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| © Joellen Armstrong | Dreamstime Stock Photos |
This morning I finished reading "Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs Of Christmas" by Ace Collins. Many Christmas songs have a way of evoking emotion and deep feeling in our hearts, and it was interesting to learn how they came to be. There are many good stories in this book that are quite detailed and lengthy, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in this type of thing. I thought it would be fun to share a few brief stories that I found to be either particularly intriguing or humorous.
"O Holy Night"
The words to "O Holy Night" were written by a French Catholic poet who later left Catholicism and joined the socialist movement. The music was written by a man who didn't even believe in Christ...a Jew. When the political and religious "persuasions" of the two writers came to light, the song was officially denounced by the Catholic church, but it was so well-loved by that time that many continued to sing it. About 50 years later in 1906, Reginald Fessenden, former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, broadcast the human voice over radio airwaves for the very first time in history. His first words were the reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then he played a song on his violin. The first song ever broadcast over the airwaves - "O Holy Night!"
"Silver Bells"
Jay Livington and Ray Evans were tasked with writing the music for "The Lemon Drop Kid" starring Bob Hope. They discussed how most Christmas songs were about scenes of tranquility, but for this song, they needed something that captured the hustle and bustle of Christmas in a big city. While having a brainstorming session about the music, one of them was playing with a little bell, which eventually inspired the song. Before sharing it with Bob Hope, they sang it for Evan's wife, who giggled and laughed throughout the whole song. She said she liked it except for one word...they had begun the song "Tinker bell, tinker bell, it's Christmas time in the city." They changed "tinker" to "silver" and had an instant classic. Interestingly, this same writing team wrote many other classics like "Mona Lisa" and "Que Sera Sera" and...are you ready for this? The theme song from Mr. Ed.
