Songs & The Stories Behind Them--Part 2

Hi people! 

I'm back with the second edition of… well… *points to the post title*

Jesseca is doing I'll be Home for Christmas, Faith is doing Silver Bells, and I will be doing Winter Wonderland.

I’ll be Home for Christmas

Ahh, the very title of this song seems to burst with some sort of whimsical, old-fashioned elegance. Indeed, the words bring us back to a time when truly the greatest gift for anyone was to be home with their loved ones on Christmas day. This song takes us back to a time when life was a little slower. When days seemed to last just a bit longer, and when the world was at war.

Written in 1943 by Kim Gannon, it was rejected by those in the music industry because of the fact that it was “just too sad.” However, he seems to have had friends in high places. ;) One day, a bit later in the year, he was playing golf with Bing Crosby. The two men were discussing the subject of music, and Gannon went ahead and sang the song he had written for Crosby. Immediately, Crosby saw the potential it held, and he decided to go ahead and record it. The rest, they say, is history. Or should I say, it was written at the correct time in history.

Having been written from the POV of a soldier during WWII, the song put into words exactly the kind of bittersweet longing that most soldiers and families were feeling during this era.

Even now, the song brings back the nostalgia of home and family. So if  by chance you are not able to be with those you love this Christmas, remember, you still can be there. If only in your dreams.

I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me.

Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents on the tree.

Christmas eve will find me, where the love light gleams.

I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

Silver Bells

by Faith Potts, New York Times bestselling author

 Silver Bells, a popular and well-loved Christmas song, was composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The song was first performed by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in The Lemon Drop Kid {1951}. It was first recorded in October of 1950 by Bing Crosby, Carol Richards, and John Scott Trotter with his Orchestra. The song has since been sang and recorded by many well-known singers and actors. It hit the charts in the United Kingdom for the first time in 2009.

 As of the inspiration for the song, sources disagree. Several cite Jay Livingston for stating that the inspiration came from Salvation Army bell-ringers and Santa Clauses on New York City street corners. But co-writer Ray Evans told in an interview that the song was inspired by a bell on a shared desk belonging to Jay and himself.

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks.
Dressed in holiday style

Don't you just love it when the streets are decked out in light-up snowflakes and snowmen, with lights strung through the trees?!

In the air
There's a feeling
of Christmas

Again, don't you just love it? I don't! :) It's so wonderful when you can just feel Christmas in the air. The joy, the love, the laughter…

Children laughing
People passing
Meeting smile after smile
and on every street corner you'll hear…

Smile after smile...lovely line. Okay, so not everyone you meet is going to be smiling. Because we're living in this world after the fall, there is sin – a messy, ugly, dirty thing which wrecks anything and everything it can. But with Jesus as the Lord and Light of our lives, we can still experience a joyful life free from the guilt and shame of sin.

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas Day

Doesn't the chorus here just give you happy feels?! Eeps!

Strings of streetlights
Even stop lights
Blink a bright red and green
As the shoppers rush
home with their treasures

I can perfectly picture a city street with snow falling down and people rushing home, their arms full of brightly colored packages. <3

Hear the snow crunch
See the kids bunch
This is Santa's big scene
And above all this bustle
You'll hear…

Ahhh, I'm telling you, this is such a visual song! I really love the lyrics. :)

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas Day…

Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you enjoyed, and Merry Christmas!! *passes out candy canes*

Winter Wonderland

In 1934, Richard Smith (from Honesdale, PA) found inspiration after seeing Honesdale’s Central Park covered with snow.  He wrote the lyrics while in the West Mountain Sanitarium, being treated for tuberculosis.  Felix Bernard wrote the music for it and it was recorded by Richard Himber in ‘34.

Guy Lombardo’s orchestra made it a top 10 hit, and Johnny Mercer took it to #4 in ‘46.  Obviously, it became a hit.

I love this song because… well, just because.  I’m not sure why.  My mom, sister and I will sing it in 3-part harmony over and over and over and we’ll never get tired of it.  Every time we sing the song, I imagine… I imagine a pasture, surrounded by trees, covered with snow.  And the snowmen… well, what does a traditional snowman look like?  I’m sure everyone has their own ways of making snowmen. ;)  The one I imagine is just a simple snowman: a couple of big black splotches for eyes (I don’t know if they’re coal or what), a mouth made of rocks, arms out of branches.

I suppose another reason I like this song so much is because Kansas is notorious for no snow on Christmas.  Which is sad.  But, the song in my head helps my imagination put snow on the ground. ;)

But something I do not like is the fact that there is never any mention of Christmas in the song.  I mean, shouldn’t there at least be some mention of Jesus or the God who created the winter wonderland?  *Nod* yes, there should.

Sleigh bells ring

Are you listening

In the lane

Snow is glistening

A beautiful sight

We're happy tonight

Walking in a winter wonderland

Gone away is the bluebird

Here to stay is a new bird

He sings a love song

As we go along

Walking in a winter wonderland

In the meadow we can build a snowman

Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He'll say are you married?

We'll say no man

But you can do the job

When you're in town

Later on

We'll conspire

As we dream by the fire

To face unafraid

The plans that we've made

Walking in a winter wonderland

In the meadow we can build a snowman

And pretend that he's a circus clown

We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman

Until the other kiddies knock him down

When it snows

Ain't it thrilling

Though your nose gets a chilling

We'll frolic and play the Eskimo way

Walking in a winter wonderland

~Kaitlyn