12 Days of Christmas
The Humorist Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My true love gave to me
A totally insufficient dowry
On the second day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the third day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the fourth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Four Hari Krishnas... (Is that Indian?)
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the fifth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Five Indian games... (I want to be the cowboy)
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the sixth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the seventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the eighth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the ninth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Nine telemarketers... (Good Evenin. This is Kaalin jones. Are you wanting greater kaalrits)
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the tenth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Ten-minute yoga... (Think the lotus, feel the lotus, drive the lotus)
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Eleven syllable names... (PEESARAVANMUTHUDBLEEKVAAS)
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me...
Twelve cricket ball tamperers... (I was simply correcting the stitching)
Eleven syllable names
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five minutes of fame
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
The Humorist's take on the classic Christmas carol, "The 12 Days of Christmas," is a satirical approach to the gift-giving tradition, highlighting the comical struggles of an individual receiving gifts from their true love. However, instead of receiving valuable and thoughtful gifts, the receiver gets a series of unhelpful or confusing gifts that are often associated with Indian culture.
The opening verse, “On the first day of Christmas, My true love gave to me, A totally insufficient dowry,” addresses a common issue in traditional arranged Indian marriages, where the groom's family typically expects the bride's family to provide a considerable dowry. The second verse, "Two nosy in-laws," refers to another common issue where families of the bride and groom often interfere in the couple's relationship. The subsequent verses continue in a similar vein, adding to the already large and ridiculous list of unsatisfactory gifts.
Overall, the song is meant to be playful, and the humor is in the writer’s delivery of these unexpected presents. The intention is to highlight the value of shared time and affection over materialistic gifts.
Line by Line Meaning
On the first day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
A totally insufficient dowry
My significant other didn't bring enough money to the marriage.
On the second day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other's parents are interfering with our relationship, and we still don't have enough money.
On the third day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other bought me three meals of butter chicken, but it doesn't make up for the lack of money or the in-laws' interference.
On the fourth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Four Hari Krishnas... (Is that Indian?)
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me four mysterious people (possibly from India), but that doesn't fix any of our problems.
On the fifth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Five Indian games... (I want to be the cowboy)
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me five games from India, but I don't understand them, and I'd rather be playing Western-style games instead.
On the sixth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me six unemployed IT graduates who don't have any money to contribute, and we still don't have enough to make ends meet.
On the seventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me seven minimum wage workers who don't make enough to help us financially.
On the eighth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me eight Bollywood movies to watch, but they don't help us pay the bills or deal with the interference from their parents.
On the ninth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Nine telemarketers... (Good Evenin. This is Kaalin jones. Are you wanting greater kaalrits)
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me nine annoying telemarketers who won't leave me alone, instead of something useful like money.
On the tenth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Ten-minute yoga... (Think the lotus, feel the lotus, drive the lotus)
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me ten minutes of yoga, which is not helpful when it comes to paying the bills and dealing with our problems.
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Eleven syllable names... (PEESARAVANMUTHUDBLEEKVAAS)
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me eleven difficult-to-pronounce names, which is useless when it comes to solving our ongoing problems.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me...
Twelve cricket ball tamperers... (I was simply correcting the stitching)
Eleven syllable names
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five minutes of fame
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry
My significant other gave me twelve people who cheat at cricket, which doesn't help us at all. We still don't have enough money, and we're still dealing with my interfering in-laws.
Writer(s): Traditional (writer Unknown), Kurt Farquhar
Contributed by Levi M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@nightmareapocalypse3471
Who still remembers this 13 years later?? This is so old school I love it.
@jimmy-fd9dy
same I am
@implyed8016
SAME
@hiteshwar143
😄😄😄watched on MTV years ago
@bhoomikasharma3390
14 now 😂
@MoroccanWarrior5
Just remembered this only 5 minutes ago and I'm very happy
@tlcagent
17 years later and i still know the lyrics word for word
@highchurro1545
This randomly pops in my head randomly through out my whole life 😭😭
@COMALiteJ
Same here.
@annawestberg4186
This is our most wanted Christmas song every year!