Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy

It’s hard to resist this song. It automatically makes me happy when I hear it. I see the Peanuts gang doing their thing.

Peanuts GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

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

…

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy”

  6. agree with all the above… a fine piece of music to begin with but made fantastic by its use in the Charlie Brown Christmas… it’s funny how a piece with nothing to do with Christmas per se is as representative of the time of year and good tidings as anything with “Christmas” in the lyrics.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. It does remind people of Christmas but yea…it’s not really a Christmas song…you know It’s A Wonderful Life is kinda like that also…it’s not really a Christmas movie….it just had Christmas IN it.

      Like

      Reply

  8. Love this tune. This was on the radio and my daughter was going to turn the station as she isn’t in to instrumentals, by I made her listen and I want to think she ended up enjoying it. She saw how much I did at least.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      3. I watch The Office from time to time…I don’t know if you are familiar but Pam and Jim I swear were doing one of the dances in one cold opening.

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment