Amy Lu's View

“Is that promise or a threat?”

This little nugget of wisdom was one of my family’s favorite zingers. It came to mind recently as I was practicing the Christmas song “There’s Always Tomorrow” from the 1964 televsion special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

This song is performed by Clarice, Rudolph’s love interest. It’s a lovely little bittersweet and melancholy but inspirational tune meant to comfort Rudolph when Santa and his family and all the other reindeer are being assholes because of Rudolph’s red nose.

And now is probably as good of a time as any to get out my rant about Santa in the Rudolph TV special: Wow, is he a first class jerk. Okay, I want to say something stronger, but this is more or less a family-friendly blog and this is a beloved children’s classic we’re talking about. But I’m almost positive that even as a kid, or especially as a kid, I was convinced Rudolph’s Santa was a Jackass.

As an adult (really just this year), I’m more sympathetic to Rudolph’s Santa or at least appreciative to the realistic way he’s portrayed. I mean, who said that one has to always be a nice and understanding and woke guy to do compassionate deeds and respect differences? Isn’t it more compelling that this is a story where Santa goes on an inner journey and grows as a person? Doesn’t his jerkiness make the narrative arc more compelling?

Maybe, probably. But wow, is Santa an a*%hole in Rudolph.

(A disclaimer that everything I’ve said and will say about Rudolph is based on my memory of how I interpreted the show as a kid, and I probably haven’t watched Rudolph in at least twenty years).

Anyway, back to Clarice and “There’s Always Tomorrow.” Continuing my run of blog posts about weird and/or suprising lyrics I learn about while working on songs for online church coffee house, check out these “promise or threat”? lyrics:

“There’s always tomorrow,
With so much to do,
And so little time in a day.”

I assume that’s supposed to be encouraging, and to most kids, it probably is: Hey, tomorrow is another exciting, and fun-filled day! And maybe it would more solidly come across that way if the melody wasn’t in a minor tone. But as an adult, those lyrics can easily seem threatening…THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO!! DEADLINES!! COMMITMENTS! AGRH!!

I’m also pondering if/how Clarice’s song fits in the small but important genre of “wistful songs of girlfriends in children’s Christmas movies.” Okay, I’m only aware of two other entries for that genre (so maybe it’s more of a subgenre):

• “My World is Beginning Today” sung by the character Jessica in Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (another stop-motion animation gem of the Rudolph era) and
• “When Love is Gone” from The Muppet Christmas Carol,” sung by young Scrooge’s fiance, Belle.

Unlike the two songs noted above, “There’s Always Tomorrow” is never cut out of broadcasts of Rudolph (at least not as far as I know). I’m annoyed that “My World is Beginning Today” gets cut (for time? quality? contemporary sensibilities?–Jessica does seem like she’s having a drug trip). However, I don’t think I’ve missed “When Love is Gone,” even though there’s been a big splash that it was re-added this year (https://www.vulture.com/2020/12/muppet-christmas-carol-song-when-love-is-gone-song-returning.html).

Why do I have differing takes on these songs in the same subgenre? What is the feminist and/or patriarchal subtext of the protagonist’s girlfriends’ getting one strange, wistful song that gets cut two out of three times?

Perhaps pondering this is one of the many things to do tomorrow…and if I’m going to spend so much time and energy on questions like this, no wonder there’s so much to do!