Christmas music

[Knows Picker]

Every video game has a boss. For Christmas I think it is “Christmas time is here”

 

[Arcy]

Guaraldi's hard to argue with!

Charles Cornell has a great breakdown of that album


I'm also enjoying the new one from the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special:

 

[ghostrdr]

Every video game has a boss. For Christmas I think it is “Christmas time is here”

I bought this on Musicnotes. Pretty easy arrangement and fun to play

 

[man0a]

I saw this on YouTube yesterday. I have a month to work on it.

 

[ripock]

All I'll say is that I am so glad I stayed in school and made the correct sequence of arbitrary guesses that led me not to be in retail. While I was buying some trout at the market today they played two versions of Rudolph back-to-back and then Suzy Snowflake. You could see it in the butcher's eyes; he had lost the will to live. And 8 hours a day for another 5 weeks.

 

[Mike $]

Every video game has a boss. For Christmas I think it is “Christmas time is here”

What does "Every video game has a boss" mean? What does "For Christmas I think it is "Christmas time is here" have to do with the first sentence?
I'm confused beyond compare.

 

[ripock]

What does "Every video game has a boss" mean? What does "For Christmas I think it is "Christmas time is here" have to do with the first sentence?
I'm confused beyond compare.

The last level of a video game has a boss which is very difficult to kill/overcome. I thought the analogy meant "Christmas time is here" was the boss, the ultimate in the metaphorical game of playing christmas songs. I don't know if that means that song is the ultimate in difficulty or just the end-all be-all of christmas music.

 

[Jan D]

The last level of a video game has a boss which is very difficult to kill/overcome. I thought the analogy meant "Christmas time is here" was the boss, the ultimate in the metaphorical game of playing christmas songs. I don't know if that means that song is the ultimate in difficulty or just the end-all be-all of christmas music.

When I read the first post in this thread, I was confused too. So thanks, ripock. Based on your response to Mike, I think I now understand what the original poster meant. Much appreciated!

 

[ripock]

I haven't heard that song in eons. Is the music difficult? I seem to recall the harmonization of the voices was purposely a bit challenging kind of like a Beatles song where the voices strain to work together but result in a more interesting sound

 

[Luke Plays Uke]

The WikiPedia claims that "Christmas Time is Here" was written in 1965 for a Charlie Brown Christmas Special. If you look at the View History page of the WikiPedia, you can see that the Wiki Editors have been playing their game with the entry as recently as last week, so who knows how accurate it is anymore?

One useful thing the WikiPedia pages does have is a breakdown of the tune. Being designated a Jazz tune, it has no doubt been played by many artists since 1965.

Here is a video with Charlie Brown



No doubt it is popular in the USA, or was, or has been, but personally I have never heard the tune before.

It was indeed written for the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Charles Schulz originally hated jazz (he really hated anything that wasn’t classical), but he had started to warm up to the genre and was okay with incorporating it into the special.

Which was rare at the time.

Then he decided to use real child actors for the voices instead of the standard adults-as-kids technique.

Schulz was a VERY interesting person that led a very interesting (albeit mostly quiet) life. If you’re ever in the mood, the David Michaelis biography is an incredibly good read.

One thing that always stuck with me was that Schulz worked for that “learn to draw by mail,” thing you sometimes see advertised on morning game shows. The way it was broken down was that it basically made a triangle where students would ALL start at the bottom (obviously) but then either not progress, give up, fall off, or not make it to the top of the instruction for one reason or another.

And this is why there are so many books on drawing for beginners, but when I read that, all I thought was that there are less MUSIC books for intermediate and even less for advanced players as well.

And the world made a little more sense.

 

[Canada Jim]

 

[YooperGirl]

 

[ploverwing]

Even though it might 30C - 40C outside and very hot and dry, and very few locals even know what a reindeer or sleigh is, we get Rudolf and White Christmas, and Holly and so on. I am yet to hear Suzy Snowflake, but most people here have never seen a snowflake, not even in winter, and it is likely to be on the sound track of some shopping malls.

Occasionally we get "Six White Boomers", boomer being the word for kangaroos because of the sound they make, not the Generation, leading Santa's sleigh. We still have no idea what a Sleigh is and the writer of this tune is in jail for child sex crimes so he has been cancelled.

But we still have lights and Christmas trees and a lot of fun. I live near some canal developments and on a nice warm summer evening you can cruise around the canals in a boat and see the amazing light display. Not much singing or carolling on the water, but wine and cheese and crackers.

I enjoyed the poinsettias growing in people's yards, and I loved the waratah flowers as Christmas decorations. But I couldn't deal with the 40 degree heat, especially at Christmas, it was just too much.

 

[Kenn2018]

Vince Guaraldi once said in an interview that he wished he had never played "Christmas Time is Here" for that special. It changed everyone's expectations of what music his Trio was going to play. Changed the kinds of gigs he got as well. The royalties were nice though.

"Here Comes Susie Snowflake." I remember that song growing up in the 50s. Rosemary Clooney made it popular. It's only recently made a comeback around here.

I can empathize with Riprock's butcher. While in college, I worked at a toy store in a local mall in Akron, Ohio. Christmas was always a madhouse. There was an electric organ company, Lowrey I think, that had a store in the mall. Every Christmas they would setup a display of some of their organs in the middle of the mall. One year they setup right outside the toy store. At high traffic times, they would hire music student from the college to demonstrate them. Which wasn't too bad. But the rest of the day, they used their latest innovation. A built-in cassette player that was encoded to play the organ, much like a piano roll. It was on a 30 minute loop. It played the same damn Xmas songs over and over and over, every 30 minutes. Back then, retail Christmas went from the day after Thanksgiving to New Years's Day. I hated hearing organ music and those songs for years after that!

My great aunt was an unmarried school teacher in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan here in the US. Part of her compensation for teaching was that the families of the children in the school would be responsible for her room and board. Each family hosted her in their home for a length of time dependent upon how many kids they had in the school. In the winter, when snow was on the ground, she was driven to the school in sleighs. Usually tucked under bear skin throws to keep her warm in the -0° F temperatures. Yes, it was a one-room schoolhouse. 1st grade to 8th. Usually taught about 20 children. They had to do their chores each morning before coming to school.

I was told that my great grandparents did indeed put up and decorate a Christmas tree. Including lit candles on the end of the branches! It was only up for 2 or 3 days. Everyone sang carols to the piano playing of my great grandmother.

 

[Charles Guy]

Christmas in the Trenches is one of my favorite modern Christmas songs along with Christmas Time is here and yes, Last Christmas.

Being an American child of the 60's I thought only Burl Ives was the top Christmas singer until I was 8 or so.

 

[YooperGirl]

Vince Guaraldi once said in an interview that he wished he had never played "Christmas Time is Here" for that special. It changed everyone's expectations of what music his Trio was going to play. Changed the kinds of gigs he got as well. The royalties were nice though.

"Here Comes Susie Snowflake." I remember that song growing up in the 50s. Rosemary Clooney made it popular. It's only recently made a comeback around here.

I can empathize with Riprock's butcher. While in college, I worked at a toy store in a local mall in Akron, Ohio. Christmas was always a madhouse. There was an electric organ company, Lowrey I think, that had a store in the mall. Every Christmas they would setup a display of some of their organs in the middle of the mall. One year they setup right outside the toy store. At high traffic times, they would hire music student from the college to demonstrate them. Which wasn't too bad. But the rest of the day, they used their latest innovation. A built-in cassette player that was encoded to play the organ, much like a piano roll. It was on a 30 minute loop. It played the same damn Xmas songs over and over and over, every 30 minutes. Back then, retail Christmas went from the day after Thanksgiving to New Years's Day. I hated hearing organ music and those songs for years after that!

My great aunt was an unmarried school teacher in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan here in the US. Part of her compensation for teaching was that the families of the children in the school would be responsible for her room and board. Each family hosted her in their home for a length of time dependent upon how many kids they had in the school. In the winter, when snow was on the ground, she was driven to the school in sleighs. Usually tucked under bear skin throws to keep her warm in the -0° F temperatures. Yes, it was a one-room schoolhouse. 1st grade to 8th. Usually taught about 20 children. They had to do their chores each morning before coming to school.

I was told that my great grandparents did indeed put up and decorate a Christmas tree. Including lit candles on the end of the branches! It was only up for 2 or 3 days. Everyone sang carols to the piano playing of my great grandmother.

Nice memories shared through the generations. And…these comments are making me laugh! Bunch of Scrooges ‘round here..
What part of the U.P. did your great aunt teach in? I am in the Copper Country (Houghton/Hancock area in the Keweenaw Peninsula).

 

[ploverwing]

The Pogues "Fairytale of New York".

Our required listening Christmas CDs: Banquo Folk Ensemble's "So Gracious is the Time", Finest Kind's "I am Christmas", the Vinyl Cafe Christmas collection (not music, but definitely essential Christmas listening), Loreena McKennitt's "To Drive the Cold Winter Away", Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite", and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song".

We also enjoy listening to CBC Radio's rebroadcast of the European "Joy to the World" presentation every year. It's great to have 6 hours of that going while we bake or decorate or wrap gifts.

 

[YooperGirl]

The Pogues "Fairytale of New York".

Our required listening Christmas CDs: Banquo Folk Ensemble's "So Gracious is the Time", Finest Kind's "I am Christmas", the Vinyl Cafe Christmas collection (not music, but definitely essential Christmas listening), Loreena McKennitt's "To Drive the Cold Winter Away", Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite", and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song".

We also enjoy listening to CBC Radio's rebroadcast of the European "Joy to the World" presentation every year. It's great to have 6 hours of that going while we bake or decorate or wrap gifts.

Sounds awesome

 

[ripock]

The only christmas song I think I'd want to hear: "wanna be your dog" by the Stooges with its sleigh-bell ostinato

 

[bbkobabe]

Kicker of Elves from the band Guided By Voices, maybe...