Every day in January promises another Tra la la song to sing when you drink a bit of our Trah Lah Lah wine. But yesterday’s ding dong song was so over the top ridiculous, I feel like we should get back to something more serious.

Today’s song is from Bizet’s opera Carmen. The first bit is dancing and instrumental, but the Tra la la’s come in around the 2:00 mark. And once they start, they don’t stop.

That’s Agnes Baltsa singing “Les tringles des sistres tintaient”. Since nobody knows what the heck a sistres is or what it would sound like when it taintaients, it’s often called the “Gypsy Song”. A sistre is a type of percussive instrument like a tambourine that has sort of small metal rods that will clink together. Tintaient is a form of past tense for light ringing/jingling (like when you ring a bell without letting the clapper hit the side of the bell).

The more famous performance of this song is probably Maria Callas, but then you don’t get to see video of them dancing around tensely to the instrumental. I have to make choices!

Anyway, if you’re too serious to ask people to touch your tra la la, your ding ding dong, then you can sing some operatic Tra la la’s from Carmen instead.

We’re posting lots of songs about tra la la, and encouraging you to sing them after drinking a bit of Trah Lah Lah wine. While today’s song is embarrassingly cheesy, I’d be remiss to ignore it.

I vaguely remember the first time I saw this music video. I believe it was in college, before YouTube. So you had to find a quicktime video or download it on kazaa. 2004 was so recent, how can I be so nostalgic already?

Well, when you see the glint in Gunther’s eye, you understand the true meaning of nostalgia. Enjoy this absurdly over the top Eurodance classic “Ding Dong Song” by Gunther and the Sunshine Girls.

And now you know why I snicker every time somebody asks to taste my Trah Lah Lah. However I should take a moment to deny rumors that we’re working on a cuvée Ding Ding Dong.

Alright. it’s January 2012. I’m full of ideas and energy.  I just finished up the Trah Lah Lah 2010 blend (it’s awesome) and I want to celebrate that.  So I’m going to post songs with a lyric like Trah Lah Lah or Tra la la or Tra Lee Lah or whatever until I run out of songs.  Feel free to contribute your own favorites by email or in the comment section.

Here is the first TRAH LAH LAH January post!

Gene Kelly and Oscar Levant perform Tra La La in the film adaptation of An American in Paris

How much Trah Lah Lah do you have to drink before you start tap dancing?