**Singing Winter Wonderland** “In the meadow we can build a snowman
And pretend that he is Parson Brown”….wait, wait…who is Parson Brown?

First off, how about a little history of the song “Winter Wonderland,” the song was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B Smith. Smith was reportedly inspired to write the song after seeing Honesdale’s Central Park covered in snow as he watched children playing in the snow from the window of West Mountain Sanitarium in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Smith had written the lyrics while being treated for tuberculosis, so he was quarantined.

The song wasn’t put to music till 1934 by Richard Himber and his Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra in 1934, with Joey Nash on vocals:

(Video courtesy of Richard Himber & His Orchestra – Topic)

There is one line of the original lyrics that I’ve always wondered about…”In the meadow we can build a snowman and pretend that he is Parson Brown.”  The following lyrics are: ‘He’ll say, are you married? We’ll say, no man but you can do the job when you’re in town.’

Wait a minute, who is Parson Brown?  Have you ever wondered?

The Collins dictionary defines a Parson as ‘a priest in the Church of England with responsibility for a small local area weddings, which might explain the lyric about being married, but who knows.

With that in mind, Parson Brown wasn’t actually a real person, not that I can find, anyway.

There was no big hero, politician, doctor or any profession with the name, Parson Brown during the 20th century, so for now I’m going to guess the song writers decided on a name that rhymed and fit in with the lyrics.

The lyrics aren’t a big mystery but maybe more like dated language? Some versions and some singers of the song have the lyrics changed to: “In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he’s a circus clown.”

So, in conclusion, I don’t think Parson Brown ever existed.  I could be wrong, though!