My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #22: An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Whoever made the decision to team up Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters deserves a medal for raising the spirits of families in this country at a time when there was lots of uncertainty about what the future held in store.

Between 1939 and 1952, they recorded 47 songs together – including 6 Christmas songs – almost half of which (23) made it onto the Billboard charts (the most successful pairing of musical acts in recording history).  Many of these songs are still very popular today, even among younger listeners.

I’ve always loved the “scratchy” tone on these recordings; it gives them a unique sound and places them at a particular time in history. Whenever I hear these “old” recordings, I think of families sitting around together in their living rooms, listening to the “newest” tunes by the contemporary artists of their day. This post is for all of them.

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #21: Shepherds and Angels

….And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. (Luke 2:8-9 KJV)
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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #20: Sounds Like Christmas

I don’t know about you, but for me there are certain songs that I hear on the radio that always put me in a Christmas frame of mind. The funny thing is, they are all songs that are – for lack of a better word – “older”.

But I guess that’s the thing – they weren’t really all that “old” when I was a kid; they were the popular songs of the day. Who knows what songs the kids of today will associate with Christmas when they get older?

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #19: Blues and Rhythm

What’s that you say, Skippy? Your sweetie’s far from home? Well, just tell him/her to “Please Come Home For Christmas”:
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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #18: Happy Birthday, Mom

My grandmother, my oldest daughter, my Mom, and me (August, 1987)

Today is my Mom’s birthday, so I picked this song out especially for her.  It came out in 2008; I remember that, because just a few weeks after I heard it for the first time, my mother had to unexpectedly bid a final farewell to her youngest child.  From that point on, this song has been a poignant reminder to me of how precious the bond between mothers and their children is, no matter their age.  Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, we lost our second daughter, Michelle.  Now this song means even more to me.

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #17: A (Mostly) Acoustical Christmas

Christmas Guitar 5
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I have to admit, the first time I heard this song, I thought it was a release from Peter, Paul, and Mary – the Barenaked Ladies are joined by Sarah McLachlan to do an upbeat version of “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” (with a little bit of “We Three Kings” thrown in, just to keep things interesting):
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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #16: Happy Hour

Christmas is a little more than a week away, and I’m sure that nerves are getting a little frazzled. So today, I thought I’d play some music with a sophisticated, “grown-up” feel to it – the kind you might hear at a swanky nightclub or that you might play after you’ve put the kids to bed. Just pretend it’s nighttime, kick back, and relax….

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #15: An Instrumental Christmas

Not all Christmas music has words; there are many lovely instrumental arrangements of old and new classics out there.  While I’m not particularly fond of the style, one of the more popular “new” ones is Transsiberian Orchestra’s “Wizards of Winter” – in this video, it accompanies a really cool light show:
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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #14: The Children’s Hour

While most Christmas songs are performed by adult artists, there are a few that will forever be associated with child artists (and/or thought of as uniquely children’s songs). I grew up with these songs, and still love them today – it’s been fun being able to share them over the years with my own children, and I look forward to the days when they will share them with their children!

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #13: Odds and Ends

There is so much great music out there that I couldn’t include all of the songs that I love (or that people want to hear)! While putting this series together, I tried to group songs with a similar theme together, but every once in a while I would run across a song that didn’t fit neatly into a post (or if it did, there were already enough songs in that post). Where to put them?

Hence, today’s post. I ran across this while looking for clips to include in this series – I HAD to find a place for this one of Leon Redbone and Dr. John singing “Frosty the Snowman”; it is just so much fun:
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