December 23rd, 2007Wonderful songs of the holiday season
With holiday tunes on the airwaves since the Thanksgiving turkey was carved, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers recently announced its Top 25 most performed holiday songs for the past five years, based on performance data tracked by radio airplay monitoring service Mediaguide.
Among the 25 songs picked this year, more than half were composed, co-written or performed by Jewish artists.
Number one on the list is “The Christmas Song,” a classic Christmas song, written in 1944 by vocalist Mel Torm/ and Bob Wells, both of whom are Jewish.
According to Torm/, 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.
The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. A second recording by Cole was made the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole’s original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.
The song is typically subtitled with its opening line, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”.”
The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. A second recording by Cole was made the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole’s original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.
The song is typically subtitled with its opening line, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”.”
Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” is another favorite and at No. 5 on this year’s list.
“White Christmas” is the historical “top star” of popular Christmas songs. Its incredible success inspired scores of other songwriters to try to write a Christmas song.
Berlin, one of the most famous songwriters in American history, was born Israel Baline in what is now Russia, or possibly Belarus.
He came to the States in 1891. His father is alternately reported to have been a cantor or rabbi, but didn’t work in either capacity when the family moved to America. His father’s death, when Irving was 13, forced the young composer to find work, even singing in the streets, just so he and his family could eat.
Berlin certainly never hid the fact that he was Jewish, even though he changed his name. He adopted “Berlin” because that was how his last name, Baline, was misspelled on the sheet music cover of his first published song.
Berlin was absolutely very much an American patriot and “God Bless America” was a sincere statement of his beliefs. The royalties to that song go to the Boys and Girls Scouts.
“Let It Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”
This song was written (1945) by the Jewish song writing team of lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993) and music composer Jule Styne (1905-1994).
In the 1950s, probably half of all Americans would recognize the names of this song-writing duo.
Previews of coming movies would actually sometimes say that the film featured a Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne tune, and that tune would usually end up high on the “hit parade.”
Cahn won the Oscar for best song four times: once with Styne, and three times with composer Jimmy Van Heusen, who wasn’t Jewish.
Cahn was born Sammy Cohen on the Lower East Side of New York, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. He changed his name from Cohen to Kahn to Cahn, to avoid being confused with a popular entertainer of the day with a similar name and, then, a songwriter with a similar name.
Styne was born in London, England to Jewish parents from the Ukraine. His family moved to Chicago when he was 8.
He is best known as a top Broadway and movie musical composer and the list of the great shows he wrote is staggering. Maybe the biggest are: “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Peter Pan,” “Bells are Ringing,” “Gypsy” and “Funny Girl.”
Johnny Marks (1909-1985), who was Jewish, was an interesting man, but his main claim to fame is writing three of the most popular Christmas songs of all time: ?“Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Holly Jolly Christmas.”
Marks was born in a New York City suburb and graduated from prestigious Colgate University before going off to Paris to study music.
Besides writing songs, Marks was a prominent radio producer. He had a heroic World War II combat record, winning the Bronze Star and four battle stars. Marks also served as President of ASCAP.
“l’ll Be Home For Christmas”
Walter Kent, who wrote the music, and Buck Ram, who co-wrote the lyrics with Kim Gannon, were Jewish. “I’ll Be Home,” like “White Christmas,” was first sung by Bing Crosby and released (1943) during World War II. Like “White Christmas,” it hit a nerve among those separated from their loved ones, and was an instant hit and holiday classic.
Happy holidays to the Continental School Builders Club!
This year the club collected 1,701 pounds of food from the students and staff of Continental School and it was presented to the Green Valley Food Bank earlier this week.
Members of the Builders Club are Alissa Acosta, Libby Alfing, Karen Estrada, Isabella Fowler, Anthony Garcia, Lauren Garn, Leia Garn, Gabriella Gomez, Makennah Horn, Max Klahr, Sebastian Lemon, Andy Lichtsinn, Grecia Meza, David Miller, Carissa Molina, Lindsey Osborn, Dylan Powell, Natasha Rettig, Johnny Rios, Kellyn Scheidegger, Jessica Schmuker, Shannon Schmuker, Cole Trave, Stephanie Valenzuela, Viviana Valenzuela, Kimberly Wallace, Rachel Wolfe, Elisha Wyrsch, and Joshua Wyrsch.
The Continental School Builders Club was chartered in 1977 by the Kiwanis Club of the Santa Ritas.
The group organizes many school activities each year including dances and Spirit Days for each sport.
Members are also actively involved in a monthly recycle program for the school. One of the annual community service projects that the Builders Club sponsors a school wide Holiday Food Drive to benefit the Green Valley Food Bank.
Builders Club is open to any middle school student who wants to join. Each club and school principal has the latitude to set conditions for membership, so it varies from club to club. Generally, any student who is interested in performing community service may join Builders Club. Each Builders Club is co-sponsored by a Kiwanis club and the middle school.
