Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the yearSnowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to shareSleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories thereChristmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the yearSleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories thereChristmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
-Composer Vince Guaraldi
– Lyrics Lee Mendelson
“Christmas Time is Here” is from what for my money is the best Christmas special every created. “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. I can say while this song is beautiful and I love it on a deep level. It is also one of those songs that listening to makes me sad instantly. The vocal version. The instrumental version might make me a little sad, but not the depths of despair that the vocal version does.
It also has an interesting story. From the Wiki:
“Christmas Time Is Here” was composed by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi to accompany the opening of the 1965 television special A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was originally written as an instrumental, but producer Lee Mendelson decided that the song needed lyrics. Mendelson recalled, “When we looked at the show about a month before it was to go on the air, I said, ‘That’s such a pretty melody; maybe we should try and find some people to put some lyrics to it.'” When he was unable to find someone available, he wrote the lyrics himself:
So I sat down with an envelope — I’ll never forget this — at our kitchen table and wrote ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ in about ten minutes. It was a poem that just came to me — never changed the words to this day. It was only about a minute long. And Vince got a bunch of little kids together to sing it.
The vocals for the song were provided by the children’s choir at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California. Guaraldi had previously performed with the ensemble at his May 1965 “jazz mass” performance at Grace Cathedral which was released album At Grace Cathedral.
Coincidentally, the day I sat down to write this entry to “An Artist’s Notebook” was also the day I switched to my winter plates. When I went to bring the plates down from the upper cupboard I found some cookie cutters for many of the characters from Peanuts. So if anybody wants to make a Snoopy shaped cookie or a Linus shaped cookie, you know how to get a hold of me.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the whole score of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Vince Guaraldi is absolutely brilliant. The type of thing a guy could add to his growing vinyl collection! I hope I didn’t give New to Me Vinyl Friday away.
But Thursday’s are for flowers. This flowertography collection took place in my yard.
Hard to believe that the next time we gather for another flowertography session, Christmas will have come and gone. That flowertography session will once again involve flowers from my yard.