Well in the meadow we can build a snowman
And pretend that he is Parson Brown
He'll say are you married we say no man
But you can do the job when you're in town
What are these 1930s people even saying? Pretending to be married to the snowman? Hiring people to..build snowmen for them? Asking people to ...be they're wives for the weekend?
I work in retail/food service and hear this song 10 times a day. Help me understand it. Please and of course, thank you for considering this question.
Winter Wonderland is the proper name of the song, and it was written in 1934. It's been covered hundreds of times since, so there's no shortage of versions. My condolences that you have to listen to the same version 10 times a day.
In any event, the lyrics refer to two people (presumably one male and one female, probably young), building a snowman together. Parson was a common title for some traveling Protestant Christian ministers in New England, rather than a first name.
So, one kid says to the other, we'll build a snowman, and pretend it's the priest, and we can make-believe that we're getting married.
It's a sweet bit of kid-play make-believe, fit for a Currier and Ives print.