Toyland (Bedroom Demo #242) (Patreon)

Toyland

words and music: Victor Herbert/Glen MacDonough

arranged by: Terry Scott Taylor

Toyland, Toyland

Little girl and boy land

While you dwell within it

You are ever happy there

Childhood’s joy land

Mystical, merry Toyland

Once you pass its borders

You can never return again

When you’ve grown up, my dears

And are as old as I

You’ll laugh and ponder on the years

That roll so swiftly by, my dears

That roll so swiftly by

Childhood’s joy land

Mystical, merry Toyland

Once you pass its borders

You can never return again

guitar and vocals: T.S. Taylor

note:

“’Tis the season to be jolly!,” or maybe, (at least according to this song), “Tis the season to be melan-choly!”

Making its debut in 1903’s operetta of the same name, “Toyland” has been recorded by such musical luminaries as Nat King Cole, Perry Como, (my favorite version), and Johnny Mathis. However, the most well-known rendition is Doris Day’s 1964 release in which she interprets the song as a melancholy lullaby and lament; quite fitting for lyrics which deal with the innocence of childhood and the fleeting nature of time. ‘Toyland’ is another way of expressing what the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 39: 4&5:

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be

Remind me that my days are numbered

how fleeting my life is

You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand

My entire lifetime is just a moment to you

At best, each of us is but a breath.

“Toyland” especially resonates with me now that I have experienced the closing of a number of doors once open to me in my youth. While, to some degree, I may mourn this passing, I continue to celebrate the innocence and wonder of childhood through my precious granddaughters who, because they still inhabit ‘Toyland,’ allow me to occasionally see the world through their eyes. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.