♫ I Believe In Father Christmas ♫

Posted on December 25, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Holidays, music, music history

Okay, folks, it’s time to wrap up Christmas and put the Christmas music back in storage for another year! I thought it appropriate to wrap up with this one, for some reason. Merry Christmas!

I Believe in Father Christmas (aka Santa Claus) is a song by English musician Greg Lake with lyrics by Peter Sinfield. Although it is often categorized as a Christmas song, this was not Lake’s intention. He said that he wrote the song in protest at the commercialization of Christmas. Sinfield, however, said that the words are about a loss of innocence and childhood belief. Released in 1975, the song reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart, but only made it to #95 in the U.S.

I got a chuckle out of this bit of trivia …

In 2005 Lake wrote a letter to The Guardian about the song, in answer to a reader question regarding whether it was possible to survive on Christmas royalties alone:

“In 1975, I wrote and recorded a song called “I Believe in Father Christmas”, which some Guardian readers may remember and may even own. It was a big hit and it still gets played on the radio every year around December, and it appears on more or less every Christmas compilation going. So I can tell you from experience that it’s lovely to get the old royalty cheque around September every year, but on its own, the Christmas song money isn’t quite enough to buy my own island in the Caribbean. I’m on tour at the moment and the Christmas song is as well received now as it was 30 years ago – maybe even more so. If Guardian readers could all please request it be played by their local radio stations, maybe that Caribbean island wouldn’t be so far away – and if I get there, you’re all invited.”

I Believe In Father Christmas
Greg Lake

They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter’s light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell
The Christmas we get we deserve

Songwriters: Greg Lake / Peter John Sinfield / Serge Prokofieff
I Believe In Father Christmas lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Music Sales Corporation

♫ Do They Know It’s Christmas? ♫

Posted on December 24, 2024 by jilldennison under Global Issues, Holidays, music, music history, Social commentary

This is yet another of those ‘annual reduxes’ that I play every year during the week or so before Christmas. I love the story behind this song, love seeing the camaraderie, and I hope you do too. We need more of this these days, and for such a worthy cause!

Most of the Christmas-themed songs I play here are fun ones, like Dominick the Donkey or Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, but there are two that are more meaningful I play each holiday season, and this is the first.

In May of 2020 when I played We Are the World, dear friend David suggested another song that is about bringing people together, about helping people, about feeding the world. The title, of course, is Do They Know It’s Christmas, but it’s a song that is apropos any time of the year, and I first played it in June 2020, about as far from Christmas as you can get! This is one of those, like “Christmas 1914”, that has become an annual tradition on Filosofa’s Word.

This is a charity single organized by Bob Geldof, who was the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats. He got the idea after watching a BBC documentary on famine in Ethiopia. Geldof wrote the lyrics and Midge Ure from the band Ultravox wrote the music and produced the track, which was no easy task since so many voices were involved.

In the UK, and much of the Northern Hemisphere, snow and numerous displays leave no doubt that Christmas is near. In most of Africa, however, it’s quite warm on December 25, since it’s summer there. This song asks us to think of those who are living in poverty and hunger in Africa during the Christmas season, reminding us that they might not even know it’s Christmas.

Most of this song was recorded and mixed over a 24-hour period on Sunday, November 25, 1984. Sting and Simon LeBon had recorded their parts ahead of time, but everyone else came that day.

None of the vocalists heard the song before they arrived, so they learned their parts by listening to a guide vocal producer Midge Ure created, then recorded them. With such a tight schedule, there was no time to quibble. The artists were not all friends, but they set aside their differences and were at least cordial to each other during the recording – with one exception. In the book I Want My MTV, George Michael said: “The only person who didn’t succumb to the charitable nature of the day was Paul Weller, who decided to have a go at me in front of everybody. I said, ‘Don’t be a wanker all your life. Have a day off.'”

The single raised $14 million for famine relief in Africa. Geldof is Irish, so he cannot be knighted, but he did receive a KBE, which is equivalent and is popularly known as Sir or Saint Bob.

Boy George was nearly a no-show, asleep in New York the day of recording. His band Culture Club was huge at the time and Bob Geldof was counting on him for a key vocal, so Geldof called him, woke him up, and told him to get on a Concorde. George flew to London, got behind the microphone and delivered the vocal they were looking for.

Trevor Horn, who was a member of the Buggles and Yes, donated the use of his studio (Sarm Studios in London) to record the song. He also pieced together the B-side of the single, which is an instrumental version with the artists delivering messages over the music. It is called “Feed The World” on the single.

Phil Collins arrived with his entire drum kit to record a live drum track on top of the already programmed drum machine. He set up the kit and then waited patiently until early evening until after all the vocals had been recorded. Ure was content with the first take that Collins performed, but the perfectionist Collins was unhappy with it and asked for a second take to be recorded, which he was satisfied with.

Released on December 3rd 1984 in the UK, the song quickly hit #1 on the charts and stayed there for 5 weeks. The song became the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK until it was overtaken in 1997 by Elton John’s Candle in the Wind. In the U.S., the song reached only #13 due to a lack of airplay.

Do They Know It’s Christmas?
Band Aid

It’s Christmastime, there’s no need to be afraid
At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade

And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime

But say a prayer, pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it’s hard, but when you’re having fun

There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear

Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you

And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?
Here’s to you
Raise a glass for everyone

Here’s to them
Underneath that burning sun
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bob Geldof / Midge Ure
Do They Know It’s Christmas? lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

🎄 Feliz Navidad 🎅

Posted on December 23, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

This is among my favourite Christmas songs, perhaps because I’ve always loved José Feliciano, or perhaps because it is such an upbeat tune. I was considering playing Dominick The Donkey tonight, and probably will sometime in the next … HOLY COW … only two days left ’til Christmas … that means only two more tunes! Um … will Dominick the Donkey make the cut? I know Pete & Clive are hoping not! We shall see! Meanwhile …

And now, on to the music!

♫ Feliz Navidad ♫

This song is written and sung by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano, a favourite of mine. Feliciano says he recorded the song while feeling homesick at Christmas, missing his family in New York City and his extended family further afield as he sat in a studio in Los Angeles. He remembered celebrating Christmas Eve with his brothers, eating traditional Puerto Rican foods, drinking rum, and going caroling.

“It was expressing the joy that I felt on Christmas and the fact that I felt very lonely. I missed my family, I missed Christmas carols with them. I missed the whole Christmas scene.”

The lyrics are in both Spanish and English, because as Feliciano said …

“If I had left in Spanish only, then I knew the English stations might not play it, so I decided to write an English lyric, ‘I want to wish you a merry Christmas.’ And then there was no way the stations could lock that song out of the programming.”

The song has been covered by a number of artists including Michael Bublé and Celine Dion, but I’ll stick with the original on this one. It’s a fun holiday tune, a toe-tapper, that charted at #6 in the U.S., #25 in the UK, and played fairly well all ‘round the globe!

Feliz Navidad

José Feliciano

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad

Writer/s: Josè Feliciano
Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

♫ Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 ♫

Posted on December 22, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Global Issues, History, Holidays, music, music history

A couple of nights ago, in a comment to one of my Christmas music posts, our friend Ali posted a link to a song I had never heard before, but when I watched the video and listened to the music, I fell in love with it! The song is by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) and while I have loved most of their music, this one was new to me. Also new to me was that TSO evolved from an 80s heavy metal band named Savatage … never heard of ‘em, but that’s not surprising since I do not like heavy metal at all and avoid it like the plague!

The song was written by Paul O’Neill, Robert Kinkell, and Jon Oliva. In an interview, O’Neill explained the story behind the music …

We heard about this cello player born in Sarajevo many years ago who left when he was fairly young to go on to become a well-respected musician, playing with various symphonies throughout Europe. Many decades later, he returned to Sarajevo as an elderly man—at the height of the Bosnian War, only to find his city in complete ruins.

I think what most broke this man’s heart was that the destruction was not done by some outside invader or natural disaster—it was done by his own people. At that time, Serbs were shelling Sarajevo every night. Rather than head for the bomb shelters like his family and neighbors, this man went to the town square, climbed onto a pile of rubble that had once been the fountain, took out his cello, and played Mozart and Beethoven as the city was bombed.

He came every night and began playing Christmas Carols from that same spot. It was just such a powerful image—a white-haired man silhouetted against the cannon fire, playing timeless melodies to both sides of the conflict amid the rubble and devastation of the city he loves. Some time later, a reporter traced him down to ask why he did this insanely stupid thing. The old man said that it was his way of proving that despite all evidence to the contrary, the spirit of humanity was still alive in that place.

The song basically wrapped itself around him. We used some of the oldest Christmas melodies we could find, like “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Carol of the Bells” part of the medley (which is from Ukraine, near that region). The orchestra represents one side, the rock band the other, and single cello represents that single individual, that spark of hope.

The story is a slightly altered version of the real-life story of Vedran Smailović. Despite O’Neill’s descriptions of Smailović as “white-haired” and an “old man”, he was only 36 years old during his 22-day vigil. Smailović did not actually play any Mozart or Beethoven pieces, but he did play Remo Giazotto’s “Adagio in G minor” each day among the bombed ruins of Sarajevo in honor of each person killed in the bombing. He was not the only cellist who played through the siege; the Sarajevo String Quartet, which did have elderly members, were also noted for their continuous performances throughout the siege.

The song charted at #49 in the U.S. in the first weeks of January 1997 and January 1998, and nowhere else that I can see. Nonetheless, it tugged at my heartstrings and thus I am sharing it with you today. Thank you, Ali, for introducing me to this one!!!

♫ Last Christmas ♫ (Redux)

Posted on December 21, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Holidays, music, music history

This song is something of an enigma … when I first played it in 2020, it seemed that nobody much liked it, but then a couple of years later people were asking for it. So, I played it last year and it was quite well-liked, and thus I decided to play it again this year. Sorry, Clive … I’ve sent you a barf bag via express mail, for I well remember your reaction to this last year! Anyway, I rather like it. Last year when I played it, a reader mentioned that George Michael had died right around Christmas a few years prior, so I looked it up and in fact he died on Christmas day in 2016 at the young age of 53. Even more interesting is that his younger sister, Melanie, died on Christmas day in 2019, exactly three years after his death! But enough about tragedy … on with the show!

Written and produced by George Michael, this song actually has very little to do with Christmas – it’s about a failed relationship. Only the phase “Last Christmas,” when the relationship comes to a head, refers to the festive season. Despite this, it has become an annual Christmas standard, especially in the UK.

This was released as a charity record with its proceeds going to famine relief in Ethiopia. Apart from Do They Know It’s Christmas, which prevented it from reaching #1, Last Christmas is the biggest selling Christmas song in the UK. George Michael features on both songs.

The song originated one Sunday in 1984 when George Michael and Andrew Ridgely were visiting Michael’s parents. Says Ridgely …

“We’d had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so. When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold which, in a sense, he had.

We went to his old room, the room in which we had spent hours as kids recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles, the room where he kept a keyboard and something on which to record his sparks of inspiration, and he played me the introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to ‘Last Christmas.’ It was a moment of wonder.

George had performed musical alchemy, distilling the essence of Christmas into music. Adding a lyric which told the tale of betrayed love was a masterstroke and, as he did so often, he touched hearts.”

Two chart facts:

Last Christmas is the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach #1.
In Japan it has sold over 600,000 copies, making it the best-selling single that did not reach that country’s Top 10.

The songwriters of Barry Manilow’s hit single Can’t Smile Without You sued George Michael for plagiarism in the mid-’80s, claiming that this song lifted its melody from their tune. The case was settled out of court with Michael giving his first year’s royalties to Band Aid. Hmmmm … I don’t see the two tunes as being the same at all, but then, I am legally deaf, so perhaps my opinion doesn’t count.

Last Christmas
Song by Wham!

Ah, aha
Ooh
Oh

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away (you gave it away)
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special (special)

Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance
But you still catch my eye
Tell me, baby
Do you recognize me?
Well, it’s been a year
It doesn’t surprise me
(Happy Christmas) I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying, “I love you, ” I meant it
Now, I know what a fool I’ve been
But if you kissed me now
I know you’d fool me again

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away (you gave it away)
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special (special)

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special (special, oh)

Oh, my baby
(Ooh)

A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I’m hiding from you, and your soul of ice
My God, I thought you were someone to rely on
Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man under cover but you tore me apart, ooh
Now, I’ve found a real love you’ll never fool me again

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away (you gave it away)
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special (special)

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, (you gave) you gave it away (me away)
This year (ohh), to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special (special)

Face on a lover with a fire in his heart (I gave you my heart)
A man under cover but you tore him apart
Maybe next year, I’ll give it to someone
I’ll give it to someone special (special, someone)

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: George Michael
Last Christmas lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

♫ Happy Xmas (War Is Over) ♫

Posted on December 20, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Global Issues, History, music, music history, Social commentary

I’ve only played this one once, back in 2020, but it really should become part of my ‘annual redux’ Christmas tunes, for it is one with more meaning than most, rather like Christmas 1914, which I played earlier this week. Yes, Christmas is a time for joy, but should also be a time for introspection, for remembering and caring about others.

Most Christmas songs are cheery, evoking visions of sleigh bells, mistletoe, presents, and the like. This one, however, is a bit different and given the chaos and angst around the world today, I think is more appropriate than the other sort to play on Christmas Eve. This song asks us to think about those who live in fear, and collectively bring about the end of war. The call to action is the refrain “war is over, if you want it.”

John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971, at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas, but didn’t chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better, charting at #4. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while, and it only reached #42 at best.

John and Yoko spent a lot of time in the late ’60s and early ’70s working to promote peace. In 1969, they put up billboards in major cities around the world that said, “War is over! (If you want it).” Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message. John also claimed another inspiration for writing the song: he said he was “sick of ‘White Christmas.'”

The children’s voices are the Harlem Community Choir, featuring thirty children, most of them four to twelve years of age, who were brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.

Lennon and Ono produced this with the help of Phil Spector. Spector had worked on some of the later Beatles songs and also produced Lennon’s Instant Karma. It was not Spector’s first foray into Christmas music: he and his famous session stars (including a 17-year-old Cher) spent six weeks in the summer of 1963 putting together A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, featuring artists like The Ronettes and Darlene Love. Unfortunately, the album was released on November 22, 1963, which was the same day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The album sold poorly as America was focused on news of the killing.

At the beginning of the song, two whispers can be heard (not by me, of course, but perhaps you will hear them). Yoko whispers: “Happy Christmas, Kyoko” (Kyoko Chan Cox is Yoko’s daughter with Anthony Cox) and John whispers: “Happy Christmas, Julian” (John’s son with Cynthia).

John Lennon was shot and killed less than three weeks before Christmas in 1980. The song was re-released in the UK on December 20 of that year, reaching #2.

Why not “Merry Christmas” or “Merry Xmas”? In England, “Happy Christmas” is a more common seasonal greeting and helped differentiate it from the holiday standard Merry Christmas Baby. More confusing to Americans is “Father Christmas,” which is the English version of Santa Claus.

I was reminded of this song by our friend David when he sent it to me earlier this evening. There are several versions, and I am playing two of them tonight. The first is family-friendly and depicts normal Christmas scenes, while the second is far more graphic, depicting actual scenes of death and the results of war — so graphic, in fact, that YouTube has a disclaimer which you must click on in order to see the video, but … while it isn’t cheerful, I think it’s important … it reminds us that we in the West, despite our troubles, have been living a rather homogenized life, that we have never actually known what it’s like to be treated as ‘the enemy’, to carry our dead child wrapped in a dirty blanket. Watch one or both … your choice.

Happy or Merry Christmas, dear friends!

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
John Lennon and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir

[Intro]
(Happy Christmas, Kyoko
Happy Christmas, Julian)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you had fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (War is over)
For weak and for strong (If you want it)
For rich and the poor ones (War is over)
The road is so long (Now)
And so happy Christmas (War is over)
For black and for white (If you want it)
For yellow and red ones (War is over)
Let’s stop all the fight (Now)

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (War is over)
And what have we done? (If you want it)
Another year over (War is over)
And a new one just begun (Now)
And so happy Christmas (War is over)
We hope you had fun (If you want it)
The near and the dear ones (War is over)
The old and the young (Now)

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

War is over, if you want it
War is over, now
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas, Christmas
Happy Christmas, Christmas

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Winston Lennon / Yoko Ono
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

♫ I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas ♫ (Annual Redux)

Posted on December 18, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I have this one marked as an “Annual Redux” and yet I last played it in 2020! Ah well … my mind/memory doesn’t work quite as well as it once did. Anyway, it is back this year, and since Clive suggested a different version back in 2020, I’m adding that one as well! Hmmm … I wonder how our kitties would react to a hippopotamus for Christmas?

From the 2021 post …

There is a small repertoire of songs that I play at Christmas … none of the typical religious carols, but songs that either have deep meaning for the holiday, or that are fun. Tonight’s selection, just two days before the big day, is in the second category — fun! This one goes out to my dear friend, Carolyn, over at Nuggets of Gold, for rawgod’s significant other, Gail, and also for my daughter Chris, who has always loved this one.

This is a Christmas ‘novelty’ song, written by John Rox, and performed by Gayla Peevey in 1953 when she was ten years old. Peevey was a child star who was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma before her family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, when she was five. When released nationally by Columbia Records the song shot to the top of the charts, and the Oklahoma City Zoo acquired a baby hippo named Matilda.

Peevey was filmed performing the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in October 1953, airing on November 15, 1953.

A popular legend holds that this 1953 hit had been recorded as a fundraiser to bring the city zoo a hippo; but in a 2007 radio interview with Detroit-based WNIC radio station, Peevey clarified that the song was not originally recorded as a fundraiser. Instead, a local promoter picked up on the popularity of the song and Peevey’s local roots, and launched a campaign to present her with an actual hippopotamus on Christmas.

The campaign succeeded, and she was presented with an actual hippopotamus, which she donated to the city zoo. The hippopotamus lived for nearly 50 years. Peevey, by this point 73 years old, was again present when the Oklahoma City Zoo acquired a rare pygmy hippopotamus in 2017.

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Gayla Peevey

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don’t want a doll, no dinkey tinker toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won’t have to use a dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That’s the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosauruses
I only likes hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me, too

Mom says a hippo, would eat me up but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

There’s lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I’d feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinosauruseses
I only likes hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me, too

♫ Christmas 1914 ♫ (Annual Redux)

Posted on December 17, 2024 by jilldennison under Global Issues, History, Holidays, music, music history, Political commentary, Social commentary

This is a song I play every year around this time, and it never fails to bring a tear to my eyes. This year, with the Russian war against Ukraine, Netanyahu’s war on the people of Gaza, the political turmoil here in the U.S. but also around the globe, I think … why can’t we all just stop for a few days, what has changed since 1914? More than a century has passed since the Christmas Truce of 1914, but has anything really changed? At any rate, to me, this is the ultimate holiday song.

On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus of the war for the celebration of Christmas. The warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce.

Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops fighting in World War I sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. Some Germans lit Christmas trees around their trenches, and there was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer. German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch recalled …

“How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured.

CHRISTMAS 1914
Mike Harding

Christmas Eve in 1914
Stars were burning, burning bright
And all along the Western Front
Guns were lying still and quiet.
Men lay dozing in the trenches,
In the cold and in the dark,
And far away behind the lines
A village dog began to bark.

Some lay thinking of their families,
Some sang songs while others were quiet
Rolling fags and playing brag
To while away that Christmas night.
But as they watched the German trenches
Something moved in No Man’s Land
And through the dark came a soldier
Carrying a white flag in his hand.

Then from both sides men came running,
Crossing into No Man’s Land,
Through the barbed-wire, mud and shell holes,
Shyly stood there shaking hands.
Fritz brought out cigars and brandy,
Tommy brought corned beef and fags,
Stood there talking, singing, laughing,
As the moon shone on No Man’s Land.

Christmas Day we all played football
In the mud of No Man’s Land;
Tommy brought some Christmas pudding,
Fritz brought out a German band.
When they beat us at football
We shared out all the grub and drink
And Fritz showed me a faded photo
Of a dark-haired girl back in Berlin.

For four days after no one fired,
Not one shot disturbed the night,
For old Fritz and Tommy Atkins
Both had lost the will to fight.
So they withdrew us from the trenches,
Sent us far behind the lines,
Sent fresh troops to take our places
And told the guns “Prepare to fire”.

And next night in 1914
Flares were burning, burning bright;
The message came along the trenches
Over the top we’re going tonight.
And the men stood waiting in the trenches,
Looking out across our football park,
And all along the Western Front
The Christmas guns began to bark.

Holiday Lights & Queen — A Winning Combination!

Posted on December 16, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Holidays, Humour, music, music history

I suppose it’s time to try to find a bit of holiday spirit and play a few holiday-ish songs, eh? Christmas is but 9 days, and I still have shopping to do, baking, wrapping … and I’d really rather just hibernate until about 4 months from now when it gets warm again! Anyway … I’m not a fan of carols and religious-themed Christmas music, but I enjoy some of the more light-hearted, fun ones, so that’s what you’ll get from me this holiday season! This is one I came across back in 2021 and only played it that year. There is no actual Christmas music, but it is rather a combination of some of Queen’s songs and an amazing holiday light show, and I really enjoyed it, though I’m glad that a) they don’t live across the street from me, and b) I don’t have to pay their electricity bill!!!

Enjoy! And come back tomorrow for some holiday fun!

♫ Isn’t It A Pity ♫

Posted on December 15, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I love it when one of you sends me a suggestion for a song … well, most of the time, anyway. Last night, as I was working on a somewhat rant-y piece for my a.m. post, I got an email from our friend Keith suggesting this George Harrison song! BINGO! Perfect! First, because I hadn’t even started thinking about today’s music post yet, second because I knew this would please rawgod, who is a George Harrison fan, and third, it’s a good song, one often overlooked or forgotten.

I often lament that I cannot find background information about a song, but the opposite is true about this one! I suggest you go view the Wikipedia entry about this song, for there is far too much info for this short post. According to SongFacts …

George Harrison was big on compassion and understanding, tenets he followed throughout his life. In “Isn’t It A Pity,” he laments our tendencies to take our blessings for granted and hurt others, often without even thinking. Many songwriters have expressed this sentiment in their songs, but Harrison made it a lifelong quest, taking him on a path through Eastern philosophy. He often found his zen through gardening.

“Isn’t It A Pity” dates back to 1966, when Harrison first presented it to The Beatles. By this time, he was an excellent songwriter and had became very proficient, but John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s song usually got priority, so Harrison was limited to one or two songs per album. By the time The Beatles broke up, Harrison had a trance of tracks ready to go, which he released on his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass.

Harrison had his pick of the top talent to work on his All Things Must Pass album – who wouldn’t want to play on an album by an ex-Beatle? He chose Phil Spector to produce it with him, and Spector made use of all the great musicians at his disposal, building their parts into his “wall of sound.” It’s not clear who played on each track, but “It’s A Pity” likely has Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr on drums, Billy Preston on piano, and Bobby Whitlock on organ. “That whole session was great,” Whitlock told Songfacts. “George Harrison, what a wonderful man. All the time that I ever knew him, which was from 1969 to his passing, he was a wonderful man. He included everyone on everything he did because there was enough for all.”

There are two versions of this song on the album. The first is on Side 1, Disc 1 and runs 7:10; the second is on Side 2, Disc 2 and goes 4:45.

This was one of the songs Harrison played live when he joined Eric Clapton’s tour of Japan for 12 dates in 1991. Harrison’s 1974 Dark Horse tour was a boondoggle – he lost his voice at one point, and the tour earned scathing reviews. Clapton was able to coax him back on the road for these shows, but Harrison never toured again. Recordings from those shows were compiled into Harrison’s 1992 album Live In Japan.

I thought I’d play both versions from Harrison’s album. Keith also mentioned that Billy Preston had done an excellent cover of the song, but I could not find one that was embeddable, so I’m including one of Billy Preston and Eric Clapton covering the song in a birthday concert they did in George Harrison’s honour!

This charted at #1 in both the U.S. and Canada, but I do not find any chart info for the UK or any other country, for that matter. Clive?

Version #1 (the long one)

Version #2 (the shorter one)

Billy Preston & Eric Clapton in concert

Isn’t It a Pity

George Harrison

Isn’t it a pity?
Now isn’t it a shame
How we break each other’s hearts
And cause each other pain?

How we take each other’s love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity?

Some things take so long
But how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we’re all the same?

And because of all their tears
Their eyes can’t hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Isn’t it a pity?

Isn’t it a pity?
Isn’t it a shame
How we break each other’s hearts
And cause each other pain?

How we take each other’s love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity?

Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity?

Forgetting to give back
Now, isn’t it a pity?

What a pity, pity, pity, pity, pity
What a pity, pity, pity, pity, pity
What a pity, pity, pity, pity, pity
What a pity, pity, pity, pity, pity

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: George Harrison

Filosofa's Word

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Category Archives: music history

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♫ Isn’t It A Pity ♫