one Christmas song

Because it's after Thanksgiving, so darnit, it's not too early.

I heard this on Sirius XM's "classic holidays" or whatever they call it channel. So far it's been mostly disappointing - too many way over-sweetened things and too much Andy Williams for my taste.

But I liked this. Mel Torme singing "Christmastime is Here" (which is from the Charlie Brown Christmas special):



I like the song, and I like Mel Torme.

I know someone once wrote about how they found the song slightly depressing - I guess it was used as a gag on "Arrested Development" when someone was sad, and of course, it's written in a minor key. (I am not good enough to determine which one from just hearing it...or at least the chords are in a minor mode).

But as I've said before: I like the slightly-melancholy Christmas songs; the ones that recognize that life is NOT perfect, and sometimes pretending that we are the hap-hap-happiest bunch of jerks this side of the nuthouse (to paraphrase Clark Griswold) is kind of not the right thing to do.

I like the original (from "Meet Me in St. Louis") version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," before it got all happied up by Sinatra or whoever. And I like the old version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (the one to the hymn tune...there's a modern pop version I don't care for. Here's Burl Ives' version that uses the tune familiar to me.)

I like that song, because it's a Longfellow poem, but also because of this stanza:

And in despair I bowed my head;/ "There is no peace on earth," I said;/"For hate is strong,/And mocks the song /Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Yes, it acknowledges that this world isn't perfect, and pretending it is maybe isn't helpful.

But of course, there's the next stanza, that reminds us that it's okay that this world isn't perfect:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:/ "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;/The Wrong shall fail,/The Right prevail, /With peace on earth, good-will to men."

And anyway. There's a difference between being depressed or sad and being pensive and wistful. A little pensiveness, a little nostalgia, maybe a little reflection on how we really haven't come as far as we might have, is not a bad reflection at Christmas. And anyway, this season, right now (well, starting Sunday) is actually Advent, a time for reflection and soul-searching, so perhaps yes, the more pensive songs and carols, the ones that recognize that partying it up won't erase the difficulty in the world, is a good thing.