Welcome
everybody to this new entry of Montcada in English – Christmas Edition. As I
told you before, this is a very special month for me and my family, because of
the season. Music has been an important part of Christmas traditions all around
the world. Few things are able to express the spirit who involves the season as
music. Carols, pop songs, hymns and so on have been part of the traditions that
are related to this festivity.
Based
on what the German composer Ludwig von Beethoven once said - "Music is
... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy" - today I’d like
to share My Top 10 list of favorite Christmas songs, maybe not to provide
wisdom or philosophy but to help you to feel the amazing spirit of the
holidays. I have divided the post in two parts. I hope you enjoy part 1.
My
Top 10 favorite Christmas’ songs (10 – 6)
10. Rudolph
the Red-nosed Reindeer
Rudolph,
the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a song written by Johnny Marks based on the eponymous 1939 story published by the Montgomery Ward
Company.
In
1939 Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May, created the character Rudolph as an
assignment for Montgomery Ward, and Marks decided to adapt the story of Rudolph
into a song. Marks (1909–1985), was a radio producer who also wrote several
other popular Christmas songs.
The
song was sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in
early November 1949, before Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 in the U.S. charts
the week of Christmas 1949. Autry's version of the song also holds the
distinction of being the only chart-topping hit to fall completely off the
chart after reaching No. 1. The official date of its No. 1 status was for the
week ending January 7, 1950, making it the first No. 1 song of the 1950s.
The
song was also performed on the December 6, 1949, Fibber McGee and Molly radio
broadcast by Teeny (Marion Jordan's little girl character) and The Kingsmen
vocal group. The lyrics varied greatly from the Autry version.
Autry's
recording sold 1.75 million copies its first Christmas season, eventually
selling a total of 12.5 million. Cover versions included, sales exceed 150
million copies, second only to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".
9. Santa
Claus is Coming to Town
Santa
Claus Is Comin' to Town is a Christmas song. It was written by John
Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio
show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies
of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours.
The
earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his
band on October 24, 1934 featuring Tom Stacks on vocal, the version shown in
the Variety charts of December 1934. The song was a sheet music hit, reaching
#1. The song was also recorded on September 26, 1935, by Tommy Dorsey & His
Orchestra.
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| Bruce Springsteen performing Santa Claus is Coming to Town |
The
song is a traditional standard at Christmas time, and has been covered by
numerous recording artists. The 1951 version by Perry Como was the first measurable
hit, and in 1963 the Four Seasons version charted at #23 on Billboard. In 1970
Rankin-Bass produced an hour-long animated television special based on the
song, with narrator Fred Astaire telling the original story of Santa Claus.
Many contemporary artists have recorded and performed various versions of the
song, including a rock version by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in
1971 or 1985. The song was recorded in a 1975 live version and eventually
released first in 1982 as part of the Sesame Street compilation album In
Harmony 2 and again in 1985 as a B-side to "My Hometown", a single
from the Born in the U.S.A. album. Live performances of the song by the band
often saw the band encouraging the audience to sing some of the lyrics with or
in place of the band singing them (usually the line "be good for goodness
sake", though the band would also sometime encourage the audience to also
sing the key line "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" as well), and
sometimes to sing along with the song completely, though many times crowds
would do so even without the encouragement and the band would do nothing to
dissuade those audiences who did so, and it remained a crowd favorite during
the months of November and December when the group would perform. The band is
among the few that would keep the song in their roster of songs during the
holidays.
8. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We
Wish You a Merry Christmas is a popular English carol from the West
Country of England.
The
carol is absent from earlier collections such as those of west-countrymen
Davies Gilbert (1822 and 1823) and William Sandys (1833), and also from The
Oxford Book of Carols (1928). In the comprehensive New Oxford Book of Carols
(1992), editors Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott describe it as "English
traditional". Various print and online sources date the carol to the
sixteenth-century, without giving a source.
The
origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition wherein wealthy
people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve,
such as "figgy pudding" that was very much like modern-day Christmas
puddings. A variety of nineteenth-century sources state that, in the West
Country of England, "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum
pudding, not necessarily one containing figs.
7.
Jingle Bell Rock
Jingle
Bell Rock is a popular Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in
1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every
Christmas season since then. Jingle Bell Rock was composed by Joseph Carleton
Beal (1900–1967), and James Ross Boothe (1917–1976). Beal was a
Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South
Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was a Texan writer in the
advertising business.
 |
| Bobby Helms Album's cover |
The
song has been performed by many, but Helms' version is the best known. The
song's title and some of its lyrics are a parody of the old Christmas standard,
Jingle Bells. It makes brief references to other popular songs of the 1950s,
such as "Rock Around the Clock," and mentions going to a "Jingle
hop." An electric guitar played by Hank Garland can be heard playing the
first notes of the chorus of "Jingle Bells."
Helms's
original version charted at No. 13 on Billboard's Most Played C&W by
Jockeys chart, a predecessor to the Hot Country Songs chart. After it was
featured on the soundtrack to the 1996 film Jingle All the Way, the original
version returned to the country charts in late 1996-early 1997, reaching a peak
of No. 60. It also crossed to the pop charts, reaching #11 in the Cashbox Top
60, week ending January 11, 1958.
6.
Jingle Bells
Jingle
Bells is one of the best-known and commonly sung American Christmas songs
in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published
under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857. Even
though it is now associated with the Christmas and holiday season, it was
actually originally written for American Thanksgiving. It has been claimed that
it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir; however,
historians dispute this, stating that it was much too "racy" to be
sung by a children's church choir in the days it was written.
It
is an unsettled question where and when James Lord Pierpont originally composed
the song that would become known as "Jingle Bells". A plaque at 19
High Street in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts
commemorates the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells," and claims
that Pierpont wrote the song there in 1850, at what was then the Simpson
Tavern. According to the Medford Historical Society, the song was inspired by
the town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century.
The song was originally copyrighted with the name "One Horse Open
Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. Mrs. Otis Waterman, one of Pierpoint's
friends, described the song as a "merry little jingle", which became
part of its new name when published in 1859 under the revised title of
"Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh. The song has since passed
into public domain.
Jingle
Bells was often used as a drinking song at parties: people would jingle
the ice in their glasses as they sung. The double-meaning of "upsot"
was thought humorous, and a sleigh ride gave an unescorted couple a rare chance
to be together, unchaperoned, in distant woods or fields, with all the
opportunities that afforded.
Music
historian James Fuld notes that "the word jingle in the title and opening
phrase is apparently an imperative verb." In the winter in New England in pre-automobile
days, it was common to adorn horses' harnesses with straps bearing bells as a
way to avoid collisions at blind intersections, since a horse-drawn sleigh in
snow makes almost no noise. The rhythm of the tune mimics that of a trotting
horse's bells. However, "jingle bells" is commonly taken to mean a
certain kind of bell.
As
far as I concerned, I’m done for this moment… Next time I’ll post the next 5
songs to complete the list.
