Up on the House Top

"Up on the House Top" is a Christmas song written by Benjamin Hanby in 1864 in the town of New Paris, Ohio. It has been recorded by a multitude of singers, most notably Gene Autry in 1953.

History

According to William Studwell in The Christmas Carol Reader, "Up on the House Top" was the second-oldest secular Christmas song, outdone only by "Jingle Bells", which was written in 1857 (although the latter was originally intended as a Thanksgiving song). It is also considered the first Yuletide song to focus primarily on Santa Claus. According to Readers Digest Merry Christmas Song Book, Hanby probably owes the idea that Santa and his sleigh land on the roof of homes to Clement C. Moore's 1822 poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas"). Benjamin Russell Hanby was born in 1833 near Rushville, Ohio, the son of a minister involved with the Underground Railroad. During his short life, he wrote some 80 songs before dying of tuberculosis in 1867. Other than "Up on the House Top", his best-known song is "Darling Nelly Gray".

The Learning Station

The Learning Station is an educational children's musical group, comprising the husband-and-wife team Don and Laurie Monopoli, and their friend Jan Hrkach.

Don Monopoli founded the group in Connecticut before moving to Melbourne, Florida in the late 1980s. At that time, Hrkach, who also partnered with Monopoli in a Brevard County recording studio, joined the group. The group has released multiple albums, and performed across the US. Group member Laurie Monopoli has an early childhood education degree, and develops the educational content of their concerts and recordings.

Releases

CDs

Burn (Mobb Deep song)

"Burn" is the first single from Mobb Deep's fifth album Infamy. The song features Big Noyd and Vita. On the album, the track is listed as "The Learning (Burn)".

Background

Prodigy's verse contains a subliminal diss towards Jay-Z, in response to the song Takeover.

Music Video

The music video was directed by Diane Martel & features a cameo by DJ Kay Slay. Although Vita is on the chorus of the song, she does not appear in the music video for the song due to Mobb Deep's Beef with Jay-Z (who had a strong relationship with her record label Murder Inc Records.

Charts

Track listing

Ho ho ho

"Ho ho ho" is a textual rendition of a particular type of deep-throated laugh or chuckle. Most associated today with Santa Claus and Father Christmas, it was connected in the 17th century with the English mythological figure of Puck.

The laughter of Santa Claus has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified, but it also does not appear in many non-English-speaking countries. The traditional Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas relates that Santa has:

Popular Culture

As a Canadian Postal Code

Canada Post uses the characters H0H 0H0 as the postal code for letters to be sent to Santa Claus.

The full address is:

In French, Santa's name translates as "Father Christmas", addressed as:

Since the postal code system has 'H0' set up to represent a tiny or rural village ('0') inside of the city of Montreal or Laval ('H'), H0 codes are quite rare and a seasonal allocation of H0H does not appear with any other normal postal codes.

Urban legend

There have been false urban legends claiming that use of this laugh is being discouraged in Australian malls by Westaff, a recruitment firm supplying many of the mall Santas. Supposedly, the firm claimed that the laugh, when used loudly, could be frightening to children and could even be considered derogatory to women, and recommended that a Santa lowering his voice and saying "ha ha ha" might be more welcoming. However, these legends have been proven false.

Christmas Songs

Christmas Songs may refer to:

See also