Harry Connick Jr, came to prominence when his versions of American standards were featured prominently in Rob Reiner’s “When Harry Met Sally.”
But this song, from his first holiday album, is one that the singer/bandleader wrote himself.
It has a great big band vibe, with the band singing along at certain points. And it tells a really cute Christmas Eve story very vividly.
The song has been covered since its debut in 1993. But it’s Connick’s version that’s the definitive one.
The birthplace of this song is Wayland, Massachusetts, about 20 miles west of Boston.
It was there that a Unitarian minister, Edmund Sears, wrote the poem from which the song gets its lyrics. In 1849, he joined with a buddy, Richard Storrs Willis, who contrinuted his melody called “Carol.”
Or at least that’s how it goes here in the United States.
Apparently, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” is an entire different sounding song on the other side of the Atlantic. The melody for the British Commonwealth version of the song was written by Arthur Sullivan, as in Gilbert & Sullivan.
One of the strange things you find about holiday songs is that they often reflect the political issues of the time. In this case, Sears was troubled by the turbulence in the world at the time. The U.S. has just seized Mexican land after a war. Europe was churning with revolution.
The whole third stanza, which doesn’t get played much, is about how men are too busy fighting to hear angels sing.
I’ll stay with the U.S. version and with an American icon, Ella Fitzgerald, whose rendition resonates more with me than most others.
https://music.youtube.com/search?q=it+came+upon+a+midnight+clear+ella+fitzgerald
This holiday carol dates back to Germany in the late Middle Ages
Over time, there have been translations of the original text and variations on the tune. A few variations are attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, although at least one version was written by his father-in-law and first cousin once removed, Johan Michael Bach.
Some of us first came to know this song as “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,”an English version of it.
It’s a nice tune played either reflectively or in an upbeat manner. The most prominent version of the latter was released about 50 years ago by British musician Mike Oldfield, He’s best known for “Tubular Bells,” the piece that accompanied “The Exorcist” in 1973.
(Here’s a shocker: Mike Oldfield is less than a year older than I am. He recorded “Tubular Bells” and set down this version of “In Dulci Jublio” while I was still in college!)
Oldfield’s version feels like a jig. Makes you wonder what Bach or his father-in-law/cousin would have thought of it.
The answer is they’re expensive.
That’s particularly true this time of year, when you’re fighting crowds or scouring online sites for whatever it is the child in your life really, really, really wants.
But everything about children costs big bucks. Healthcare. Diapers. Clothes. Toys. Sporting stuff. Music lessons. School supplies. Trips to the theme park.
And that might be why people are procreating less. Which has many people, not just white conservatives, very nervous. Because as the population gets older, it needs more on that end as well – and, like kids, being old is also expensive.
One of the reasons Zohran Mamdani manged to get elected mayor of New York is his proposal for universal child care. The idea comes from talking to people about what would make their lives more affordable, and this is a big idea.
Parents spend $10,000 or more a year paying someone to watch their kids while they work. They wrestle with the idea of one parent – it’s usually, but not always, the mom – staying home because of the cost.
Which ultimately results in other problems: a lower standard of living because of diminished income, and frustrated and unfulfilled people not able to use their talents to the extent they’d like.
So the idea of universal child care seems like a political winner. At least that’s what New York Gov. Kathy Hochul thinks.
Hochul seems to be clearing a path for Mamdani to fullill his campaign promise. In fact, she’s looking to make it moot – not only would there be universal health care in the city, but in the whole state of New York – from Niagara Falls to Montauk Point.
It would cost a fortune.
New Mexico recently enacted universal child care. According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, it’ll cost the Land of Enchantment $1 billion this fiscal year.
But the state has the money. It gets paid royalties for fossil fuels extracted from its land. This, despite the fact that New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the union. But it’s a boon for struggling families – and certainly a reason to keep your home where it is if you aspire to or have kids.
New York has no fossil fuels. What it does have is wealth. So many of the richest people in the nation live in the metropolitan area. Real estate prices are ridiculously high.
So Hochul is looking for a way to tap into that wealth for what would likely be a $7 billion expense to subsidize child care for every family who needs it.
The thing is doing so would partly pay for itself.
New York is one of the states that is losing population to the Sun Belt. It can’t change the weather, particularly in the Adirondacks, but it can make it more financially attractive to live and work here. And while businesses might grumble about additional taxes, they’ll be partly offset by finding it easier to get and keep workers.
We’ll see how Hochul does. She’s running for re-election next year and might have her eyes on a national profile. Universal child care – letting parents keep about $20 grand a year – would be a good way of letting everyone know that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with kids today.
This song is from an album called “Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings For You.”
Mr. Gambini, as aficionados know, is Joe Pesci’s memorable character in “My Cousin Vinny,” one of the funniest films ever.
Pesci recorded the album in 1998, six years after Vinny’s antics in an Alabama courtroom. It wasn’t a swing at something different – he was a lounge singer in the New York area before he got into acting.
The song is silly, but that’s not such a bad thing. While I’m not averse to a little profanity, the link is to the cleaned-up version of the song:
This is one of the – if not the – most wistful songs of the season. So much so that, the first Christmas that my son did not come from South Korea, I couldn’t listen to it.
The idea for it came just as World War II started. With the original Antifa – millions of Americans fighting fascists around the world – away from those they loved, it was thought a song like this would boost morale.
The composers – Kim Gannon and Walter Kent – ran into Buck Ram, another songwriter, at a bar. Ram discussed a poem he’d written his mother in the 1920s and the idea germinated into the song. Gannon and Kent were originally the only ones credited for it, but legal procedures led to Ram being listed as a co-writer.
Bing Crosby recorded the first version in 1943, just as the tide of the war was turning in the Allies’ favor. It would still be two years before most of the people for whom the song was written would enjoy the snow, the mistletoe and the presents ‘neath the tree in person.
The version I’ve chosen is by Leslie Odom, Jr., who I just saw on Broadway reprising his career-breakthrough role in “Hamilton.” I hope you enjoy it – and that everyone in your life who can be will be home for the holidays.
https://music.youtube.com/search?q=i%27ll+be+home+for+christmas+leslie+odom+jr
This song always sounded British to me. But it actually originated in western North Carolina in the 1930s.
Its composer, John Jacob Niles, liked to take little snippets of music that people in his area sang and make them into full-fledged songs. In this case, he heard a girl singing three lines – the rest is his.
Other folk tunes that Niles wrote in this manner are “Go ‘Way From My Window,” recorded by Linda Ronstadt, and “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” recorded by Rhiannon Giddens.
This version of “I Wonder as I Wander” is by Barbra Streisand.
Tom Lehrer once said that satire died when Henry Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Among his other utterances was this witty little tune he wrote in 1990 for one of Garrison Keillor’s radio shows. When he died earlier this year at age 97, my holiday song research led me to this sparkler.
Lehrer, whose day job was mathematician, did the bulk of his musical writing in the 1960s. His biggest claim to fame was crafting tunes for the U.S. version of the British weekly satire show, “That Was the Week That Was.” It was a little like a 30-minute version of SNL’s Weekend Update with music and the songs were always pertinent to the week’s events.
Satire is an acquired taste in this country. And the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963 left Americans even less willing to rib politics and society – hence the end of TW3.
I decided to go with the Seattle Men’s Chorus version of the song, since the full choral treatment underlines the charm of the piece. I hope you enjoy it – and that you and your loved ones have a terrific Hanukkah.
This Hanukkah comes with the dark cloud of the horrific attack in Australia that killed 16 holiday celebrants. It’s the kind of senseless gun nonsense we see in this country – including just yesterday at Brown and 13 years ago today at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
I’ve always admired a holiday dedicated to preserving and amplifying light. It is that light I hope will help us overpower such horrors as antisemitism, gun violence and bigotry.
Here’s to a joyous Hanukkah celebration to all who celebrate. Best wishes to you and your family.
The first track BonJovi released from the 1992 album “Keep the Faith” was the title song.
I can’t say I’m that familiar with it. I’m not a huge BonJovi fan, although I think it’s a fine group and Jon is a fine singer.
But I – and a lot of other people – are familiar with the song on the B side. It’s “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas,” and it’s a wonderful piece of holiday music,
It sets a nice mood and has a heartfelt, cheerful sentiment.
It’s not to be confused with the Brook Benton song of the 1950s that is a little mushy.
And it, of course, is not the ultimate holiday song of Jersey Shore musicians. (Bruuuuuuuccceee!) It’s a pretty damn good second.
This one has always been a head scratcher.
As far as I could figure out, there was nothing nautical about the Nativity. Bethlehem is probably a 2-day camel ride from the Mediterranean. But apparently, according to the fourth stanza, the ships sailed into a landlocked town.
So what are the ships the singer is talking about?
It’s possible the lyricist, William Sandys, was thinking of the three wise men as being the “ships.” Camels, after all, are known as ships of the desert.
Or they were metaphorical in some way. Or symbolic of some event that happened in between the birth of Jesus and 1833, when Sandys published his lyrics.
The song seems out of place entering the second quarter of the 21st century. But I’m sure there are folks who love it.
Here’s a version by the choir of New York’s Trinity Church:
SUBJECTISM 