It’s hard to resist this song. It automatically makes me happy when I hear it. I see the Peanuts gang doing their thing.
This song I can hear anytime of the year and be happy. It’s associated with Christmas also…whichever… I never get tired of it.
I was reminded of this song this year in Hanspostcard’s song draft when run-sew-read’s pick was this song.
Ironically, just about everyone would call this “the Charlie Brown song” even though it’s actually titled after Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, brother and sister in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip universe.
The song is most famous for its use in the yearly favorite A Charlie Brown Christmas, which first aired in 1965, but it was written two years earlier for a documentary about Schulz and the Peanuts gang called A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which never aired.
Producer Lee Mendelson was in charge of the documentary and asked Vince Guaraldi to compose music for it
Guaraldi was huge in the jazz world and won the 1962 Grammy for Best Original Jazz Composition for “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” for his group, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Mendelson was searching for what kind of music to play for the documentary when he took a taxi cab and “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” was playing as he crossed the Golden Gate bridge. He loved it and his decision was made.
Guaraldi wrote a series of songs for the project, including “Linus and Lucy,” that he recorded with his group, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Even though A Boy Named Charlie Brown was shelved, the soundtrack was released in 1964, which is where “Linus and Lucy” first appeared.
In 1965, Mendelson put together the first Peanuts TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, using many of the same people who worked on the documentary. “Linus and Lucy” formed the score, and a song he wrote with Guaraldi called “Christmas Time Is Here” was included in a key scene.
When A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted in 1965, it quickly turned the Peanuts franchise into a television institution. That first special also shot Guaraldi to greater fame, and he became connected to all subsequent Peanuts shows.
Guaraldi would continue to work on Peanuts films until his death in 1976.
No words…just enjoy
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An all time classic… takes me right back to when I was a kid watching this every Xmas on CBS!
Great post! I love this song too! It’s a sticky one! Sticks in my head for days! LOL
LOL…and it’s a good sticky
I went looking for that classic Christmas show on YouTube last night & I couldn’t find it. I miss being able to see it on CBS way too early or whatever network. I probably missed it cause they showed in October or something…lol.
I know! It was easy to catch in our day.
It is nice for kids to get some exposure to Classical music.
Yes it is…I’ve enjoyed his other music as well.
a true classic and part of the brilliance of it was Vince’s great jazz that was so uncharacteristic for cartoons. It’s amazing – beyond that really – that several pieces of this are now Christmas classics… instrumental jazz bits from a cartoon. But they mean ‘Christmas’ to many of us. Man those kids had the best moves on the floor!
A lot of kids probably turned on to jazz because of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I know I did…
Soemthing kids and adults like…the kids never realizing it was jazz.
Alexa has kept this in rotation for me. I often dance like Snoopy, but can’t play the guitar as well.
One out of two isn’t bad
I wish I could remember the names of all those peanuts characters
My favorite was Pigpen
Instant happiness when this song plays!!
YES! No matter how you feel
I was so surprised when I was young that you could buy Peanuts music on a record to listen to. I guess I thought it was just for the shows. There’s nothing else like it. An all-time classic. All I can say.
I agree…like other people have said…this probably got kids into jazz.
this special delighted me as a child — and it still does. I just texted my son to see if granddaughter has seen it yet.
It gave kids a taste of jazz…which is a great thing!
Awesome! 😎
Like you said, hearing it just makes me happy, too!
Haha, great choice! That there is one bunch of groovy little dudes, for sure.
Thanks Kevin!
It’s a classic.