Jesus and the Easter Bunny

"London Calling" by the Clash is not an Easter song.

I heard it in the car on the way to Easter dinner earlier today. While I love the song, it doesn't exactly put me in an Easter state of mind. But then I thought, what song would? Musically speaking, Easter does not have the treasure trove of musical selections that Christmas has. Christmas music covers all genres from classical to rock and every artist, even ones you would not expect, like say, Twisted Sister, has recorded at least one Christmas song, if not a whole CD.
Christmas has a lot more characters to sing about: Jesus, Santa, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, etc, etc. And let's not get into the commercialism that surrounds Christmas and how that affects our feeling towards holidays...that's be another blog. Maybe.

As for holiday characters, Easter has Jesus and the Easter Bunny. As for Easter music, there's that Peter Cottontail song, and I think there's a song by the name of "Easter Parade," taken from the Bing Crosby movie. Why is this the case? Does Easter not inspire the same musical spirit in composers? Does the average person not have the same sentimentality about Easter as he does toward Christmas?

I'll admit, Easter does not give me the same warm fuzzies I get about Christmas. Christmas is about warmth in the dead of winter, a gathering of family to celebrate a birth of something new and unknown, full of hope for the future, something untarnished by the cuts and wounds of a life already lived.

Easter is a different animal entirely. While it celebrates re-birth and a new chance at everlasting life, there is also the pall of death after a painful life on Earth. But I think it is the season in which Easter falls that makes the difference in the way people feel when they get together to celebrate. The long winter is over and, if you're in Chicago, there's still snow on the ground but it is melting under the rays of an increasingly warm sun. The countdown to baseball is eight days. That means summer is right around the corner, what with its cold beers on hot days and retreats from the humidity into the air conditioning. Easter is just a different vibe from Christmas, man.

What was my original point, though? Oh yeah, Easter songs. Does anybody know the words to "Peter Cottontail"?

"Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin' down the bunny trail, flippity floppety floopity floop, Easters' on it's way." I don't think that's quite it...