Star Wars: A track-by-track love letter to Christmas in the Stars

“Bells, Bells, Bells”

“Bells, Bells, Bells” leads directly out of the end of “Christmas in the Stars,” to the point where the opening of this song doesn’t quite make sense if you don’t listen to the opening song right ahead of this one.

Anyway, this song really introduces an ongoing storyline in this album: Artoo learning about music and how to make it. Yes, there are actual storylines in this album. Just roll with it. I do every year.

Anyway, “Bells, Bells, Bells” is exactly what it sounds like: Threepio explaining what bells are to Artoo by giving multiple examples. The “In a breeze, they’re Japanese” line and accompanying musical line reads a little differently in 2017 as compared to the ’80s, when this song was written, but other than that, there are jingle bells in the background, goofy references to all sorts of things … and a gong out of nowhere.

It makes sense in context, I promise.

Oddly enough, you can sing just about any one-syllable word to the “bells, bells, bells” line of the chorus … which lends itself quite well to substituting all kinds of words to sound cheerful even as you perhaps sing words that usually mean you’re angry. This turns out to be useful during the stressful holiday season.