Happy Wednesday everyone! Time for some quiet piano music for a change. One of my wife's favorite musical artists (and mine through osmosis, I guess) is the late Rich Mullins, who seemed to be able to write songs with a folksy flair that possessed great truths about God through unconventional metaphors or imagery.
He actually did write a Christmas-related song and stuck it oddly in the middle of a regular album. It's called
You Gotta Get Up (Christmas Song) and interestingly enough balances secular Christmas tradition with the story of Christ's birth. It's a unique accomplishment considering most holiday songs go either commercial or religious, but never try to branch the two. It's a song that also contains references to the love between a husband and wife (
Song of Solomon 4:10) and parallels that with the reason God loves us (
Ephesians 5:25-31). I also like the way it captures the wonder of the season, with questions like "Did my sister get a baby doll?" and "Did my brother get his bike?"
Next up is Nat King Cole's rendition of
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, which ironically, also is subtitled as "The Christmas Song". This song, written by jazz legend Mel Torme and lyricist Robert Wells in 1946 actually came about because of a hot summer day in California. The two had been contracted to write title songs for two movies, however, when they got together, they found themselves spending more time attempting to cool down from the California heat with fans and positive thinking (I don't know if positive thinking can do much for you when it's like 100 degrees out there!). However, the positive thoughts prompted Wells to jot down everything that reminded him of cold winters from his childhood in New England.
Torme noted Wells pad of paper on the piano with four lines written in pencil, stating "Chestnuts roasting... Jack Frost nipping... Yuletide carols... Folks dressed up like Eskimos." It wasn't intended as a song lyric, rather just a way to keep their minds off the heat. They had an idea based on these thoughts, and in just 40 minutes, cranked out a Christmas classic.
They pitched the song to Nat King Cole, whose career was taking off very quickly utilizing his smooth baritone voice. Cole loved the song and wanted to record it before it was offered to anyone else. Within days, he rearranged the song to suit his voice and pacing and recorded it for Capitol Records. Released in October of '46, it stayed at the Top Ten for almost two months. It also became the first American Christmas standard tune introduced by an African American. Christmas was no longer reserved for "whites only."
(Feel like another holiday game? Try
Elf Bowling 2 (it's a sequel!), added today to our
Gamersville Depot forum!)
Hybrid Mode
