The discovery of a previously unknown species had taken place nearly two years previously.

Had they [the ancients] dreamt this, they would have truthed it heaven.

Art thou a child of tears, / Cradled in care and woe? / And seems it hard thy vernal years / Few vernal joys can shew?

It is important to guard against any hint of a generalisation here that 'less Christmassy music' always accompanies a 'less Christmassy sentiment', and indeed Greg Lake's 'I Believe In Father Christmas' (1974) is proof that the converse is not […]