Posts with the tag: Christmas music

The American Christmas Songbook: “White Christmas” (1940)

For the past three weeks, I have had a wonderful time researching the origins and histories of America’s most beloved Christmas songs. I’ve learned a great deal, and I hope you have, too! When I decided to take on this project, I knew from the beginning that I was certainly not going to be able Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Santa Baby” (1953)

In “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas,” Meredith Wilson lists a variety of Christmas presents suitable for good little girls and boys:      A pair of Hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots      Is the wish of Barney and Ben      Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Merry Christmas, Darling” (1970)

Some of the Christmas songs we’ve highlighted so far have been written in a very short amount of time, when a gust of inspiration fills the sails in a songwriting teams’ heads. Mel Torme and Bob Wells finished “The Christmas Song” in less than an hour, and Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn had “Let it Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Christmas Time Is Here” (1965)

Picture it: San Francisco, late 1964. A young television producer, Lee Mendelson, has just finished filming a documentary on the popular comic strip Peanuts and its creator, Charles Schulz. Mendelson, a fan of jazz, needs a soundtrack for his documentary. He has already been turned down by the legendary Dave Brubek, as well as Brubek’s Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “This Christmas” (1970)

As the second week of this blog series draws to a close, I can’t help but look back over the composers and songwriters that I’ve highlighted thus far and make some observations. Tell me, do you see what I see? How about a lack of diversity? They’ve all been white, and with one exception, they’ve Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949)

When Clement Clarke Moore penned his famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1823, he named eight reindeer that pull Santa Claus’s sleigh: More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name: “Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen!” “On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (1944)

As I’ve been chatting about this blog series with friends, more than one person has asked me: “You aren’t going to do ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside,’ are you??” Therefore, let me make this disclaimer on the outset: I am not going to discuss this song in the context of 2017. It was not written in Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (1943)

Today marks the 76th anniversary of the United States’ official declaration of war against Germany and Italy, thereby putting the US at war with all three Axis powers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had resisted bringing the US into battle as long as he could, but his hand was forced as a result of the surprise Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Silver Bells” (1950)

In the summer of 1950, Paramount Pictures approached Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, a songwriting duo with a knack for writing hit numbers for films and theme songs for television series (Bonanza and Mr. Ed). Paramount was working on the film The Lemon Drop Kid, which is set in New York City in the days leading Read More

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The American Christmas Songbook: “Sleigh Ride” (1948)

The sound of mid-20th-century Americana was perhaps best captured by composer Leroy Anderson, the son of two Swedish immigrants. Among his most notable “light-orchestra” works are The Syncopated Clock (1945), The Typewriter (1950), and Bugler’s Holiday (1954). However, his most famous composition is the energetic and playful Sleigh Ride, which he first began to sketch in the Read More

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