I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CHRISTMAS: 16 Most Requested Songs (1992).

This album features 16 “most requested” songs, but I don’t believe that they are the most requested versions of these songs.  These versions come from Colmbia’s back catalog and as such, none of them features any of the real Christmas heavy hitters.  Not that the version are bad, they’re pretty much all really good, they’re just not the “classic” versions.  Well, except for one or two.

GENE AUTRY-“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Starting with the “You know Dasher and Dancer” verse, this is a nice, traditional version of the song and one I don’t hear as much as I’d think I would.  DORIS DAY-“Here Comes Santa Claus” Opens with a nice booming Ho Ho Ho from Santa. I like that there are ample sleigh bells in the song, even if the words are vaguely menacing (somehow even more so in this version). I’ve also always found the aggressively religious aspect of the song about Santa to be a bit peculiar.  JIMMY BOYD-“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” This is an inherently goofy song and I don’t care for the “serious” rendition this is given.  I also don’t care for songs sung by “kids.” Although I do admit to thinking this song was cute when I was a kid.  ROSEMARY CLOONEY-“Winter Wonderland” This version is a little too precious for my liking.

GENE AUTRY-“Frosty the Snowman” This is another straight reading of this silly song—very children friendly and a good version.  JOHNNY MATHIS-“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” I don’t care for Mathis’ voice so I don’t like this version.  THE RAY CONIFF SINGER-“Silver Bells” This is ajoyful, sweet rendition of the song, even if it is extremely uptight sounding. (it evidently comes from “The Lemon Drop Kid”).  ROBERT GOULET-“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (from “Meet Me in St. Louis”).  Goulet’s voice is pretty magnificent, it might even be a little too much for this little song.  PATTI PAGE-“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” This is a version with kids singing along. And with Patti telling them to behave, it also has a menacing feel to it. I guess Santa really could be kind of a nasty guy huh?  MITCH MILLER & THE SING-ALONG GANG-“The Twelve Days of Christmas” It’s hard to make this song not sound really tedious, but these guys do it pretty fast and in a very specific, marching style. It’s almost military in it’s seriousness, which does take some of the romance out of the song, but I like it nonetheless.

ANDY WILLIAMS-“Sleigh Ride” Andy Williams has a quintessential Christmas voice.  I’m glad Columbia has him for this collection. It’s fast fun and joyful. ANGELA LANSBURY, FRANKIE MICHAELS, JANE CONNELL and SAB SHIMONO-I love that Lansbury has such a great singing voice since in my mind she’s only ever been Murder She Wrote. And she wails this. (This version comes from “Mame.”  I didn’t know it came from a musical.  And I love th eline that I never noticed before: “But it’s one week past Thanksgiving Day now”).  MEL TORME-“The Christmas Song” The Velvet Fog’s version is quite nice, but doesn’t quite match Nat “King” Cole’s for pure classicness (although, huh, Torme wrote the music for this song).  TONY BENNETT-“White Christmas” I’m not a big fan of Tony Bennett and I don’t like this version of this song—it’s too spread out.  JULIE ANDREWS-“Silent Night” a very pretty and pure version of this song. Although I don’t find it as moving as other versions.  MAHALIA JACKSON-“Joy to the World” I know she’s a legend, but I really don’t like Mahalia’s versions of songs—she’s a just too over the top for me.

So, overall, this is a good, if safe collection of Christmas songs. Not my favorite bunch but a lot of good versions here, and one or two great ones.  And there are even a couple of under-played ones.

[READ: December 8, 2014] Christmas Stories

I intended to read A Christmas Carol last year during Christmas time but since we saw the play, I decided not to.  So this year I figured I would read as much of Dickens’ Christmas Books as I could during the month of December.  Then I misplaced Christmas Books, so I picked up Christmas Stories.

Christmas Stories does not include “A Christmas Carol.”  Rather, it includes 21 “stories”  ranging from a few pages to over a hundred pages long.  They appeared in Household Works, a publication which Dickens created to “bring himself even closer to his many followers.”

I chose to write about these first six together because they are the shortest pieces in the book and they can kind of be lumped together.  These are strange pieces because they are not really stories.  They are more like nostalgic or even moralistic moments in which Dickens conveys the Christmas spirit through some characters.

For frame of reference Dickens was born in 1812.  He wrote Oliver Twist around 1839 and “A Christmas Carol” in 1843.

“A Christmas Tree” [1850]
This starts the book in an unexpected way with Dickens reminiscing about his Christmases as a child (there’s nearly a full page that lists the toys he received).  And then there’s a deeper look at his most remembered toys.  About mid way through, the story goes weird though when he talks about telling “Winter Stories–Ghost Stories, or more shame for us.”  The remainder of the story contains various unusual ghost stories (was that a Christmas thing?).  But he brings it all back to Jesus in the end.

“What Christmas is as We Grow Older” [1851]
This is more of a sermon than a story.  We should shut Nothing out on this day–accept the bad and good, be full of beneficence to all.

“The Poor Realtion’s Story” [1852]
This is an allegorical story in which a “poor” relation tells of his life as a poor man.  Although in the end he reveals that he is actually really quite rich but he is only perceived as poor.  And that his castle is…in the Air!

“The Child’s Story” [1852]
This is a sweet story.  A man meets many people on his journey through life and he spends time with them–a child who plays, a boy who learns, a young man who loves, etc.  And when he himself turns into an old man himself, he realizes that he has lost no one because he still has his memories of them all.

“The Schoolboy’s Story” [1853]
This is a pretty funny story set in a boarding school.  The beginning of the story is a schoolboy’ reminiscence of how bad the school was.  He (in that casual way of Dickens narrators) wants to tell us about Old Cheeseman.  Old Cheeseman was a fellow, but he was ultimately promoted to Latin master.  The boys took this as a traitorous act–to leave them and become an adult.  So they plagued him on a regular basis.  Soon the only person who was nice to him was the wardrobe woman, Jane.  The boys are in for a shock at the end of that year when suddenly Old Cheeseman is no longer in school.  They assume that he has died and are not that sad about it, but lo and behold what has really happened?

“Nobody’s Story” [1853]
This story  is about a man who allows others (the Bigwigs) to do everything for him.  The man lost his identity.  Sadly he could be called “nobody” or “legion.”  There is a very tenuous link to Christmas at the end.

So, overall, these weren’t that much fun to read.  They all felt longer than they needed to be.  I did enjoy some of them, but couldn’t possibly have read 500 plus pages in one season (the fact that these were released once a year does make sense).  I’ll happily read the next few next year.