Friday December 24, 2021 “The Christmas Song” Nat King Cole
There are a handful of Christmas songs that immediately take me back to an earlier time and I can smell the pine trees that were being sold on almost every block in my neighborhood and will be reminded of the delirium of hoping for a White Christmas but not really knowing why, while looking forward to midnight mass on Christmas Eve with its glorious choirs, wonderful pomp and delightful smells of incense.
“The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole is at the very top of that song list so it wouldn’t be Christmas, at least not for me, without hearing it a few times.
Nat King Cole was a highly respected jazz pianist who opted for a more lucrative career as a pop oriented singer and suffered harsh criticisms from his jazz peers for abandoning the ‘art’ of jazz for pop music. And of course being an African American musician he also struggled with all of the racial bias that was typical and unfortunately acceptable in the US at that time.
“The Christmas Song” was written in 1946 by Mel Torme and Bob Wells on one blisteringly hot July day. They said the song came together in thirty five minutes. Both men are Jewish.
Give the video a shot as well, someone spent a lot of time and effort to put this clever and sweet piece together.
Stay safe and well…and get those Yuletide carols going and be on the lookout for some mistletoe.