Midst Not-So-Quiet Night: The Street Christmas Carols of Interwar Poland
As the weather grew colder and Christmas drew near, the street musicians of Interwar Warsaw, famous for their songs about criminals and scandalous events, sang Christmas songs. But not just any Christmas songs: they performed peculiar renditions of popular Polish Christmas carols, with the lyrics altered… a bit. Culture.pl presents excerpts from seven intriguing Polish street carols which may be merry but aren’t so bright!
The sounds of street music
In Interwar Warsaw, so-called street musicians were a fixture of the urban landscape. These artists, typically from working-class backgrounds, performed mainly in the streets, courtyards, in train wagons and at dance parties. They wrote and played street songs somewhat reminiscent of popular folk tunes, looking to make a living off music. Some street musicians performed solo, singing and playing an instrument, others formed whole street bands. Among the popular instruments used by Warsaw’s street musicians were the accordion, the guitar, the mandolin and the fiddle.
Many Interwar street tunes were created anonymously, and later circulated freely among the street performers. Their lyrics would often veer far from the birth of Baby Jesus and describe… famous criminals or scandalous events. Taking things a step further, cabaret artists would create pastiches of the street songs and perform them at musical venues. Interestingly, these pastiches would sometimes make their way back to the streets, where musicians and audiences would accept them as authentic street music.
Here’s how the sound of Interwar Warsaw was described in the 1971 book Warszawskie Ballady Podwórzowe (Warsaw Street Ballads) by the University of Warsaw professor and language expert Bronisław Wieczorkiewicz:
Text
Warsaw’s street songs are filled with love for the city but also with noticeable notes of self-admiration and great confidence. The favourite tone of the capital’s street music is self-irony and a sly, mocking attitude toward the entire world and its affairs.
The lyrics of street songs, overheard by a journalist or editor, would sometimes be published by small publishing houses in booklets, sold on the streets. One such booklet was the Humorystyczne Kolendy Szopki Ludowej (Humorous Carols of Folk Nativity Scenes) from 1934 – a highly curious collection of street Christmas carols.
The booklet contained eleven alternative street versions of lyrics for popular Polish carols like W Żłobie Leży (Lying in the Manger), or Przybieżeli do Betlejem (Hurrying to Bethlehem). The tongue-in-cheek lyrics included in Humorous Carols were filled with the sly, mocking attitude of the street bands, and revolve around things like… money or alcohol consumption. The booklet itself is rather obscure, so it’s hard to establish whether the carols in Humorous Carols were original street songs or pastiches written to mimic street music. Nevertheless, they’re a very interesting Christmas phenomenon.
Below you’ll find excerpts from seven of these peculiar carols, which seem to be the most intriguing of the lot. In order to provide the context needed to fully appreciate them, the excerpts are accompanied by the lyrics of the original carols.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Folk Christmas decorations, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
First off, we have Kolenda Pijaka (A Drunkard’s Carol) which is a rendition of Lying in the Manger. The original Polish carol brings to mind a nativity scene and goes like this:
Text
In the manger he lies! Who will arrive
To sing for the baby
Jesus Christ
Born tonight?
O shepherds, come
Sing your songs
For our Lord
Meanwhile, the street version tells the story of a drunkard lying in the gate of a tenement house. A Drunkard’s Carol stands in strong contrast to its original and that is where this street songs’ potential to illicit a laugh lies.
Text
In the gate he lies, who will arrive
To rescue the drunkard,
Denatured spirit and wood polish,
The pauper had to relish,
Vodka’s always too expensive,
He got drunk out of his senses,
He got poisoned by meths
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
A pre-War advertisement, photo: public domain
Another street version of Lying in the Manger found in Humorous Carols is Kolenda Szofera (A Chauffeur’s Carol). This one has a bit of a macabre twist to it:
Text
In jail he lies, who will surmise,
That the car was no good,
A few bodies oozing blood,
Before the stars came out,
The rash drive came to a halt,
As a pileup did occur!
The verses that follow explain that the accident was caused by the chauffeur drinking ‘five bottles’ and that he’d have to face the legal consequences of his wrongdoings. A cautionary tale.
A tree for dear mother-in-law
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Christmas trees on sale in Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
The next street song on our list is also linked to alcohol consumption, but it’s not another version of Lying in the Manger. Kolenda Zięcia (A Son-in-Law’s Carol) is a warped rendition of Hurrying to Bethlehem. Here’s the opening verse of Hurrying to Bethlehem whose lyrics paint a pastoral portrayal of Jesus’ birth:
Text
To Bethlehem the shepherds arrived,
Playing for the Babe on their lyres,
Glory to God on high, Glory to God on high,
May there be peace on earth
The street version, on the other hand, goes like this:
Text
At the market the son-in-law hastily arrived,
A tree for dear mother-in-law he was to buy,
But he met a friend, and for a drink they went,
Just for a small one,
And they had so much fun drinking
That they woke up at the precinct
So hammered they got, they got fined a lot,
Of money, of money
Later on in A Son-in-Law’s Carol we find out that the mother-in-law wasn’t particularly impressed with her son-in-law’s escapade. No surprise there!
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Christmas tree decorations on sale, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
Another street rendition of Hurrying to Bethlehem is Kolenda Wyeksmitowanego (The Evicted One’s Carol). Here the joyous arrival of the shepherds from the original is substituted by the rather grim arrival of bailiffs seeking to evict a tenant:
Text
The bailiffs and the merchants arrived,
All that he owned you could buy,
He didn’t pay his rent, So he was sent,
To the stairs, to the stairs!
[…]
Although he is quite fit for work,
Without a job and home he’s stuck,
Suffers hunger, cold, have mercy, oh people,
And give him shelter!
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Christmas trees on sale in Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
The next song is about somebody who has made it big. Kolenda Nowobogackiego (A Newly Rich Man’s Carol) is a street rendition of Wśród Nocnej Ciszy (Midst Quiet Night), which ridicules the lack of class and compassion exhibited by its hero – a newly rich man. Here’s the opening verse of the original:
Text
Midst quiet night, a voice from heaven cries:
Rise up ye shepherds, Christ is born tonight,
Go at once the stars will lead you,
Bethlehem tonight will greet you
And adore our Lord
Author
From ‘Midst Quiet Night’ by Father Sydney MacEwan
And now for the alternative version or New Rich Man’s Carol:
Text
I own a big car, it’s a Mercedes Benz,
So I drive it, though Warsaw’s bends,
Walking is just not for me,
Since I’ve so much money,
I’m a real big shot
[…]
About the unemployed, I don’t care the least,
Use my fingers to dry my nose, not a handkerchief,
But I’m respected by everyone
‘Cause they know how much I own,
La la la, la la la.
A blood-sucking profiteer
Also linked to money is another rendition of Midst Quiet Night, titled Kolenda Golibrody (A Barber’s Carol). This street carol tells the story of a barber who on Christmas Eve charges extra for the services offered at his shop. Now that’s the Christmas spirit!
Text
So many clients, ladies and gents,
To them this is a huge event,
The brushes are already frayed,
Blunt are now the razor blades,
Due to all the work.
Every service whatever it may be,
Costs fifty percent extra on this eve,
He’s like a blood-sucking profiteer,
When business is booming here,
Our barber, our barber.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Celebrating Christmas in 1926 Warsaw, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
Our final street Carol is also an alternative version of Midst Quiet Night. Titled Kolenda Rzeźnika (A Butcher’s Carol), it’s a somewhat gross tale about… a butcher. Not quite the thing to stir up that holiday appetite:
Text
Midst quiet night, a voice from somewhere cries,
Is that alright, to do so during Christmas times?
When the butcher instead from pork,
Made sausages using meat from a horse,
And pieces of bread.
In the following verses of A Butcher’s Carol we find out that those who consume the butcher’s products get parasites, which even lead to death. Those who survive the meal, later seek revenge wanting to ‘break the [Butcher’s] ribs’… Now that’s something you don’t often hear in a Christmas carol!
If at some point during Christmas you’ll get tired of the sweet holiday atmosphere you may want to shake things up a little by singing one of these beauties. They are carols, after all!
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]