Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer
And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and Blitzen.
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
Rudolph with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then all the reindeer loved him
And they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
You'll go down in history!"


This is one of the fun, "secular" Christmas myth stories.  Guess I didn't realize it until lately, but one of the reasons I like this song is that it celebrates the triumph of the "odd", and I've been reading a blog about and by "odds", and find out how much I fit in, and feel like them.  

The musical setting here is jazz style, and I like the swing of it for an a capella version.  Instruments you can get away with smoother, but the a capella either needs a lot of sustain or something metrically interesting to keep it lively.