All of our anticipation for Winter’s secondary characteristics leads us to the deep seated joy over that first fall.
Hal Leonard Choral supplies secondary schools with arrangements for those tricky pubescent voices. But “The First Snow” is as winsome and awesome as you might expect.
Shawnee Press competes with a similar “The First Snowfall.” This is in the dog-wince range, however.
From some children’s book The First Snow of Winter comes this song by Pat Tracy with Gaelic fiddle and range. It’s heroic and stuff.
And now for something completely old: William Huckaby has revived 19th C songs to sinister effect as with John B Tabb’s “The First Snowfall.” Lord help us.
Gotta feed the a cappella jones while we’re here too. Moodswing swings and sways with “First Snowfall” creating a roller coaster of thumpy jazz.
Louis Armstrong’s massive number reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, ending The Beatles’ streak of three number-one hits in a row over 14 consecutive weeks (in addition to holding the second and third chart positions)…the most successful single of Armstrong’s career… spent nine weeks atop the adult contemporary chart… made Armstrong the oldest artist ever to reach #1 on the Hot 100 since its introduction in 1958… the No. 3 song of 1964 as ranked by Billboard… won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1965… and Armstrong received a Grammy for Best Vocal Performance, Male.
Just about my fave-o Bob Rivers novelty Christmas song is “He’s So Jolly.” After dozens of listens, it still gets a grin.
Attention must be paid to the big band novelty number “Santa’s Secret.” This jazz rambler from 1944 never saw light of day until Savoy published it with other holiday oddities in 1985 (Mr. Santa’s Boogie). Johnny Guarnieri was an Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman veteran and a teacher and mentor out of L.A. The song here is a thief in your mind, dazzling you with sleights of polyrhythms and improvisation, then leaving a dangerous idea in its wake: Santa + reefer. (Squirrel Nut Zippers try to copy this lightning in a bottle with mixed results.)
The Martini Kings razzle dazzle their fun nickelodeon number “I Slept through Christmas Day” with so much charm that you’ve gotta forgive them. ‘Tis the season after all.
Most Christmas drinking goes right for the gusto, full mental jacked-up.
But at least one little ditty or two can remember what it’s like to be just a little lit.
Lt. Col. Mike Dickinson stairways us to heaven with his “Holiday Song.” It’s for the boys, so be cool. Five minutes in he’s doing stand up. (You might skip the next song about a flashing sgt.)
Honey Honey uses jazz and a long list of cocktails to slur verisimilitude into “Christmas Tipsy.” Could you hand me that again? Whoops. Gettin’ sexy now.
Toast Noel! But with what beverage? I’ve been fermenting over this a while, and let’s whine about the adult grape drink not address’d ’til now.
Ziggy Rankin may be metaphorical here, singing about a girl, but riddim is riddim. In “Caroline (Sweetest Wine)” the music moves the way winos believe they do when fortified with sippage.
Promising title–“The Ultimate Last Wine Song 2016,” but it turns out the Norwich tavern The Last Wine Bar is merely musically Xmas card-ing their patrons online. Damn skippy talented song, though.
Canada’s own The Yule Be Sorrys contextualize the consumption with their own update on ‘Holly and Ivy’ with “The Sherry and the Claret” about holiday hollering. Medieval frivolousness.
Let’s mellow way on down the eve with Jason Gleason mush-mouthing “Sleigh Bells and Wine,” where the sleigh awaits, the fire amasses, and the word snow has five syllables. Daddy, oh.
Not much lyricism over pressed old apples, hardly fermented by late December. We’ll settle over up with a bouncy, jazzy gospel piece from Carmela Estella Ross. Her “Apple Cider and Fruit Cake” is one of those token spreads to entice you to her hard driving sermon about Our Lord. You know like stale cookies and burnt coffee at AA meetings.
Turnabout is fair trade. Across the pond, some enjoy a cuppa with something more translucent brewing inside.
Joey Knock has a nasally epic “Christmas Cup of Tea.” He doesn’t know many chords, nor when to stop, but he is on about a good cause, innit? (When he’s not inventorying.)
Channeling an inner Alice, Dimie Cat plays antique nostalgic player piano with their distressed “Christmas Tea.” Put another nickel in!
After months of gnoshing, got milk? water? iced tea? Jolt cola? Most beverages around the holidays are alcoholic. We’ll get to that. Let’s hold off as long as we can with other drinkables traditional enough to provoke singing.
Actually the whole milk thing gets old fast. Please dismiss “The Gilmer Dairy Farm Christmas Song” as just another mediocre attempt to cash in on ‘Jingle Bells.’ I was impressed, however, that it went more than one verse, and emphasized how good Santa was at ‘squeezin’ teats.’ Three years after that Farmer Gilmer returns hocking milk with “Have a Dairy, Merry Christmas!” He’s working social media, with scat, close ups of cud chewing, an good ol’ boy Alabama charm. (Watch out for the Peanuts scripture postscript.) There’s worse out there. Be satisfied that milk co-starred with cookies back in April on this blog and let it be.
Cocoa is a better topic for potable poetry. It’s what kids get when they’re good, it’s cold, and it’s not time for presents yet–shaddup and drink!
The Von Trapp Children (their descendants actually) sing “Hot Cup of Cocoa” pretty much like every chorale group in high school ever did. Bouncy fun to impress nonagenarians. (If that sounds snarky, refer to one of the many videos entertaining the retired troops at a nearby rest home overseen by The Holley Sisters. Is it just me?)
A bit more on fleek would be Canote and DeVore rap battling “The Hot Cocoa Song.” Okay, it’s not holiday-related.
Who cares! Warbling about warm chocolate in a cup is a propos of Xmas as sure as squawking about snow. Hannah Jackson (an X-Factor finalist!) and Amy Faris heat up the mugging with a jazzy “Hot Chocolate.” Ba-doop-ba-bee!
What about those other awkward bits on the Christmas cookie plate?
Gingerbread is not just a cookie! Richard Graham explores the architectural possibilities for the holidays with “Gingerbread House” a singing tutorial. What’s the kiddies’ mortgage on that playful dough?
Fudge can be overlooked for weeks on the great Advent platter and still be just as good! This number comes with a long spoken exposition, like those end-of-the-world movies. It’s a folk epic about a dead grandmother’s gift. “The Christmas Fudge” may haunt you, or you can skip it.
Leslie Adams screams “No Fudge for Christmas” meaning no treats of any kind in a house gone healthy. A fun song concept, but the voice changer was cranked up to whiny so… yeah.
Bonnie Legion brings us back to cookies, but this time they’re alive! Don’t bite them! Aiee! Wait–is that early Twentieth Century jazz/ragtime?! What a great “Christmas Cookie Song” almost ruined with video-making and special effects.
