This is a really pretty old English carol. But its sweetness belies its depressing message.
The song was part of a Christmas pageant performed in Coventry as far back as the late 16th century. This part, best known for its “Lullay, lullay” line, is meant to be a lullaby sung by mothers whose sons were ordered to be slaughtered by King Herod in his hunt for the baby Jesus.
This makes “Christmas with the Devil” seem like wholesome fun.
Annie Lennox recorded it for a holiday album in 2010. Here she is performing it at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting.
The Louis Armstrong recording of this song might be one of the four or five holiday works that I’ll stop what I’m doing and listen – even though I’ve heard it hundreds of times.
The song itself is pretty good. It was written by Steve Allen, the first-ever host of “The Tonight Show.” While better known as a comedian, Allen claims to have written 8,500 songs, few of them recorded. The most famous is “This Could Be the Start of Something Big,” an early ’60s crooner standard.
What makes this recording is Armstrong. The arrangement, with his band, The Commanders. Armstrong’s vocals invoke the joy of the song and his trumpet solo brings it to an emotional peak.
“Cool Yule” has been covered several times and the versions aren’t bad. But this one is definitive. It would be wrong not to link to Corona’s own.
“CONCERTO GROSSO – in G minor, Opus 6, No. 8” – 15 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS
My favorite classical holiday work isn’t Handel’s “Messiah” or the previously mentioned “Christmas Oratorio” by Bach.
It’s this, perhaps the best-known but hardly the only work by Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli. He was an accomplished violinist in the late 17th and early 18th century and he composed several almost-revolutionary classical pieces. He influenced Bach among others, as he was renowned throughout Europe.
I love this part of the concerto because it summons the majesty of the holiday. It seems joyful and respectful.
And he’s Italian.
Here’s the Christmas Concerto performed by a chamber ensemble of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony:
“CHRISTMAS DOWN IN COOPERSTOWN” – 16 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS
Baseball and holiday music are both obsessions of mine. So I’ve spent a lot of time wondering if there is something that shares both my passions.
That would be “Christmas Down in Cooperstown,” a song written and performed by Dana Cooke. It’s the one song we know he’s performed, appearing on an album of baseball music sold at the Hall of Fame and showing up on a Syracuse radio morning show.
The song isn’t half bad. It has a certain wistfulness that, if you’ve ever been to the Baseball Hall of Fame, seems appropriate.
Can’t find anything else Cooke has done – a website supposedly his doesn’t come up. So if this is his one and only work, it’s a masterpiece.
How appropriate this is as Mets fans celebrate their future Hall of Famer, Juan Soto.
Some think it’s a little overplayed, which is probably true of everything in the holiday canon.
Others are bothered by the storyline. This young woman seems superficial to some. And, of course, that “happy ending” thing is seen as suggestive.
The question of whether a song itself is good or bad meets a test when someone other than the original artist – in this case, The Waitresses – performs it.
So here’s Kylie Minogue to test whether you like or hate the song or the recording.
“The elves are dressed in leather and the angels are in chains.”
That doesn’t seem like the first line of a holiday classic.
But, for fans of Spinal Tap, it wouldn’t be the holiday season without “Christmas with the Devil,” the special record the band made a year or so after the mockumentary that made it famous.
The song expertly combines both holiday sounds (sleigh bells) and the grating twang of heavy metal guitar. David St. Huggins, Nigel Tufnel, Derek Smalls and a soon-to-be deceased drummer give this song an earnestness that underscores its, um, message.
This is one of those old-timey holiday songs. The first people I think of when I hear this are Frank Sinatra and Robert Goulet – when was the last time you heard a new waltz?
In fact, the song was written specifically for Sinatra. He wanted a signature Christmas song similar to rival Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” As it seems usual, the song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne on a hot summer day in Los Angeles.
It did not get the traction that “White Christmas” did. But I think it’s a better song and I know it’s one of my youngest brother’s favorites. When it plays, it evokes memories of my parents and Christmas Eve.
“CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE” – 20 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
Charlie Brown could have saved a lot of time and (good) grief if, when asking Linus why he was in a funk about Christmas, he just listened to the song playing in the background.
Few songs capture what the holiday means to so many people as this one, another classic from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It’s a piece that sounds best on piano – or at least I think so.
As sweet as the lyrics are, I always prefer hearing this on solo piano. Here’s the composer, Vince Guaraldi:
“THE CHRISTMAS SONG (CHESTNUTS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FIRE)” – 21 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
A former colleague used to say that there was no reason for anyone else to perform “The Christmas Song” – Nat King Cole’s version was so perfect that other musicians would be foolish to try.
As I’ve gotten more into music composition and arrangement, I realize why this thought isn’t quite right. For one thing, if the song is good, you might want it to be part of your songbook.
For another, you might come up with something that no one has ever heard before.
Even Cole covered the song – three times. He first recorded it in 1946 – without the lush string arrangement that’s a hallmark of the recording. The version you likely listen to is the fourth one, made in 1961.
The song’s co-composer, Mel Tormé. covered it as well – he and his friend Bob Wells wrote it in July 1945 as a cooling thought on a hot Los Angeles day, but he gave it to Cole. It was about a decade later that Tormé thought to do it himself.
The version I’ve linked to is by Jacob Collier, born nearly 50 years after the song was written. I saw him in person this year and was amazed by his love of harmony. Hope you can enjoy this as much as any of the other umpteen versions of this wonderful song.
“CHRISTMAS ORATORIO – SINFONIA” – 22 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, my second favorite classical work of the season, marks 290 years of performance in 2024.
My favorite section is the opening of Part II, which commemorates the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. It’s the Sinfonia, which is not sung, unlike many of the other parts.
For some reason, the oboe and flute solos in this section evoke a civilized, traditional Christmas. This version, played by the Luther College Symphony Orchestra from Decorah, Iowa, is fairly faithful to the piece.
SUBJECTISM 