My 5 favorite non-Christmas songs and albums.
Soundtracks that could be Christmas songs, but aren't.
Honestly, for me to embrace the spirit of the Holidays, I don't necessarily require the constant perpetual repetition of the old Christmas songs I grew up with. The melody and the music has always been much more important to me than the actual words and lyrics of Christmas songs. There are many songs and albums that sound very much like they could just as easily be played during the Christmas season, without having traditional or religious themes running through them. This is my list of non-Christmas songs and albums I listen to when I am feeling nostalgic about my childhood and Holidays I remember in my youth.
1) "Netherlands" - Dan Fogelberg (1977)
This (fourth) album is one of my top three all-time favorite Fogelberg albums. The opening track, "Nether Lands" paints a grand winter panorama viewed from a mountain top. The song is washed in colorful orchestral piano, strings and brass to give you the sense of a cold, snowy afternoon, high atop a "rocky perch", looking down across the tall evergreens of the valley in search of the elements of "wind, and the snow and the sky". I think it's mostly because of the dynamics of the orchestra that makes it almost, "movie score" in its theatrical approach. The rest of the Netherlands album keeps in context with the storybook feel of the entire album. Track three, "Dancing shoes" is arguably the most loved "romantic" song by diehard fans of Fogelberg. There are no Holiday or Christmas references on this album. It is about the music from this album itself, that makes me feel much more connected to the season.
"Last train home" - Pat Metheny (2003)
This instrumental by the Pat Metheny group is about traveling on a cross-country passenger train, and going home for the Holidays. The painted images of a waiting family in the freezing winter snow at a train depot a few miles from home, conjure storybook memories of home and hearth, and making up for time lost after being so far away for so long.
"Linus and Lucy" - Vince Guaraldi (1965)
The infamous theme to "Charlie Brown Christmas", played by the Vince Guaraldi group, has become synonymous with the Holidays. You cannot listen to this song and not think of the long running traditional TV show that has become the soundtrack for nearly sixty years of generations of young children who eagerly awaited Christmas vacation from school and the celebration of family Christmas parties, decorating the tree in the living room, snowball fights, sledding and ice skating at the local frozen pond.
"Same old Lang Syne" - Dan Fogelberg (1981)
Christmas is about life-stories, and the memories of family and friends and old acquaintances. Fogelberg wrote this song after a chance encounter with an old lover from his high school days in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois. The convenient store itself still exists on a corner of an inconsequential street in town. It just happened to be the only store nearby that was open on Christmas eve. His old girlfriend, Jill Anderson Greulich, eventually revealed her anonymity after Fogelberg's death on December 16, 2007, confirming the validity of the story in the song. I have listened to this song a couple-thousand times in the past 40+ years. This particular song also has a personal meaning for me, as a very similar "grocery store" story happened with a girl I knew many years ago. This song will always remind me of her and how we found each other again, many years later.
"Dance of the sugarplum fairies" - Peter Tchaikovsky
Hearing this excerpt from "The Nutcracker", immediately envisions children waking up on Christmas morning, looking out the frosted bedroom window to see the icicles hanging from tree branches and rooftops. Still in their pajamas, skulking down the staircase to see if Santa Claus had indeed indulged in the cookies and cocoa left for him on the kitchen counter. Then, turning the corner to see the Christmas tree towering over a mountain of colorful gifts and toys.
For me, Christmas is more about imagination and magic than it is traditional religious themes. The Holidays are about giving. Unfortunately, not everyone has family to celebrate and share the Holidays. It can be a very difficult time of the year, as we remember loved ones who have passed on. So, we do our best to enjoy the season and anticipate a new year of prosperity and happiness.
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