A few years ago I wrote one of my most heartfelt entries about Christmas. I am not a religious person, but one does not experience a lifetime of Christmases and not be moved by its mere secular presence. My feelings about the holiday have not changed and therefore I am copying that piece without the photographs it contained, and but embedding the performances of all four songs mentioned, my favorites of the holiday season.
If Only In My Dreams
And so the classic song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" ends with that memorable line “if only in my dreams.”
And that is sort of the way I feel at this stage of my life. Christmases are now dreams of the past, anticipating the holiday as a child and then the pleasures Ann and I had in creating memorable holiday moments for our children as they grew up. The classic song itself is particularly evocative of the distant past popularized by Bing Crosby and so many others, first recorded at the peak of WW II.
Undoubtedly it was played frequently by my mother and my grandparents with whom we lived while my father was in Germany at the conclusion of the War, wanting to get home, but he was part of the occupying force and didn’t make it home until right after Christmas 1945. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is probably implanted in the recesses in my mind as every time I hear it I feel a sudden melancholy.
When my father came home he brought a wooden replica of the Jeep he drove in Germany for me. I don’t remember his return, or getting the Jeep, but somehow that 70 year old Jeep has accompanied me wherever I lived. Sometimes when I look at it, I can hear "I'll Be Home For Christmas."
In some past blog entries I’ve posted videos of other Christmas songs I like to play, in particular the following: “It's Love -- It's Christmas,” a seldom performed Christmas song, written by none other than the great jazz pianist Bill Evans. And, then, “Christmas Time Is Here” is by Vince Guaraldi, a great jazz musician too but his music will always be associated with the Peanuts Christmas specials.
Finally, there is “Christmas Lullaby,” probably the most unknown Christmas song. It 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.
So, on the eve of this Christmas I post my piano rendition of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” with fond memories of my Dad and Christmases past .
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
It's Love -- It's Christmas
Christmas Time Is
Here
Christmas Lullaby
