Is this lyric universal?

[wendylanders]

In answer to Tom,

I hope!

...but I have figured out that "lighting a candle" is not part of a universal lyric, regardless of how generic that imagery is. The problem is that it is imagery at all.

I take Kolstad and Mark's point--the less specific the better.

Best!

Wendy Landers

[Kolstad]

With Christmas, it is a religious holiday, and even if people are not Christians, they might still pray (and the rest won't care), no?

Tom

Sure, but publishers usually ask for secular Christmas songs, or holiday songs..

[wendylanders]

Yeah, the Christmas carols have a separate listing.

Wendy

[AlanHall]

The Romans who celebrated Saturnalia didn't consider themselves pagan, I imagine. Just regular folks who wanted to gather 'round the fire in the bleak midwinter.

edit: from 'thoughtco.com'
Pagan comes from a Latin word paganus, meaning villager, rustic, civilian, and itself comes from a pāgus which refers to a small unit of land in a rural district. It was a demeaning Latin term (like the word hick), that originally lacked a religious significance.

[Zaychi]

Aren't we getting too "Universal Lyrics Police" now? I mean, praying is understood to be part of Christmas tradition even for non-religious people... and the flag in the wind, doesn't demigodess Robin encourage us to find "speaking metaphores" and "strong visualization"? I mean, any visualization ("The river flows", "the wind blows", "lost in a forest", etc etc) doesn't automatically make it non-universal, I think? It's not like "I'm looking at the blue sky" can't be used under a scene where there are some clouds?

[cosmicdolphin]

Aren't we getting too "Universal Lyrics Police" now? I mean, praying is understood to be part of Christmas tradition even for non-religious people... and the flag in the wind, doesn't demigodess Robin encourage us to find "speaking metaphores" and "strong visualization"? I mean, any visualization ("The river flows", "the wind blows", "lost in a forest", etc etc) doesn't automatically make it non-universal, I think? It's not like "I'm looking at the blue sky" can't be used under a scene where there are some clouds?

If it's literal though and not metaphorical then it can make it less universal, it's easy to fix though.

" Giving Thanks " is part of Christmas...I can't say I've ever thought of prayer as part of it because I'm not religious.

" Winds of Change " is a famous metaphor instead of a literal wind

" A river of emotion " rather than a flowing river

" The answer is blowing in the wind " ...it doesn't mean the weather

You can "fly the flag " for something, just means you support it ..not an actual flag.

Not that you can't get a placement with something non universal but it's just a limiting factor and one that's so easy to fix.

[wendylanders]

Thanks for the pointers on making the images metaphorical.

Best,

Wendy

[JannieM]

Rough draft seems universal to me. I have more questions than answers. Without getting too specific, would you be writing lyrics about how celebrating evokes an emotional connection with Christmas? Did some situation happen at Christmas time that the person would need to 'Pray for forgiveness' ? I think the questions could be answered in two verses or maybe two different songs depending on which direction you choose to follow. Could develop lyrics with emotional variations for feelings, but possibly verbally creating sights, sounds, smells, but again without getting too specific.

[wendylanders]

I wouldn't have the answers to those questions since the song is just supposed to be in the background of a scene, and I'm not controlling the scene. I'm trying to say as little as possible that's specific...just, trying to evoke a positive Christmas feeling generally.

Thanks for letting me know that you think that the lyrics are universal enough, so to speak.

Best!