory to the spending fling.
By with plastic for each child.
Bottom lines are reconciled.
Joyful the retailers rise,
Dollar signs in all their eyes.
Without greenspan, they proclaim,
Spend, spend, spend LA to Maine.
Hark the return angels sing,
Glory to the spending fling.
SPEAKER 2: Let me ask you, first of all, just to tell us a little bit about where you got the idea for this song. I presume it's the commercialization of Christmas.
SPEAKER 3: I've been cynical about Christmas for a long time. I haven't done any Christmas shopping this year. I'm either making the stuff, or just finding it. I go to auctions and, I get odd boxes of stuff. And my kids fish around in there, and I say, we'll wait till Christmas. And then I pull something out of there, wrap it, and they're very happy. But the stores appall me.
SPEAKER 2: It's not everybody, though, can write a tune that combines the names Al Greenspan and Keynesian economics.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 3: Thank you.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 2: Is there a particular experience you have in poetry writing or song writing?
SPEAKER 3: Oh golly, let's see. I got started, oh 10 or so years ago, and my parents had one of those anniversaries that end in 0. I did a ballad and it was a real hit. And so that got me going. And at first, I had to have some particular inspiration. But now, the words just pour out. The words are so much fun, that I could do it for anything. You could give me a topic and I could come up with a rhyme. Although, I'll say this, I wrote one today for you.
SPEAKER 2: [LAUGHS] OK.
SPEAKER 3: I once got in a terrible rut of limericks. I had such a glut. It seems every time I started to rhyme to the fore that old form would then strut. And I did this for a year. I could not do anything but limericks. And finally, just one day, snapped out of it.
SPEAKER 2: We're all thankful. Let me ask you, what are you doing this holiday season? How are you celebrating?
SPEAKER 3: Not going shopping. Not going to the after Christmas sales. My kids are coming out on Christmas day. I should say. My wife dumped me about six years ago, and I tell you, that produced a lot of poetic material. Some of it--
SPEAKER 2: We won't go there.
SPEAKER 3: Some of it not readable on the air. But my kids are coming out, we'll have dinner. I do a lot of baking and stuff. I've already baked Christmas cookies and all.
SPEAKER 1: (SINGING) [? Tis ?] by Keynesians adored,
Death the everlasting Lord.
Late in time, the bills come due,
And will then our spending room.
In window antelopes we'll see,
How we'll end In bankruptcy.
The car is seized our house foreclosed.
Paying interest through the nose.
Hark the retail angels sing,
Glory to the spending fling.
Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.
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