I always misheard the last verse as "Later on we'll perspire, as we dream by the fire." It made sense since, you know, fires are hot!

Beautiful squares by the way.

Too funny, Jill. Love that kid logic!! :0D

Me too, Jill! Also "You'll wind up naked after all!" as the last line of the Laverne and Shirley theme song.

hahahaha!! I'm with Jill. I thought the same exact thing!

I always thought Parson Brown was a person (like someone the singer had a crush on)....

hee, love the colors! I'm happy you're back to this afghan because it is totally gorgeous (lucky in-laws)!

I recently finished a sweater in that color of manos -- they call it "bing cherry." ;)

I always heard it the same as Jill! :)

Wait a minute...you mean it's NOT "Later on we'll perspire" ????

Oh Bertha, there's that moment, the epiphany of finally "getting" long misunderstood song lyrics. Here are the the actual lyrics to Winter Wonderland for everyone out there who's now wondering about what they've always heard. ;0)

I thought it was perspire as well. And I must admit, you all had me googling "Parson Brown" http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Parson+Brown

I wound up searching for Parson Brown too because I always thought it was a person they were singing about, I thought I must have missed something.

Huh, funny. I always just understood that "parson" was like a minister or priest - that's why he can marry you.

I wonder if the Google people will wonder why there is a spike in searches on "Parson Brown"?

For a moment, I was feeling very confused about what /who Parson Brown was.

I think I'm okay now.

Oh but there IS such a thing as a parson bird!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tui_(bird)

Tui as they are mostly known these days (English names for native birds are very un-PC!) are also wonderful mimics. Go to this site and watch the videos, the boys should love it too. The tui even has a NZ accent! In urban areas they tend to mimic lawnmowers, which drives people nuts.

"Parson Brown" is the term used to talk about a typical angelican priest of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. From a google search. Good luck with all the ends and putting the afghan together!!!

Like Jill, I thought that it said "perspire" rather than "conspire" - made more sense to a little kid. Actually, conspire in that context still sounds a little odd to me - I suspect it was used just to fit in well with the rest of the lyrics - not 'cause it's the best choice. I love both of those yarn colorways. What is the other candy colored colorway?
http://www.carols.org.uk/winter_wonderland.htm

Hey, there is a parson bird! Thanks, Sarah for the link. Maybe my logic wasn't so silly after all. I mean, I didn't ever think that they were saying "perspire"! ;0) What does that say about me that as a kid I knew the word "conspire" but not "perspire"??

Thanks for making me laugh. I've been working too much and am exhausted. I decided to take a quick blog break. Reading the interpretations of the lyrics is really cracking me up.

The afghan is going to be beautiful & so warm/comfy.

I remember a long time ago that there was a For Better or For Worse cartoon where a young Elizabeth came in the room singing "Later on, we'll persipire/As we stare at the fire/And face so afraid/The bills left unpaid/Walkin' in a winter wonderland" Elly yelled into the next room, "John, quit teaching the kids corrupted Christmas carols!!!"

Now I always think of that cartoon and smile when I hear the song.

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

parson
1-An Anglican cleric with full legal control of a parish under ecclesiastical law; a rector.
2-A member of the clergy, especially a Protestant minister.

Perhaps a Parson Brown is similar to a Rev. Smith? It seems to be a title as opposed to a name. That'd also explain why he was marrying people!

PS-I recently stumbled across your blog, and have been quite enjoying it. I can't wait to see the finished blanket! :-)

Like Elizabeth, I'm a new reader. Love the blog!
I just had to comment because I had one of those "Aha!" moments with Winter Wonderland. I always wondered why those kids wanted to marry a snowman. I get it now!

It's official then. The words are now "we'll perspire".

Your comments made me think of something similar.

When I was a kid we would sing a hymn that included "holy trinity". I couldn't understand that so I sung it as "whole eternity".

You guys are a hoot! I have been laughing my head off and my nine year came running to see what's so funny.

Haha..parson brown...

I used to think that Home on the Range was punctuated like this: "Where seldom is heard (a discouraging word)." I thought "seldom" was a discouraging word but couldn't figure out why.

Hee! It's so funny that you mention that. Just the other day I was with a friend who had to tell me it was "Parson Brown," and it was a religious title.

All this time I had thought, "Carson Brown? Was he some kind of talk show figure? And were the singers offering him a one-night stand?" Yeeeeah.

P.S. I so blogged this. Thanks for bringing it up!

Reading you I suddenly thought that someone somewhere must have been collecting misunderstood lyrics ; and indeed : http://www.kissthisguy.com/

Hee! I never thought of parson brown as a color!

Being English I always knew what a parson was - I don't know if it was my mother's love of period drama TV shows or because the tail of a roast chicken is called the Parson's Nose...

However...

It's only within the last five years that the song (is it Kenny Rogers, or Dallas Frzier or someone?) "Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" was not about a child whose mother was a homeless person. I couldn't work out why they had a cabin, let along a scarlet lamp, if they were homeless.

Oh the joys of English/American English misunderstanding!