This morning's newspaper has a Washington Post article revealing the results of a survey conducted by two research companies - Edison Media Research and Pinnacle Media Worldwide. Based on a sampling of radio listeners who rated hundreds of Christmas songs with the labels of "love," "like," "dislike," and "hate," the three most beloved Christmas songs are Bing Crosby's "White Christmas, Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" and Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas."
The three most hated Christmas songs included Madonna's "Santa Baby," Barbara Streisand's "Jingle Bells" and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."
I am posting videos of each of these songs to refresh your memory. Do you agree with the survey? Are there Christmas songs that you love or hate more than the individuals did in the survey?
Please feel free to listen to one of more of these Christmas songs:
The videos of Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” can be found in the previous post.
Quick! Answer this question within ten seconds. What are the two most-played secular Christmas songs in the United States? Congratulations, you got it - “White Christmas” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).” It is interesting to note that these two songs have much in common:
1. Both were written by Jewish composers 2. Both composers were of Jewish-Russian stock 3. Both were written in California 4. Both were written in a very short time
Irving Berlin, a Jewish composer who immigrated to the United States from Russia, overcome with nostalgia for his New York boyhood and a holiday he had shared with a gentile friend, wrote “White Christmas” in one all-night session. The story goes that Irving Berlin was inspired to write the tune while driving to his Palm Springs, California residence during the holiday season.
Bing Crosby crooned the song in a 1942 film titled “Holiday Inn”. The recording by Crosby did not include the introductory verse, which one can find in the sheet music:
The sun is shining, the grass is green The orange and palm trees sway There's never been such a day in Beverly Hills, L.A. But it's December the twenty-fourth And I am longing to be up north
Obviously, the song is about an individual who finds himself in California on Christmas Eve. He is nostalgic for the snow he left behind up north (in this case, New York). As you can see, without the introductory verse, the song does not have quite the same impact and meaning.
Let us also not forget that this song was written in wartime and first performed in public by Bing Crosby on Christmas Day 1941, just 18 days after Pearl Harbor. While featured in the film "Holiday Inn" (later remade as "White Christmas"), it was Armed Forces Radio that made the song a big hit with U.S. troops abroad, expressing their longings for home and hearth. Berlin called his composition "a peace song in wartime," and 67 years later, it's still working the same charms.
Mel Torme, who with Bob Wells, gave us “The Christmas Song”, was born in Chicago, and was of the same immigrant Russian-Jewish stock as Irving Berlin. “The Christmas Song,” recorded by Nat King Cole in 1945, has been a holiday classic ever since.
Actually, when Mel Torme wrote this song, he was not roasting chestnuts on an open fire. Instead, he was roasting in the July heat at Toluca Lake in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. Mel saw these lines written on a pad on the piano belonging to Bob Wells:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Yuletide carols being sung by a choir And folks dressed up like Eskimos.
It was a hot day and Bob Wells (born Robert Wells Levinson) was a Jewish musician friend who had been trying to cool down by writing just those four lines. Later, Mel Torme and he sat down and finished “The Christmas Song” in 40 minutes. From there, history was made.
So today, we can enjoy two secular Christmas songs, both written by Jewish composers.
Questions:
Are these two songs your favorite secular Christmas songs? If so, why?
If these two songs are not your favorite secular Christmas songs, please list a couple of favorites in their place and tell us why you like them.
Video. Nat "King" Cole & Natalie Cole - The Christmas Song. This video combines these two lovely people, father and daughter, many years apart, in a colorized photo. They're awesome!
I am told that the idea of Christmas gift-giving began when the Three Wise Men (Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar) followed a star to Bethlehem to present the Infant Jesus with gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold.
So this morning I asked my wife if she would like some frankincense for a Christmas gift. “What is frankincense?” she queried. I said, “It’s a resin--dried tree sap. It comes from trees of the genus Boswellia, which is common to Somalia.” “No,” she replied, “I wouldn’t be interested in that.”
“Then, how about some myrrh?” “What is myrrh?” she asked. I said, “I’m not sure, but I think it is also a resin--dried tree sap. It is also common in Somalia where it comes from the tree of the genus Commiphora.” “No, no,no!” she exclaimed, “I am not interested in either of those as a gift. There is nothing romantic about them.”
“Well, would you like something made of gold?” I asked. “Yes, yes, yes!” she effervesced.
So now I have to go shopping for a cookbook with a gold embossed cover.
Video. The Gifts of the Wise Men. An interesting short Christmas lesson about the gifts of the wise men by DJ Sterf. What do the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh foretell about Jesus?
Generally speaking, I am not a great fan of greeting cards, simply because so many of them carry a meaningless generic message like "Here is wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” The thought is always appreciated, but with a little effort I think that those who send a greeting card can find one with a verse that conveys a sentiment that is a little more exalted.
Last Christmas I looked through at least two dozen cards to find one that would let my wife know that I love and value her, especially during the Christmas season. The one I found had a picture of a poinsettia bloom on the front of the card that said, “A Special Christmas Message For You, Dear Wife.” When the card was opened, it read “At Christmas, it’s my turn to express how deeply your love has changed me; and although you know it, I hope you’ll never tire of hearing me say, “I love you, again and again. Merry Christmas, Sweetheart.”
I was feeling rather proud of my choice of a Christmas greeting card until I read the one my wife gave me. On the front of the card, it showed a couple taking a stroll through a tree-lined snow path, with their tracks trailing behind them. On the outside of the card it said, “My Husband, My Partner, My Friend.” When one opened the card, the following message was revealed: “Merry Christmas to the man I feel so lucky to be walking through life with - the friend who’s laughed and dreamed with me as we’ve made our way together; the partner who’s been right there beside me, steady and strong, even when the path hasn’t been easy; the one who can still thrill me, just by reaching for my hand. Merry Christmas to the wonderful man I love.”
Now, which one of us do you think was better at choosing a Christmas greeting card?
Video. In this presentation you'll see the extreme danger the greeting card poses to the human mind. They can turn you loopier than a double knotted shoelace.
What would you do if your own 75-year-old mother and the grandmother of two had been strangled, punched, kicked, bound in duct tape, thrown in the back of her own station wagon and confined there for 26 hours without food or water? She was so badly beaten that she spent several days in a hospital in San Diego, unable to speak at first. Not only had 19-year-old Jeffrey Nelson strangled her into unconsciousness, but later he and two of his companions -- Luis Osbourne and Antoinette Baker, both 18 years old -- also kicked and hit her before binding her up with duct tape and throwing her into the back of her car along with a shovel.
For the next 26 hours, the trio drove around in her car, using her credit card for gas and other items. After a while, when she begged her abductors in vain for food and water, one of them struck her full in the face with his fist.
The grandmother’s rescue came when a police office pulled the car over for a traffic violation and heard her cries from the back of the car. When the duct tape was removed, it took off some of her skin in a few places. Now the three abductors have been charged with kidnapping, robbery, and torture. They entered a plea of not guilty and are being held on $2 million bail each.
The victim has three children, including her son Allen, and two grandchildren. Allen is staying with her as she recovers. He is reported to have said it’s not easy to control his anger at what happened to a woman as sweet and beloved as his mother.
On Monday, this spirited woman who loves to dance was feeling well enough to get her hair done, put on a nice dress, and talk to Matt Lauer from her La Mesa, California home with her son at her side. She wanted to appear on television so the world could see what these three teenagers did to her.
Since La Mesa is a community about eight miles from where my wife and I live, this incident was getting a little too close for comfort.
What should we do with the three hoodlums who did this to a 75-year-old woman?
1. Throw them in prison for life at a total cost of several million dollars to the taxpayers 2. Let her son Allen, who is a big guy, spend about ten minutes alone with each one of her abductors in a room 3. Introduce caning into the United States 4. Give them psychological counseling 5. Other suggestions
