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12/05/2016 9:14 am  #1


Best and Worst Christmas Music

A favorite;
Pavarotti singing Adeste Fideles in latin.

Least favorite:
My perennial pet peeve
Mary did you know?

Clay Aiken

Appallingly it was written by a self described Christian artist.
A sample
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?


Did Mary Know? Well, duh,,,,
Yea, Mary knew. She was told by the Angel Gabriel.
It was called the Annunciation. Luke 1:26

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Only one of the most important parts of the bible, and the subject of endless depictions in art.
Sheesh

OK, I'm over it.
Thanks for listening. 






 

Last edited by Goose (12/05/2016 9:27 am)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

12/05/2016 5:35 pm  #2


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

Ahhhh, the 'Annunciation' by Fra Angelico in San Marco in Florence.  From an artistic point-of-view, his work represents an odd, but important, transition.  Notice the one-point perspective of the backround, but the flat, Byzantine style of the figures.  During Byzantine times, Gabriel was depicted with multi-colored wings as well.  However, during the Renaissance, Gabriel was depicted with white wings.

So here we have, in effect, flat Byzantine figures (almost like paper cut-out dolls) in 3-D space which was a Renaissance revelation.  Very unusual, but quite interesting for a 15th century work of art.

Sorry, I guess I might be too technical here.  But, Fra Angelico is a favorite of mine.

 

12/05/2016 7:36 pm  #3


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

No cause to be sorry, Fred. Fra Angelico is a treasure.
His Lamentation, (sadly for me, a reproduction) has a home in my office.


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
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12/05/2016 9:44 pm  #4


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

First, check out my top 10 Christmas songs from last year's thread

http://theexchange.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=10437#p10437

http://theexchange.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=10438#p10438

So let's throw out five more holiday songs I like to start off the season

Keb' Mo' - "Jingle Bell Jamboree"




The Kinks - "Father Christmas"




The Piano Guys - "Silent Night"




The Roches - "Angels We Have Heard On High"



 


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
 

12/06/2016 1:20 pm  #5


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole





Andy Williams - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year







"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Frank Sinatra




 

Last edited by Common Sense (12/06/2016 1:22 pm)


 “We hold these truths to be self-evident,”  former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”

 
 

12/06/2016 1:25 pm  #6


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

The Christmas Song is a long time favorite of mine.

Interesting story behind it.

"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Bob Wells and Mel Tormé.

According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool", the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.[1] "I saw a spiral pad on his (Wells') piano with four lines written in pencil", Tormé recalled. "They started, 'Chestnuts roasting..., Jack Frost nipping..., Yuletide carols..., Folks dressed up like Eskimos.' Bob didn't think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Christmas_Song

Last edited by Goose (12/06/2016 1:26 pm)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
     Thread Starter
 

12/07/2016 1:08 pm  #7


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

I should not when it comes to "Worst" Christmas songs, there really aren't that many horrible songs. 

But there are songs that are terribly overplayed this time of year.

For example, Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is a really good tune. But from mid-November until the New Year, I hear it ten times a day, either in a store, or scanning the radio dial. 

Same with John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)

Or Andy Williams' "Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

and I could go on and on.

For the record, I won't intentionally listen to Christmas music until the week before X-mas and won't listen to it after Christmas Day. 


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
 

12/07/2016 1:42 pm  #8


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

Some interesting - to me anyway - history.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was introduced to the world in the 1944 movie Meet me in St Louis ,and sung by Judy Garland.
Original lyrics were:
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past."

It was reportedly changed by Judy who declared that the song was too depressing, exclaiming, "I am NOT singing that!"
The song went on to become a favorite tear-jerker among US Troops overseas.


White Christmas, written in 1940 and first sung by Bing Crosby became the biggest selling single of all time.
It was first sung in the movie,,,,,,, NO, not White Christmas, but Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn is a wonderful little flick if there ever was one. Rent it.

Another great, I'll be home for Christmas was also a product of WWII.
They are all songs about longing for home.

Last edited by Goose (12/07/2016 1:44 pm)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
     Thread Starter
 

12/08/2016 9:26 am  #9


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

White Christmas song written at AZ Biltmore

http://www.cbs5az.com/story/24278252/white-christmas-written-at-az-biltmore
Updated: Jan 04, 2014 2:33 AM EST

PHOENIX (CBS5) - All week, CBS 5 News at 10 p.m. has been highlighting Arizona Christmas traditions and legends, and Friday's story is both.White Christmas is one of the most famous holiday songs of all time.But, it was written in a place not known for its "sleigh bells in the snow.""I love White Christmas," said Denise Gaines of Paradise Valley. "That's one of my favorites."You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't know the words to Irving Berlin's holiday classic.But, not everyone knows that Berlin, a Jewish songwriter from Russia, penned the Christmas tune under the warm Phoenix sun."That's pretty amazing," said Ryan Olson of Phoenix. "I learn something new every day."Legend has it that Berlin wrote White Christmas while lounging by the Catalina Pool at the Arizona Biltmore in January 1939."He was sitting out here in the sun, which he liked to work in," said the Biltmore's Sarah Moran. "He said it was vital to his work."If you listen to the lyrics, "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas," and consider where Berlin was at this time, it's actually quite fitting."I do think that it kind of is a representative song for Arizona, because we do dream of a white Christmas - something we never get," said Allison Georgoulis of Phoenix.Copyright2013 CBS 5 (KPHO BroadcastingCorporation). All rights reserved.


But there is another claim where it was written.


 OriginAccounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song.[5][/url] One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Quinta,_California]La Quinta, California[/url], while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims the song was written there.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_%28song%29#cite_note-6][6][/url] He often stayed up all night writing — he told his secretary, "Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!"[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_%28song%29#cite_note-Lyrics-7][7] 

Last edited by Common Sense (12/08/2016 9:27 am)


 “We hold these truths to be self-evident,”  former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”

 
 

12/08/2016 9:31 am  #10


Re: Best and Worst Christmas Music

I was always struck by the fact that two of our most favorite Christmas songs were written by Mel Torme and Irving Berlin, two Jewish men.


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
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