Fum, Fum, Fum (in Catalan; Valencian ˈfum ˈfum ˈfum/) is a traditional Catalan Christmas carol. It was first documented by the folklorist Joaquim Pecanins in 1904, who had heard the song at the Christmas Eve midnight mass in Prats de Lluçanès.[1] However, the song's origins stretch back to the 16th or 17th century, according to folklorist Joan Amades.[2]
In 1922, the musicologist Kurt Schindler first translated the song into English, publishing it in one of the largest musical publishing houses of the era, Oliver Ditson and Company in Boston. Spanish-language versions are also popular today, and it is included in many traditional Spanish Christmas carol collections.
Before being written down in the early 20th century, the song was a typical example of a cançó de les mentides (English: "song of lies"), appropriate for the debaucherous way in which Christmas was celebrated in the 18th and 19th centuries. Lyrics were improvised each time it was sung, with each verse more absurd than the last. Some of this survives in the modern Catalan version, which in one verse asks qui dirà més gran mentida? (English: "who will tell a bigger lie?"), while a different verse references shepherds eating eggs and sausage—an explicit reference to fellatio.
Indeed, the ethnomusicologist Jaume Ayats notes that the word "fum" is the imperative form of the verb "fúmer", which in a literal sense means "to fornicate" but can be used as a slang form of saying "to do". In fact, the original song was sung with "fot, fot, fot", from the verb "fotre" instead, a less polite verb with the same meaning. When Pecanins first documented the song, he changed the lyrics to "fum, fum, fum", thought to be more acceptable to a broader audience.
Other sources have suggested a more innocent meaning to the lyrics. Since the word "fum" also means "smoke" in Catalan, it has been suggested the name may simply refer to the smoke rising from a chimney as seen from afar, or, as indicated in the New Oxford Book of Carols, "may imitate the sound of a drum (or perhaps the strumming of a guitar)".[3] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) defines "fum" as "to play upon a fiddle," quoting Ben Jonson, "Follow me, and fum as you go."[4]
Foreign-language versions typically do not literally translate the original lyrics. For example, the typical English version of the carol, created by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw in 1953 does not take into account the satirical substratum of the original. It was this version that popularized the carol in the United States and other English-speaking areas, though there are several other versions in English as well.
| English version[5] | Catalan Version[6] | Alternate Catalan version | Translation of Catalan lyrics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On December five and twenty fum, fum, fum. On December five and twenty, fum, fum fum. Oh, a child was born this night So rosy white, so rosy white Son of Mary, virgin holy In a stable, mean and lowly, fum, fum, fum. On December five and twenty God will send us days of feasting | A vint-i-cinc de desembre fum, fum, fum A vint-i-cinc de desembre fum, fum, fum Ha nascut un minyonet ros i blanquet, ros i blanquet; Fill de la Verge Maria, n'és nat en una establia. Fum, fum, fum. Allí dalt de la muntanya Qui dirà més gran mentida? A vint-i-cinc de desembre Déu vos do unes santes festes | El vint-i-cinc de desembre fum, fum, fum El vint-i-cinc de desembre fum, fum, fum Ha nascut un minyonet ros i blanquet, ros i blanquet; Fill de la Verge Maria, si n'és nat en una establia. Fum, fum, fum. Aquí dalt de la muntanya Qui dirà més gran mentida? | On the 25th of December fum, fum, fum On the 25th of December fum, fum, fum A little boy was born blond and fair, blond and fair; Son of the Virgin Mary, he has been born in a stable. Fum, fum, fum. Here atop the mountain Who will tell a bigger lie? |