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Sunday, December 13, 2009

This isn't Your Grandfather's Greensleeves: a Video of Christmas Lights

"Winston Christmas Lights - Greensleeves"

bradandlaura23, YouTube (December 04, 2006)
video, 3:13

"10,700 lights synchronized to Greensleeves by 00.52"

I've seen better - more elaborate, anyway - choreography in lighting displays: But the music makes up for the somewhat repetitive flashing patterns. And it might get 'cooler' after the third or fourth playing. A passing vehicle (or two?) add to the visual interest.

About the music:

00.52 doesn't play Greensleeves the way I heard it, back in the fifties and sixties.

Well, what I remember from childhood and youth probably isn't quite what people three centuries before that were used to. Apparently, "the tune first appeared in 1652". (Greensleeves," History Department at the University of San Diego (undated, listing as a source another URL: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ballads/handful.html#green). My guess is that 1652 is when the first documented and verifiable record of the song appears.

Anyway, three and a half (now) centuries later, the tune is quite recognizable - and, I suspect, at a tempo that's a bit closer to the original - and three and a half centuries from now, Greensleeves may still be around. And, probably, be played with a style we wouldn't think of using.

Bottom line? A pretty good video.
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