Talk about unknown Christmas songs. Christmas
Lullaby was written for Cary Grant by none other than Peggy Lee (Lyrics) and
Cy Coleman (Music). It is the simplest
of tunes and lyrics but therein is its beauty. And the story of how it came to be written and
recorded by Cary Grant is told by Jessica Pickens in her blog, Comet Over Hollywood. YouTube
captures Grant’s recording for posterity.
James Gavin, in his biography of Peggy Lee, Is That All There Is?: The Strange Life of
Peggy Lee, said “Christmas Lullaby as Lee called it, wasn’t anything too
special. ‘Angles bless you, little one…my little one, sleep well.’ But as Lee
sat alongside Grant at a Hollywood studio and gazed at him while he talk sang
her words, he could have been intoning Emily Dickinson.”
Although Christmas is not the same for me as it was when
I was growing up and then for us as parents raising two sons (happily both visiting
us this holiday), the spirit indelibly left its mark. I posted YouTube piano versions of two of my
favorite Christmas pieces, one two years ago -- a Bill Evans composition, It’s Love It’s Christmas, and, last year, Vince Guaraldi’s classic Christmas Time Is Here.
So I offer one of Christmas
Lullaby, a lovely one minute waltz.
Lyrics are below. Happy and
Healthy Holidays to all!
Angels bless you
little one / while you’re fast asleep.
You’ll awake to
dancing toys, candy canes, Christmas joys.
And I pray your
whole life through, Angels will watch over you,
loving you the way
I do my little one, sleep well.
Angels bless you
little one / while you’re fast asleep.
You’ll awake to
dancing toys, candy canes, Christmas joys.
And I pray your
whole life through, Angels will watch over you,
loving you the way
I do my little one, sleep well.
