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Post by tmesis on Dec 21, 2017 20:55:40 GMT
Well the gold standard for this has to be a tie for first place with
Have yourself a Merry little Christmas (Hugh Martin)
The Christmas Song (Mel Torme)
Both are exquisite, subtle songs and I can't chose between them. The first one is superb melodically, with a really memorable middle eight that grows organically out of the main tune. The second has one of the best modulations in all popular music, dangerously early on in the tune but handled with great aplomb.
After that would come...
Let it Snow (Styne)*
Winter Wonderland (Bernard/Smith)*
Sleigh Ride (Anderson) - originally an instrumental but makes a great song with lyrics by Mitchell Parish*
*Actually if you want to be pedantic these are Winter songs rather than specifically Christmas songs.
Of course the most famous of them all is Berlin's White Christmas. It's a good song but is a tad too ubiquitous for me to really enjoy it any more. There are many more far greater songs in his huge output.
Oh, I forgot, Hoagy's My Christmas Song to you is a lesser known gem.
I'm sure I've left out something really obvious...
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Post by harrietcraig on Dec 21, 2017 22:30:25 GMT
Silver Bells (Livingston/Evans) is a personal favorite of mine, because it's one of the few specifically urban Christmas songs -- no sleigh rides through the woods here, just "city sidewalks, busy sidewalks".
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Post by tmesis on Dec 22, 2017 8:12:10 GMT
Silver Bells (Livingston/Evans) is a personal favorite of mine, because it's one of the few specifically urban Christmas songs -- no sleigh rides through the woods here, just "city sidewalks, busy sidewalks". Yes, I'd forgotten this lovely song. It's got the feeling of a traditional style carol but with a more chromatic, shmaltzy melody. |
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Post by Tibidabo on Dec 22, 2017 8:24:20 GMT
Yes, I'd forgotten this lovely song. It's got the feeling of a traditional style carol but with a more chromatic, shmaltzy melody. Lovely! I have decided that these will be my go-to adjectives of the day! |
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Post by tmesis on Dec 22, 2017 8:53:37 GMT
Yes, I'd forgotten this lovely song. It's got the feeling of a traditional style carol but with a more chromatic, shmaltzy melody. Lovely! I have decided that these will be my go-to adjectives of the day! Well, of an evening, I like nothing more than to make sure my anacrusis is correctly placed so that it doesn't compromise the tessitura of my contrapuntal extemporisations. |
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Post by Tibidabo on Dec 22, 2017 9:08:27 GMT
Well, of an evening, I like nothing more than to make sure my anacrusis is correctly placed so that it doesn't compromise the tessitura of my contrapuntal extemporisations. Sounds like a lot of faff. I just went to Boots and got some cream for mine. |
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 22, 2017 9:52:44 GMT
Lovely! I have decided that these will be my go-to adjectives of the day! Well, of an evening, I like nothing more than to make sure my anacrusis is correctly placed so that it doesn't compromise the tessitura of my contrapuntal extemporisations. I see a great future for you as a Music Hall Compere! |
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Post by tonyloco on Dec 22, 2017 11:13:28 GMT
Personally, I try to keep my coloratura under control by skilled use of the semi-breve (which means breathing through one nostril) but if the rondo alla turca gets too maestoso then I have no option but to get out the finale ultimo and shake it until the accidentals all drop off, after which I usually get a good night's sleep.
Coming back to Christmas Songs, I can say that in my many adventures as a sing-along pianist it is that little group of well-known Christmas songs that often evoke the best response from the punters at this time of year. I'm not sure exactly how everybody in the world knows 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer' but they do, as they also all know 'Jingle Bells' and most of them know 'Winter Wonderland' as well, although some of the lyrics trip them up. Also, 'White Christmas' is a universal favourite and 'Silent Night' also usually goes down well. But I have a very special favourite that not many people know, which is 'The Little Boy that Santa Clause Forgot'. It is not a great song but always brings a tear to my eye. The song came to my attention when my uncle came out of serving in the Australian army in 1946 and he would sing it constantly through the hot Sydney summer. Apart from that I don't have any other songs of special quality to mention, as I don't expect 'All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth' or 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' count!
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Post by tmesis on Dec 22, 2017 12:47:28 GMT
I've done a fair bit of 'pub' piano and you're right tonyloco it's Rudolph and White Christmas etc that gets them all going. They also like Mary's Boy Child and Little Donkey. I also agree that 'The little boy that...' is strangely touching. As far as I know there are no Christmas songs by Gershwin, Kern, Porter or Rodgers. I wait now to be proved wrong! |
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Post by tonyloco on Dec 22, 2017 13:33:16 GMT
How ever could I omit 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' from my short list of songs that everybody seems to know? Later I will check out my various reference books on Porter, Gershwin, Kern and Rodgers for Christmas songs but none spring to mind at the moment.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 22, 2017 13:51:37 GMT
As far as I know there are no Christmas songs by Gershwin, Kern, Porter or Rodgers. I wait now to be proved wrong! They probably thought Irvin Berlin had the Copyright for Seasonal Songs. I recall a PG Wodehouse story where the character imagined he’d found the way to certain riches, all he had to do was come up with a new song to be sung to someone celebrating a birthday. Punchline: we’re still singing the old one! A little Ironic that Pelham came up with songwriting as the way to get rich. I’d vote for a Law allowing each song to be played only once a year and only in the week before Christmas. Having established myself as a grump I’ll just add Blue Christmas works well as its sentiment is also relevant, but contrasts nicely with all the sugary ones. (Hayes-Johnson, about whom I know nothing.) |
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Post by harrietcraig on Dec 24, 2017 16:19:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2017 19:52:27 GMT
I like Sleigh Ride in 7/8.
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Post by tmesis on Dec 28, 2017 17:31:34 GMT
I realise he doesn't fit The Great American Songbook but I think it a shame Noel Coward didn't leave us any Christmas songs. The Master could have given us a classic in his typically witty, satirical manner.*
* I now hold my breath whilst someone unearths a Christmas classic by him.
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Post by tonyloco on Dec 29, 2017 0:03:20 GMT
I realise he doesn't fit The Great American Songbook but I think it a shame Noel Coward didn't leave us any Christmas songs. The Master could have given us a classic in his typically witty, satirical manner.* * I now hold my breath whilst someone unearths a Christmas classic by him. I think you are safe, tmesis. I have been through the index of the complete lyrics of Noel Coward and I cannot see anything remotely Christmassy. But I have a very vague recollection that in 'Cowardy Custard' there is a quote from Coward as a very young actor, maybe even while still a child, about being in a show at Christmas and the thrill of hearing the curtain going up. It is not a song, just a rather evocative piece of writing. |
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Post by harrietcraig on Dec 29, 2017 4:39:42 GMT
I realise he doesn't fit The Great American Songbook but I think it a shame Noel Coward didn't leave us any Christmas songs. The Master could have given us a classic in his typically witty, satirical manner.* * I now hold my breath whilst someone unearths a Christmas classic by him. I think you are safe, tmesis. I have been through the index of the complete lyrics of Noel Coward and I cannot see anything remotely Christmassy. But I have a very vague recollection that in 'Cowardy Custard' there is a quote from Coward as a very young actor, maybe even while still a child, about being in a show at Christmas and the thrill of hearing the curtain going up. It is not a song, just a rather evocative piece of writing. I think you must be thinking of Coward's poem, "The Boy Actor". I can't find the text anywhere online, but here's the first verse (copied out of The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse): I can remember. I can remember. The months of November and December Were filled for me with peculiar joys So different from those of other boys For other boys would be counting the days Until end of term and holiday times But I was acting in Christmas plays While they were taken to pantomimes. I didn't envy their Eton suits, Their children's dances and Christmas trees. My life had wonderful substitutes For such conventional treats as these. I didn't envy their country larks, Their organized games in panelled halls: While they made snow-men in stately parks I was counting the curtain calls. The "curtain going up" reference, which you remembered, is from the last lines of the poem: I never cared who scored the goal Or which side won the silver cup, I never learned to bat or bowl, But I heard the curtain going up. |
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Post by tmesis on Dec 29, 2017 6:44:57 GMT
Thank you for that harrietcraig. It's a shame he didn't set it to music, it would work well as a song (I might have a go myself.) |
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Post by tonyloco on Dec 29, 2017 14:12:51 GMT
And thanks from me as well, harrietcraig. I'm glad I remembered it as what it was. That confirms that my brain still seems to be in good working order, regardless of what is happening to the rest of me as tempus fugit!
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Post by tonyloco on Dec 30, 2017 14:16:11 GMT
The cast recording of "Cowardy Custard" is on Spotify and 'The Boy Actor' is there as I remembered. It's just the opening lines, a few from later in the poem and then the closing lines, taking all of 40 seconds, but wonderfully evocative. It is recited by John Moffat and is the last piece in the main programme before the final medley.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2018 8:59:19 GMT
Just seen this thread... Is it too late to nominate It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...?
(One of my favourites.)
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 7, 2018 9:51:26 GMT
Just seen this thread... Is it too late to nominate It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...? (One of my favourites.) Given the song title, I think it's a little too early... |
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Post by tmesis on Dec 14, 2022 22:10:49 GMT
With the Waitrose Christmas advert 'It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas' is getting much exposure this year. It's a classy song by Meredith Wilson (famous for The Music Man) and there are lots of good versions: Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Michael Buble but I think the successors to Mr. Waite and Mr. Rose have picked the best version with Bing Crosby's.
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Post by Oleanna on Dec 15, 2022 0:15:39 GMT
Also of interest is Wilson’s “Pine Cones and Holly Berries” from the score for his musical adaptation of “Miracle on 34th Street” - “Here’s Love”.
The latter part of the song features a lovely counterpoint with “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”.
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Post by tmesis on Dec 15, 2022 15:46:35 GMT
Yes the counterpoint between the two tunes is particularly delicious, showing Wilson’s classical training in it’s cleverness.* Pine Cones and Holly Berries is a damn good tune in it’s own right and I love the original Broadway version, although The Osmonds version is pretty good too.
* I’m not suggesting that only the classically trained can write a good counterpoint song as Irving Berlin wrote some of the best examples of this.
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