Category: S1Ep10: Forgiveness and Stuff

The First Noel

This is the Christmas carol that the bell ringers are practicing when Lorelai walks past them on her way to Luke’s.

The First Noel or The First Nowell is a traditional English Christmas carol, dating to perhaps the 15th century, but possibly earlier. It tells the story of the shepherds and the three wise men being led to the baby Jesus by a wondrous star, taken from different parts of the Gospels. The carol is of Cornish origin, and was first published in 1823, although today the 1871 arrangement is more common.

Crazy Bomber

DEAN: So am I like public enemy #1 with you?
LORELAI: #1? I don’t know, would you settle for top five? Because I’m still a little hot for that crazy bomber guy who’s been living in a cave for a year.

Lorelai is most likely referring to domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph (born 1966), known as the Olympic Park Bomber. He perpetrated the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and went on to commit a series of anti-abortion and anti-gay motivated bombings between 1996 and 1998 in the southern states of the US.

Rudolph was listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted, and lived as a fugitive in the Appalachian wilderness for five years, camping in the woods. Lorelai assumes that Rudolph must be living in a cave because the authorities were scouring the area in search of him.

Rudolph was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2005. He is currently serving his sentence in a Colorado prison, spending most of the day in solitary confinement.

Razor Scooter

LORELAI (speaking on phone to pizza delivery guy): So what’s the next phase of the delivery saga? Mm-hmm …Well how long until your brother’s back with the Razor Scooter?

The Razor Scooter is a compact folding scooter manufactured by JD Corporation. Released in 2000, it became an immediate hit and was named the Most Popular Toy of 2001. Of course it is not suitable for delivering pizzas.

Christmas Wrapping

Lorelai has this song playing in the background while she waits for her pizza to arrive, until Dean knocks on the window.

Christmas Wrapping is a Christmas song by American new wave band The Waitresses. It was written for a 1981 compilation album called A Christmas Record, put out by ZE Records, a New York “hipster” record label. The album was re-released in a “special edition” in 1982. Christmas Wrapping didn’t chart in 1981, but reached #45 in the UK after the 1982 re-release. It has often been included on Christmas albums in the UK, and re-recorded several times.

The song is about a busy single woman who decides not to bother with Christmas that particular year, turning down invitations and planning to spend the day alone. On Christmas Eve she runs into a man she had earlier made a connection with, and winds up having a happy Christmas with him after all.

Lorelai is also planning to give the Christmas party a miss to be alone for the evening, but she does end up spending time, not just with a man that she likes, but with her daughter and parents as well. The song is letting us know that a happy ending is ahead.

(Lorelai’s choice of Christmas music is also a nice contrast with her parents’)

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

This song is playing in the background at Emily and Richard’s Christmas party when Rory arrives.

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is a Christmas song written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie in 1934. First recorded in 1934, it has been re-recorded over 200 times, and sometimes charted as a hit.

The version used on the show is by crooner Tony Bennett, from his 1968 album Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, which was re-released in 1994.