Talk:We Three Kings

Metre

'We Three Kings of Orient Are' is one more ludicrous example of poor setting of words to melody, or vice versa, whereby strong syllables in speech do not match strong beat in the melody, with the result of creating confusion. Where is 'Orient Are'? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.59.159 (talk) 22:03, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

We Three Kings

Shouldn't the date in "It is suggested to have been written in 1957" be 1857, not 1957? Bartleby62 (talk) 05:58, 5 January 2008 (UTC) but some poeple say it was discoverd by 1863. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.73.71.214 (talk) 20:42, 12 November 2012 (UTC) Of course, they weren't Kings, they were magoi, wise men, and there weren't necessarily three of them. There could have been three each bearing three gifts, or 22 of them each bearing two or one of the gifts. Any number is possible and any number of gifts too, as long as there was at least one gold, one frankincense and one myrrh. Urban myths perpetuated by this stupid carol. And of course it was written by an American! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.59.159 (talk) 22:07, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

Christmas songs; Verses & Chorus

What kind of Christmas song do you think this is?? Studying the music, the verse is the sad part to listen to and the chorus is the happy part. Anyone know why this is true?? Any other Christmas songs that this can be said about?? Georgia guy 17:04, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Simple: The verse is in a minor key; the chorus, in the relative major. Kostaki mou (talk) 22:44, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

Lyrics

I have found at least three versions of the last line of verse five. The most popular seems to be: Alleluia, Alleluia, Earth to the heav'ns replies. (one source makes it "Earth to heav'n replies" with two notes on "Earth") This one scans a bit better, and makes grammatical sense: Heav'n sings "Hallelujah!""Hallelujah" Earth replies. This from a christmas carol web site: Alleluia, alleluia! sounds through the earth and skies. None of these are exactly what is published in the main article here. How can we get the authoritative version?

Lyrics We three kings of orient are... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7F:DC1A:CE00:CD0F:481A:89CF:A12C (talk) 19:54, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

That lyric in the article ("Heav’n sings Hallelujah: Hallelujah the earth replies") is correct -- here's a scan of the original publication: Mgrinnell (talk) 04:55, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

References

Lyrics, Parody

Anyone know where I can get the complete lyrics for "We three Kings of Orient are; Tried to smoke a rubber cigar; It was loaded, it exploded; We two Kings..."? I heard Peter Schickely perform it on the radio, but couldn't remember all the lyrics. - Bellatrix L. 02:23, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Maybe here - Gwynevans 09:03, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

In 1967 I heard it in So California as:

We three Kings of Orient are;

Trying to smoke a rubber cigar;

It was loaded and it exploded!;

Boom! (or sound of explosion);

We two Kings of Orient are;

Trying to smoke a rubber cigar;

It was loaded and it exploded!;

Boom! (or sound of explosion);

I one King of Orient are;

Trying to smoke a rubber cigar;

It was loaded and it exploded!;

Boom! (or sound of explosion);

(pause);

"Silent Night"...

The two alternatives that were in common usage when I was in school were:

We three kings of Leicester Square
Selling ladies underwear
So fantastic, no elastic
Only tuppence a pair

and

We four Beatles of Liverpool are,
Paul in a taxi, John in a car,
George on a scooter, beeping his hooter,
Following Ringo Star.

My understanding is that both the above were 'national' versions, whereas the "Hamilton Square" version in the article would have been strictly regional, as while most Brits would have known of Leicester Square, few outside Liverpool would know of Hamilton Square.
- Gwynevans 09:03, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

We three kings of Leicester Square

Selling knickers tupence a pair

So fantastic, no elastic

Try some yourself and see 81.154.235.116 (talk) 09:19, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

@81.154.235.116

We've always known it like this:

We three kings of Leicester Square

Selling pink knickers a penny a pair

They're fantastic, no elastic

No wonder their bums are bare

Ohhhh star of wonder, star of night

Sit on a box of dynamite

Light the fuse and take a snooze

You won't be there tomorrow night 2A00:23C6:644C:801:B305:E1DD:7065:48F8 (talk) 17:55, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Apparently, this article had them until November 27, 2008 http://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=We_Three_Kings&diff=254502156&oldid=254492386 If I may paste the text under "other versions" as it was then:

• Similar to Jingle bells Batman smells, "We Three Kings" also has a children's parody, dating back at least to the late 1950s:

We three kings, of orient are

trying to smoke a rubber cigar. [The material of the cigar varies]
It was loaded,
it exploded!
Now we are seeing stars!

[Alternatively, some versions use a loud "BOOM!" or an uncomfortable period of silence instead of "Now we are seeing stars!"]

We two kings, of orient are... [emphasis added]

[That is, the song starts over, gradually diminishing the number of kings, ending with either "We no kings" or "Silent Night..."]

Growing up in Miami 1964 I only heard the one that goes:

We four Beatles of Liverpool are One on drums and three on guitar John and Paul and gear George Harrison Following Ringo Starr

---

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Maggieclarke (talk • contribs) 17:18, 31 December 2020 (UTC)

Another more common parody runs:

We three kings of orient are

One in a taxi, one in a car

One on a scooter pipping his hoooter

Didnt get very far

In Manchester UK, the above verse was sung with slightly different -but arguably better- lyrics:

We three kings of orient are

One in a taxi, one in a car

One on a scooter beeping his hooter

Following from afar.

A slight variation is:

We three kings of orient are

One in a taxi, one in a car

One on a scooter blowing his hoooter

Smoking a big cigar

Or alternatively, with a second verse:

We three kings of orient are

One in a taxi, one in a car

One on a scooter parping his hooter

Following yonder star

Oh star of wonder, star of night

Sit on a pack of dynamite

Light the fuse and off we go

On our way to Mexico — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.6.41.63 (talk) 10:53, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

• In the U.S of America's midwest, there was another version that went:

"We three kings of Orient are / Trying to smoke a rubber cigar. / It was loaded, / It exploded! / Now we are kings no more!"

MissHapp (talk) 18:01, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

• Another version we used to sing in my catholic school in the US went like this:

"We three kings of Orient are

Trying to light a rubber cigar.

It was loaded, It exploded!

Now there are only two of us!... Now there is only one of us!... Now there are none of us!"

Deemoney007 (talk) 14:55, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

• A parody of the carol, substituting The Beatles for the Kings also exists:

We four Beatles of Liverpool are:

John in a taxi, Paul in a car,

George on a scooter, beeping the hooter,

Following Ringo Starr

--159.90.9.106 (talk) 18:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

there was another revision a year before that one that deleted parody lyrics:

http://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=We_Three_Kings&diff=next&oldid=119962354 Earfetish1 (talk) 07:52, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Growing up in the Black Country during the early 1960s we had: "We three kings of orient are / One in a bike and one in a car / One on a scooter papping his hooter / going to Perry Bar". Presumably bikes were more common that taxis! Perry Barr is to the North of Birmingham. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 09:11, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Yet another variant (recalled from 1980s, England)

We three kings of orient are

One in a taxi, one in a car

One on a scrambler; bit of a gambler

Like that he won't get far. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.12.98.31 (talk) 22:01, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

The verses we sang at my primary school were similar to the above, but the chorus referred to Prince Charles and Princess Di. 53zodiac (talk) 13:24, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

O Star of Wonder, Star of Night

Charlie caught his pants alight

He went screaming through the ceiling

Wearing Diana's bra last night

My father, West Indian, late 1970's, used to sing:

We three Kings of Leicester Square, Wearing knickers, tuppence a pair, No elastic, so fantastic, Not very safe to wear... Schmaulie (talk) 16:45, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

"Remains one of the most popular ... today" Source outdated

"It remains one of the most popular and most frequently sung Christmas carols today." The source for this information is at least thirty-one years old. Although the newspaper used as a source describes the information before it very well, the age of it calls into question if it is still accurate about the popularity of the carol. From personal experience, I've never before heard or read the carol before today, knowing only of what it is based on. If anyone can find any recent evidence of the song's popularity, like a poll or official ranking, it should be added as a source. Bladeavuari (talk) 19:08, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Who Brought Which Gifts?

Are the gifts given here attributed to each king accurate? There are other websites that say Melchior brought gold, Balthazar brought frankincense and Caspar (who gets renamed in this article as "Gaspard") brought myrrh. There could be variations in different traditions as to which of the three kings brought which gifts. This could be mentioned in the article. YTKJ (talk) 20:36, 13 November 2021 (UTC)

@YTKJ, the traditional list is given at Biblical Magi#Traditional identities and symbolism. I have seen sheet music that provides the names in the margin at the start of each verse. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:07, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

Composition

The song was originally written in Em/G. Why is the Composition section written in Dm/F? Can I change it? Mgrinnell (talk) 05:01, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

References

Text presentation, score

User:Libhye has now three times removed a LilyPond score from this page and restored an attempt at re-creating the layout of the lyrics in the song's 1863 publication. The LilyPond score corrected the song's key, as remarked above, and represents a very close approximation of Hopkins' score – not as Libhye suggested in an edit summary, "nothing to do with the source at all, being just some random later version". The cited source of that score is "We Three Kings" (Hopkins): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project.

Libhye's main objection seems to be the changes of their attempted re-creation of the layout from the 1863 publication onto the Wikipedia page. I have pointed to MOS:QUOTE and MOS:CONFORM which ought to be observed; this apparently prompted Libhye to change the guidance there. Given past discussions there about small caps and all caps, I'm not sure those changes will remain. Anyway, there is no reason to attempt to recreate the typesetting of lyrics in a book onto a Wikipedia page, especially if it involves all caps and the amateurish indentation of lines (                        – RLY? <big>...</big>? Excessive blank lines in wikitext? Failed attempts at small caps rendering?). Further, Libhye's wholesale reverts restored misleading and unhelpful links, disregarded MOS:NUMRANGE, removed links to newspaper names and a Bible citation, and restored dubious categories and unsourced "In popular music" items. It also removed a request for clarification of a dubious citation.

I see no reason to return to the ill-formatted text and inadequate representation of the tune; I suggest to restore this version. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 14:13, 27 December 2022 (UTC)