Good morning everyone! I woke up to snow this morning…and it’s a toasty -4 near Nashville where I live. …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.
Here is another post of the song in Hanspostcard’s song draft a few years ago 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,” which 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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Nice post Fella!
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I knew the title “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” sounded familiar. I pulled up the recording and it only took a couple of notes to remember it – though if it were the other way around and I were on “Name That Tune” I wouldn’t have come up with the title, only that I knew the piece. -4 is pretty impressive in Nashville. Up here near the famous “Frozen Tundra” we’re looking at double digits below zero and 20+ mph wind. I didn’t waste a lot of time while shoveling this morning. Stay warm!
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Oh geez I can’t imagine! You also!
This pretty much shut Nashville down along with the inch of snow. Almost everyone is at home.
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Simply a classic bit of Christmas . Great little tune amplified by the scene in the special. Who can pick a favorite dancer? Happy synchronized twins in purple? Sleepwalking boy in the back? Head bopper in yellowish shirt? Amazing that an instrumental jazz piece has become so ingrained into our Christmas culture. But I’m glad it has.
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All the moves were so cool and together…no way to pick a favorite lol.
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Kohl’s had the hardcover book at the checkouts as some sort of fundraiser, I got myself one. It was a favorite book when I was about 7 & a rare children’s book I will still read happily & unironically.
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That is cool Dave…I have most of the Dr Seuss books…I can still get into them. I was tempted to sell that one banned one lol.
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An absolute classic! When I think of Peanuts and music, this is the tune that comes to mind first!😀
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Oh yea….they just fit so well with each other!
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Nada to add; It’s simply Christmas.
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Nice
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Thought you might get a kick out of this:
http://kenshohomestead.org/2022/12/23/funny-friday-53/
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I liked that….”No I haven’t seen the cat”
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😆
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Seeing the special and hearing the music always triggers happiness.
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This is classic, obviously. I should try and figure it out on piano.
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I have guitarist friend and he figured it out on piano…hit of the party hands down.
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It would take me a lot of practice to play that bassline and play the right hand at the same time.
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He faked it of course but he had a lot of it down. Graham by the way…I’ll be by soon. I’m behind on posts with everyone because of Christmas.
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They could put me in a room, lock the door, and throw away the key. If the soundtrack from the Charlie Brown Christmas special was playing in the room, I’m good.🙂
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I totally agree….I never get tired of this and it makes me smile every time I hear it.
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