Holiday, Oh, Holiday

I get a flush out of this commercial, which I first heard on the radio, then saw it on TV.

It`s a happy-sappy commercial with catchy music that goes "Holiday, Oh a Vacation and the better one of the year." Very Christmas-y on the surface.

The call is done by a group called Vampire Weekend and is excerpted in the commercial.

The lyrics, though happen to be just the like as those of Matty Groves which is Child Ballad #81, a traditional Folk song that has been around forever and reproduced in countless versions.

While those are about the only lyrics in the commercial and the only ones that Vampire Weekend`s Holiday has in green with the traditional song, had the commercial`s producers realized that, they certainly would get picked another song.

Why? Well, Matty Groves, also known as Little Musgrove and Lady Barnard, is a sad story of fornication and murder. It has been performed by many artists, such as Joan Baez, Fairport Convention and Christy Moore among countless others.

In the traditional song, which has as many versions as performers, Matty Groves, a commoner, is seduced by Lady Barnard, the wife of a powerful, wealthy Lord, who is away tending to his lands and unfortunately, neglecting his wife. The Lady meets Matty in church and takes him home, where the Master comes home and finds them in bed. An angry confrontation ensues and the Almighty gives Groves a brand and promptly slays the commoner who is no fit for him.

The Gentlewoman is obstinate and when the Lord asks "How do you wish your lover now?" She tells him she still likes him better. The Master in a fit of rage, kills the Gentlewoman and they are interred in a common grave, with the Dame on top, "because she is of noble blood."

Here`s a version performed by Fairport Convention.

Compare the lyrics in this to those in the Vampire Weekend video. Not a lot in common, but the only ones used in the commercial are the ones in green in both songs.

90% of people won`t recognized the Vampire Weekend song. I didn`t. But 99% of people probably won`t know the lyrics as belonging to Matty Groves/Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard, either. In some versions, it was Almighty and Lady Arlen. I`m certain it was adjusted for local political impact over the years.

I`m just tickled that a car company would take a call with lyrics that add an icon of fornication and off to my head for their Christmas commercial. Pure genius_