Six White Boomers

[Reiqua]

In Australia, tradition is that Santa's sleigh is in fact pulled by kangaroos (aka boomers) - not by reindeer. He uses his reindeer for the rest of the world, sure, but in Australia it's just a tad too hot for those arctic beasts, so he swaps them for kangaroos!

I just thought it'd be fun to share this Aussie Christmas carol with you all - most Aussie kids will know it!
Tagging Kozma cos I think you'd appreciate this It's an adorable song, and it still gives me such feels <3

Here are the lyrics, the video doesn't really bear looking at anyway, so may's well read the lyrics instead:

SPOILER: Click to show

Early on one Christmas Day a joey kangaroo,
Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo.
'Mummy, where's my mummy? They've taken her away.'
We'll help you find your mummy, son. Hop up on the sleigh.'

Up beside the bag of toys little joey hopped,
But they hadn't gone far when Santa stopped.
Unharnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why,
Then he heard a far off booming in the sky.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Pretty soon old Santa began to feel the heat,
Took his fur lined boots off to cool his feet,
Into one popped Joey, feeling quite okay,
While those old man Kangaroos kept pulling on the sleigh.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Joey said to Santa, 'Santa, what about the toys?
Aren't you giving some to these girls and boys?'
'They've got all their presents, son, we were here last night,
this trip is an extra trip, Joey's special flight.'

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Soon the sleigh was flashing past right over Marble Bar,
'Slow down there, ' cried Santa, 'it can't be far,
Come up on my lap here, son, and have a look around.'
'There she is, that's mummy, bounding up and down.'

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Well that's the bestest Christmas treat that Joey ever had,
Curled up in mother's pouch feeling snug and glad.
The last they saw was Santa heading northwards from the sun,
The only year the boomers worked a double run.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

In actual fact, most Christmas traditions and Christmas songs make very little sense in Australia because of how hot it is here! So we have an awful lot of gems of Aussie Christmas songs, like 'Santa Claus has got a new truck', and 'Dashing through the bush in a rusty Holden ute', and 'Deck the shed with bits of wattle', etc. I can share some more if people are interested in them!

[M is for Morphine]

That is extremely cute, thanks for sharing! I'd love to hear more about Australian Christmas songs.

[Crystal]

Oh my God that was just adorable!! I've always thought that the snow songs would be a little strange for Aussies and New Zealanders, and I'm glad that these exist! You should definitely post more.

[Reiqua]

The majority of Aussie Christmas songs are rip-offs of other Christmas songs because the contrast with snow imagery make them funnier! At big shot Christmas carol events, like the ones that are big enough to have fireworks, you mostly just sing the original snow Christmas carols with maybe one or two Aussie ones thrown in for fun. At your typical school carols event (eg), you get a good mix of those ones and these Aussie versions.

Here's Aussie Jingle Bells:


Lyrics:

SPOILER: Click to show

Dashing through the bush,
in a rusty Holden Ute,
Kicking up the dust,
esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side,
singing Christmas songs,
It's Summer time and I am in
my singlet, shorts and thongs

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia
on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Engine's getting hot;
we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard,
he is welcome too.
All the family's there,
sitting by the pool,
Christmas Day the Aussie way,
by the barbecue.

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia
on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Come the afternoon,
Grandpa has a doze,
The kids and Uncle Bruce,
are swimming in their clothes .
The time comes 'round to go,
we take the family snap,
Pack the car and all shoot through,
before the washing up.

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia
on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Notes on Aussie culture:

SPOILER: Click to show

Do you guys know what a ute is? I think most of the world calls it a pickup?


'Parently the rest of the world don't call this an esky:

What on earth do you call it then?

Kelpies are an Australian breed of dog. Generally really well trained and exceptionally loyal and they're just adorable!!


In Australia, these are thongs:


Not whatever else you may have been thinking!
(I almost forgot to put that note in - it's so obvious to me!)

Singlet shorts and thongs:


Swaggie means swagman, as in Waltzing Matilda (you may have heard the chorus at football matches? Well if you're not American, since Americans don't play proper football)
A swagman is not a teenage gangsta with lots of swag... he's an old man who carries a swag - ie all his bedding rolled up into one so he can kip wherever he happens to be on his travels. Modern swags look nothing like the bag slung on a stick, but here's a traditional-looking swaggie:

A swagman will often hitch hike, hence the reference in the song.

And finally, Aussie Christmases generally do take place with a barbecue beside the swimming pool, and everyone jumps in the pool in their clothes. That way when you get out, your wet clothes at least keep you cool for a while.

Also, who actually says 'Merry' these days, apart from when you're saying 'Merry Christmas'? Perhaps 'Happy Christmas' is more modern, but Australian language is something else! (I know Tiger had fun with that recently writing Tripwire! Thought you might be interested to see this Tiger)

Again, pardon the hideous graphics, it'd be better off without them! 

Most of the time, when people are singing their accent doesn't come through very strong. But I reckon these guys do a darn good job of putting all these lyrics in a heavy Aussie accent as they should be pronounced!
(Also one of them is Colin Buchannan who is practically my childhood hero xP)

Lyrics:

SPOILER: Click to show

We wish you a ripper Christmas
A full-bor ripper Christmas
A dead set ripper Christmas
And a snappy New Year.

May the kids have a hoot
May the prezzies be beaut
From the big-bellied fella
In the red and white suit.

Send cards through the post
Have a big Christmas roast
Then hitch up the caravan
And shoot down The Coast.

Great prezzies we bring
All wrapped up with string
They're not very expensive
But they're interesting.

Jingle Bells, Batman smells
Robin flew away
Billy Bunter did a grunter
Flying TAA.

With candles alight
And faces so bright
We'll sing lots of carols
Long into the night.

We'll hang up the holly
be cheerful and jolly
and fill up our tumtums
with lolly after lolly.

Notes on Aussie culture:

SPOILER: Click to show

No, we don't actually use the word 'snappy', the rest we do use.

Despite the fact that it's generally 30-40 degrees on Christmas day (86-104 farenheit), many Aussies do have a roast on Christmas day. Though as the previous song said, a barbie (barbecue) is more common.

At least 80% of Aussies live on the coast, so when you go away, you don't go to the coast, you go to a different part of the coast. Also Christmas coincides with our summer holidays (still can't get over how weird it'd be to have summer holidays in the middle of the year, wut)

I can only assume that that random 'Jingle Bells, Batman Smells' bit is found all over the world in some form or other, it can't be just Aussie can it?
TAA is an Aussie airline that no longer operates.

I also really wanted to post Santa Claus has got a new truck (to the tune of Santa Claus is coming to town) cos I love that one, but I couldn't find a good version of it! Also I need to get ready and go to work, haha. I may post some more later.

[Reiqua]

There's a bajillion others I could post, but I think I'll leave it at that for this year.
There is one more though, that I didn't have time to dig up this morning - a much different song to the others, because it's 70 years old, and it has a rather different, more 'traditional' tone. People don't sing it at carols events much.



And a return to the feels for one last one, but please don't bother opening the spoiler if you're not into sad Christmas feels.

SPOILER: Click to show

You've probably never heard of Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin, Australia on Christmas Day. It was devastating. But along with many, I think the suffering of those who lived through it shouldn't be purged from memory, but honoured.
This one is also not normally sung at carols events.