PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Rod Stewart – Reason To Believe

Stewart’s original version was released as a single with “Reason To Believe” as the B-side. Disc jockeys liked the flip side better and played “Maggie May” instead, which became the hit.

Rod did the song for MTV unplugged in 1993 and the song peaked at #19 in the Billboard 100 in 1993.

This was written by folk singer Tim Hardin, who originally recorded it in 1965 and performed it at Woodstock four years later. Hardin wrote some popular songs and was a very influential musician, but he had severe drug problems and died in December 1980 at age 39.

From Songfacts

At first listen, this song can seem rather sweet, but it’s anything but. The girl “lied straight-faced” while he cried, but still he can’t get over her. He knows if he gives her the chance, she’ll make him forget about it because he keeps looking for a reason to believe she’s not that kind of person.

Stewart released this again in 1993 as a live, acoustic version for MTV Unplugged. Appearing on the album Unplugged… and Seated, this is the version that charted.

Bobby Darin recorded a version of this in 1967.

The 1993 Unplugged version was recorded at an MTV special with Ron Wood, who played with Stewart in The Faces. It was the first time they performed it together in 22 years. Stewart commented that his wife at the time, Rachel Hunter, was one year old when it was first released.

Reason To Believe

If I listened long enough to you
I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Someone like you makes it hard to live without
Somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give
Never think about myself

If I gave you time to change my mind
I’d find a way just to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

If I listened long enough to you
I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Someone like you makes it hard to live without
Somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give
Never think about myself

Someone like you makes it hard to live without
Somebody else

Johnnie Taylor – Who’s Making Love

The chorus alone is enough to interest me. Stax had dubbed Taylor The Philosopher Of Soul. He could be smooth like Sam Cooke or raw in your face like this record. His real name was Johnnie Harrison Taylor and he was born in Crawfordsville, AK. In 1957, Taylor would replace Sam Cooke in the hugely influential Soul Stirrers, after Cooke departed for a solo career in music.

In 1961 Taylor joined Cooke’s Sar label for a few singles. Cooke was killed in 1964 so Taylor switched to Stax the following year.

Motown was more successful than Stax by a large margin but there was a rawness and in your face quality, Stax had that Motown couldn’t find. This song was written by Stax staffers Homer Banks, Bettye Crutcher, Don Davis, and Raymond Jackson. It peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in the R&B Charts.

Who’s Making Love

All you fellows, gather ’round me
And let me give you some good advice
What I’m gonna, I’m gonna ask you now
You better think about it twice
While you’re liking cheating on your woman
There is something you never even thought of

Now tell me who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love? (Hear me now)
Now who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love?

I’ve seen so, so many fellows
Fall in that same old bag

Thinking that a woman is made to
To be beat on and treated so bad
Oh, fellows, let me ask you something
I’m sure that you never even dreamed of

Now tell me who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love? (Oh)
Now who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love?

I know there are some women gives the other excuse
I’m not tryin’ to run your life, boy it’s up to you
Oh you, oh you, you and you, and you

The reason why I ask this question
I used to be the same old way
When I decided to straighten up
I found it was a bit too late
Oh yeah, that’s when it all happened
Something I never, never dreamed of

Somebody was-a lovin’ my old lady
While I was out making love
Somebody was-a lovin’ my old lady
While I was out making love (listen now)
Now who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love?
(Who? Who? Your old lady)
(While you were out making love)

Where is…the Shark from Jaws?

Unlike the Partridge Family Bus, I had better luck on this one. The story on the mechanical sharks they used…approximately 25 feet long is clear.

Everyone knows the great 1975 movie Jaws that made people think twice about going into the water. The movie stands up today. They had no CGI back then and had to use a mechanical shark for the scenes. All together they used 3 of them. All of them malfunctioned but they called all three of them “Bruce” after Steven Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer.

When the movie was over they dumped all three fake sharks on the backlot and let them rot away…however they kept the mold and made a fourth Bruce out of fiberglass and hung him up at Universal Studios in 1976. It stayed there until 1990, that is when Universal cut him down and sent him away to the junkyard.

The junkyard (U Pick Parts) owner Sam Adlen didn’t consider Bruce junk and mounted him on poles until 2016 at his junkyard. Sam had died but his son Nathan Adlen sold the business and donated Bruce to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Bruce mounted at the junkyard

Greg Nicotero had been a Jaws fan since the day he watched the movie with his mom in 1975. He had his picture taken with “Bruce” at Universal Studios in 1976 before Bruce’s journey to the Junkyard. He had been inspired to be a special effects person because of it. He took the job of restoring Bruce to his former glory.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures plans to unveil Bruce to the public soon. Although this Bruce wasn’t in the movie he was the last made of the original mold.

Little Richard – Good Golly, Miss Molly

No one has a voice like Little Richard. His voice would have worked in any generation. He has one of the most primal aggressive voices I’ve ever heard. He sings these rockers great but he also can sing ballads.

Little Richard recorded this song in 1956 and it was released in 1958. The song peaked at #10 in the charts and #4 in the R&B Charts in 1958… as well as #8 in the UK.

The song is ranked #94 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Good Golly, Miss Molly was written by John Marascalco and Robert “Bumps” Blackwell.

From Songfacts

The title was taken from the pet phrase of one of Little Richard’s favorite DJ’s, Jimmy Pennick. Musically, the song was inspired by the sax player Jackie Brenston, famous for singing lead and playing with Ike Turner on the song “Rocket 88.”

Like most of Little Richard’s songs, this contains a lot of innuendo (“sure like to ball”) but most people were too busy listening to the music to notice, or didn’t get the reference. At the time, the most common meaning for “balling” was dancing; only later did it became a popular euphemism for oral sex. The term later took on a new meaning when it came describe a lavish and extravagant lifestyle, with these guys flashing their cash known as “ballers.”

This song was a huge influence on many musicians in the early years of rock and roll. Speaking with Songfacts, Roger Reale, who was in the group Rue Morgue with Mick Ronson, said: “It’s revolutionary, rebellious and celebratory all in one, starting with that rolling piano intro, before moving into a totally unique vocal performance. I had never heard such a direct, crazed, almost otherworldly vocal before in my life.”

Little Richard’s publisher sued Creedence Clearwater Revival over their song “Travelin’ Band,” which they claimed lifted from “Molly.” A settlement was reached with Creedence giving up some of their royalties.

Good Golly, Miss Molly

Good golly Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’, can’t hear your momma call.

From the early, early mornin’ till the early, early night
When I caught Miss Molly rockin’ at the house of blue light.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Momma, poppa told me: “Son, you better watch your step.”
If I knew poppa’s momma’s, have to watch my poppa myself.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’, can’t hear your momma call.

Good golly Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’, can’t hear your momma call.

I am going to the corner, gonna buy a diamond ring.
Would you pardon me kiss me ting-a-ling-a-ling.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Ladybug Picnic

1 2 3, 4 5 6, 7 8 9, 10 11 12, Ladybugs came to the Ladybug’s Picnic…wah wah wah

I first saw this on Sesame Street in the 70s. I would find it coming back to me years later.

Sometimes when I play music with the guys…I’ll suddenly break out in this song in the middle of learning something else…just have some fun. It’s one that is hard to get out of your head. I get things thrown at me but I love it.

Jim Kweskin sang the original 1971 version and it was written by Bud Luckey and Donald Hadley

Thanks to nostalgicitalian for bringing this up…

Ladybugs Picnic

One two three

Four five six

Seven eight nine

Ten eleven twelve

Ladybugs

Came to the ladybugs’ picnic

One two three

Four five six

Seven eight nine

Ten eleven twelve

And they all played games

At the ladybugs’ picnic

They had twelve sacks so they ran sack races

And they fell on their backs and they fell on their faces

The ladybugs 12

At the ladybugs’ picnic

They played jump rope but the rope it broke

So they just sat around telling knock-knock jokes

The ladybugs 12

At the ladybugs’ picnic

One two three

Four five six

Seven eight nine

Ten eleven twelve

And they chatted away

At the ladybugs’ picnic

They talked about the high price of furniture and rugs

And fire insurance for ladybugs

The ladybugs 12

At the ladybugs’ picnic

12!

The Moody Blues – Gemini Dream

I remember in Jr High school in 1981 I bought Long Distant Voyager by the Moody Blues. The album received a lot of airplay and peaked at #1 in the Billboard album charts. It had two top twenty hits with The Voice and Gemini Dream. Gemini Dream peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100.

The Moody Blues knew how to adapt. They started off as an R&B band, moved into experimental orchestral rock, dipped into rock, and in the 80s produced some high charting pop songs. I always liked their early seventies output the best but this was a great comeback for them entering the 80s. This album introduced them to another generation of fans.

This is a combination of two songs, the first being bass player John Lodge’s song about going on the road again and the second being guitarist Justin Hayward’s song about love being shared or twin “Gemini” dreams.

Gemini Dream

Long time no see
Short time for you and me
So fine, so good
We’re on the road
Like you knew we would

First night, so long
A state of mind
What can go wrong
We’re here, the time is right
To rock ‘n’ roll
Right through the night

Make it work out
Make it work
Make it work out
Make it work out
For each other tonight

Stage fright, candle light
You can’t let go
Tonight’s the night
Came back for you
Glad to see
That you came too

There’s a place a Gemini dream
There’s no escaping from the love we have seen
So come with me, turn night today
You gonna wake up
You know you gonna wake up in a Gemini dream

Turned round to see
Where we’ve been
And what we believe
In life, love
Take a chance
See it through
You’ll be glad
That you came too

There’s a place a Gemini dream
There’s no escaping from the love we have seen
So come with me, turn night to day
You gonna wake up
You know you gonna wake up in a Gemini dream

Long time no see
The lights go up
For you and me
We’re here
The time is right
To rock ‘n’ roll
Right through the night

Living it
Believing it
Wanting it
Make it work out
Make it work
Make it work out
Make it work out
For each other tonight

Long time no see
Short time for you and me
So fine so far so good
We’re on the road
Like you knew we would

The Hollies – Look Through Any Window

This song has the sixties stamped all over it. The video that I found is a good example of that. The song peaked at #32 in the Billboard 100 and #4 in the UK in 1966. This song was The Hollies’ first American Billboard Top 40 hit.

It has a distinctive 12 string that started to appear on Byrds and Beatle songs at the time.

Graham Gouldman wrote this song:

“Yes, I was on a train coming back from London up from Manchester where I used to live, with a friend of mine, and he was looking out the window. He said, ‘Look through any window,’ because we were looking as the train crept out of the station and started going through the suburbs quite slowly. We were trying to look into the houses to see what was going on.”

From Songfacts

Proving that not every song has to involve love, heartbreak or espionage, The Hollies released this song about the quotidian delights that happen every day. Just look through any window and you’ll see them.

Graham Gouldman, who wrote the Hollies hit “Bus Stop,” wrote “Look Through Any Window” with Charles Silverman, about whom little is known.

As he did with “Bus Stop,” Graham Gouldman, who was still a teenager, got help with the lyrics from his father, Hymie, a writer known affectionately as “Hyme the Rhyme.”

Look Through Any Window

Look through any window yeah
What do you see
Smiling faces all around
rushing through the busy town

Where do they go
Moving on their way
walking down highways and the by-ways
Where do they go
Moving on their way
people with their shy ways and their sly ways

Oh you can see the little children all around
Oh you can see the little ladies in their gowns when you

Look through any window yeah
any time of day
See the drivers on the roads
pulling down their heavy loads

Where do they go
Moving on their way
driving down highways and the byways
Where do they go
Moving on their way
drivers with their shy ways and their sly ways

Oh you can see the little children all around
Oh you can see the little ladies in their gowns when you

Look through any window yeah
what do you see
Smiling faces all around
rushing through the busy town

Where do they go
Moving on their way
Moving on their way
Moving on their way

Blondie – One Way Or Another

Let’s move from Christmas to Blondie…not a bad thing. I hope everyone had a great Christmas/Holiday.

Yet another great pop/rock single by Blondie. Blondie had a short window but they made the best of it. They had 4 number 1 hits, 4 top 10 hits, and 10 songs in the Billboard 100 total.

Lead singer Debbie Harry wrote this song with the group’s bass player, Nigel Harrison. Harry wrote the lyrics to Blondie’s songs, but composer credit for the music was generally given solely to whoever made the biggest contribution. This was often guitarist Chris Stein, who co-wrote “Rapture” and “Heart Of Glass.”

The song was on the Parallel Lines album and peaked at #24 in the Billboard 100 in 1979.

From Songfacts

This song is about a stalker. The lyrics are very dark and go into detail about a guy with evil intentions, but the music is very light and catchy, which masked the meaning of the song. According to Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry, it was inspired by real events. She told Entertainment Weekly: “I was actually stalked by a nutjob, so it came out of a not-so-friendly personal event. I tried to inject a little levity into it to make it more lighthearted. It was a survival mechanism.”

Harry says that the title and the idea for the song popped into her head during a rehearsal, and most of the song was hashed out on the spot.

This was featured on a 2011 episode of the TV show Glee in a mashup with “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” The medley by the Glee Cast was released as a single and went to #86 in the US.

With radio-friendly songs like this one, Blondie was one of the first Punk bands to have Pop success. They played clubs like CBGB’s (stands for Country, BlueGrass, Blues) with bands like The Ramones and Television, but their songs were much lighter and led to mainstream acceptance. The Police and Talking Heads are other groups that came out of that scene.

In 2013 the UK boyband One Direction recorded a new version of this song, mashing it up with The Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks.” It was recorded to mark the 25th anniversary of the fundraising event Red Nose Day and was a hit in both the UK where it topped the chart and the US where it peaked at #13.

Kristen Bell sings this (quite well) at karaoke in the 2005 Veronica Mars episode “Clash Of The Tritons,” where she uses the song to alert a gang of her intentions.

One Way Or Another

One way or another, I’m gonna find ya
I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna win ya
I’m gonna get ya, get ya ,get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna see ya
I’m gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya
One day, maybe next week, I’m gonna meet ya
I’m gonna meet ya, I’ll meet ya

I will drive past your house
And if the lights are all down
I’ll see who’s around

One way or another, I’m gonna find ya
I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna win ya
I’ll get ya, I’ll get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna see ya
I’m gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya
One day, maybe next week, I’m gonna meet ya
I’ll meet ya, ah

And if the lights are all out
I’ll follow your bus downtown
See who’s hangin’ out

One way or another, I’m gonna lose ya
I’m gonna give you the slip
A slip of the hip or another, I’m gonna lose ya
I’m gonna trick ya, I’ll trick ya
One way or another, I’m gonna lose ya
I’m gonna trick ya, trick ya, trick ya, trick ya
One way or another, I’m gonna lose ya
I’m gonna give you the slip

I’ll walk down the mall
Stand over by the wall
Where I can see it all
Find out who ya call
Lead you to the supermarket checkout
Some specials and rat food
Get lost in the crowd

One way or another, I’m gonna get ya (where I can see it all, find out who ya call)
I’ll get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna get ya (where I can see it all, find out who ya call)
I’ll get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna get ya (where I can see it all, find out who ya call)
I’ll get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna get ya (where I can see it all, find out who ya call)
I’ll get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna get ya (where I can see it all, find out who ya call)
I’ll get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna get ya (where I can see it all, find out who ya call)
I’ll get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya

It’s A Wonderful Life

I didn’t watch this great movie until the late 80s. All it took was one time and I haven’t missed a year of watching it. I don’t tear up very easy..but it never fails at the end of the movie when Zuzu says… Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings…it gets me every time. This movie was released in 1946.

Poor George Bailey. All he wanted to do was travel and get out of Bedford Falls to see the world. Every single time he gets close…so close that it hurts…something happens and George ends up doing the right thing.

Bedford Falls needs George Bailey…every town needs a George Bailey but many end up with only a Mr. Potter. There is one thing about this movie which was unusual. Mr. Potter was never punished for what he did…which drew criticism at the time but it was more in line with reality to me.

This is a Christmas movie but really only the last part of the movie is about Christmas. It is a movie for any time not just for December. We were thinking of names for our unborn child and couldn’t think of one…I was watching this movie in November of 1999 and it hit me…Bailey…so the movie means more than some movies do.

Here is a small summary from IMDB…don’t read it…watch the movie instead. If you haven’t seen it…give it a shot…whether it is Christmas or July.

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich skinflint, Mr. Potter, from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so is George’s modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous father. But on Christmas Eve, George’s Uncle Billy loses the business’s $8,000 while intending to deposit it in the bank. Potter finds the misplaced money and hides it from Billy. When the bank examiner discovers the shortage later that night, George realizes that he will be held responsible and sent to jail and the company will collapse, finally allowing Potter to take over the town. Thinking of his wife, their young children, and others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers of his loved ones result in a gentle angel named Clarence coming to earth to help George, with the promise of earning his wings. He shows George what things would have been like if he had never been born.

The Snowman

A great cartoon from the 1978 picture book The Snowman

Hobo Moon Cartoons

Howard Blake (1982)

The Snowman is an animated television film based on Raymond Briggs’ 1978 picture book The Snowman. It was directed by Dianne Jackson for the British public service Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and won a BAFTA TV Award.

The story is told through pictures, action and music, scored by Howard Blake, and is wordless, with the exception of the central song “Walking in the Air”. The orchestral score was performed in the film by the Sinfonia of London and the song was performed by Peter Auty, a St Paul’s Cathedral choirboy.

The special ranks #71 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, based on a vote by industry professionals. It was voted #4 in UKTV Gold’s Greatest TV Christmas Moments. It came third in Channel 4’s poll of 100 Greatest Christmas Moments in…

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A Christmas Carol 1951

There have been many versions of this great story. This is the version that I like the most. The great Alastair Sim plays Ebenezer Scrooge and he is the reason I like this so much. When I think of the Scrooge… I think of him.

The movie is in black and white which turns some people off but it makes it that much better to me. The effects they use are obviously not CGI but they get the point across well and serve the story. I like the scene where the ghost of Jacob Marley is warning Ebenezer of being greedy…the two were not on the set at the same time…it looked really good for being 1951…or anytime for that matter.

So get some eggnog or hot butter rum and sit back and watch this great movie.

From IMDB…spoilers

Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim) is a greedy businessman who thinks only of making money. For him, Christmas is, in his own words, a humbug. It has been seven years since his friend and partner, Jacob Marley (Sir Michael Hordern), died and on Christmas Eve. Marley’s ghost tells him he is to be visited during the night by three spirits. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan) revisits some of the main events in Scrooge’s life to date, including his unhappy childhood, his happy apprenticeship to Mr. Fezziwig (Roddy Hughes), who cared for his employees, and the end of his engagement to a pretty young woman due to a growing love of money. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff) shows him how joyously is nephew Fred (Brian Worth) and his clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns), celebrate Christmas with those they love. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Czeslaw Konarski) shows him what he will leave behind after he is gone. Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning, a new man intent on doing good and celebrating the season with all of those around him.

Cast

Alastair Sim (Ebenezer Scrooge)
Kathleen Harrison (Mrs. Dilber)
Mervyn Johns (Bob Cratchit)
Hermione Baddeley (Mrs. Cratchit)
Michael Hordern (Jacob Marley)
Glyn Dearman (Tiny Tim)

Bing Crosby – Silent Night

This song is not only my favorite Christmas Carol… I think it’s up there with the best songs ever written. I hope everyone has a great Christmas/Holiday.

There are over 26,000 different versions of “Silent Night” on Spotify, meaning you could listen to a different rendition of the carol every night for 72 years.

Halfway through December 1818, the church organ in St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, 11 miles north of Salzburg in what is now Austria, broke (a popular version of the story claims that mice had eaten out the bellows). The curate, 26-year-old Josef Mohr, realized it couldn’t be repaired in time to provide music on Christmas Eve. He told his troubles to his friend, a headmaster and amateur composer named Franz Gruber, while giving him as a present a poem he had written two years earlier. Gruber was so taken by the rhythm of the poem that he set it to music, and on Christmas Eve there was music after all. Mohr played his guitar while the pair sang the song. It was the first public performance of “Stille Nacht” or as we know it “Silent Night.”

It is believed that Silent Night has been translated into over 300 languages around the world, and it is one of the most popular carols of all time.

From Songfacts

Bing Crosby’s version became his best-seller of the 1930s.

Music licensing company PPL announced in December 2010 that this carol tops the list of Britain’s “most recorded Christmas song of all time.” Said Mike Dalby, Lead Reporting Analyst at PPL: “Silent Night is a beautiful carol which encapsulates the feeling of Christmas entirely. Everyone from punk band The Dickies right through to Sinead O’Connor has recorded it, which exemplifies just how much it resonates with all different types of artists.”

According to PPL, Sinead O’Connor’s 1991 recording was the most popular version of the carol in Britain.

When the organ builder finally did show up to repair the St. Nicholas organ, he was given a copy of the “Silent Night” composition and brought it home. From there, traveling folk singers got a hold of it and began incorporating the carol into their repertoire. It didn’t make its way to America until 1839.

As the song gained traction throughout Europe, Franz Gruber composed several different orchestral arrangements. He donated all profits from the carol to local charities for children and the elderly, and eventually died penniless.

According to Steve Sullivan’s Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Crosby, a devout Catholic, refused to record the religious song, arguing it would be “like cashing in on the church or the Bible.” Crosby met with Father Richard Ranaghan, a priest trying to raise money for overseas missions, and decided to donate the royalties to the cause. But Ranaghan died in a car accident later that year, so the money went to several charities throughout the US and abroad.

This song lends itself to interpretation because the first four bars are all on the same chord. Jim Brickman explains: “There’s room to treat it dynamically in a different way: in the tempo, in the sounds and silences, in the time signature.”

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright.
‘Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

O Holy Night

One of the most popular Christmas Carols…

In 1847 Placide, a French wine merchant and an amateur poet was asked to write a Christmas poem by a local parish priest. Shortly afterward Cappeau traveled to Paris on a business trip and about halfway through his journey, he had the inspiration for the poem Minuit, Chretiens (“Midnight Christians”). When Cappeau arrived in Paris, he took it to the composer Adolphe Adam, a friend of a friend. Adam, who specialized in light opera, is best remembered today for the ballet Giselle. He wrote the tune in a few days and the hymn was played for the first time at midnight mass that Christmas Eve back in his home town of Roquemaure. The carol was frowned upon by church authorities, who denounced it for lack of musical taste and “total absence of the spirit of religion.” Many churchmen felt that Adam, a composer of light operatic works and ballets, was an inappropriate composer of a religious song. However within a few years, the carol was being translated into other languages and in 1855, an American Unitarian clergyman John Sullivan Dwight, the editor of Dwight’s Journal of Music, translated it into English, calling it “O Holy Night.”

This carol has the distinction of being the first song ever to be played live on a radio broadcast. On December 24, 1906, a Canadian inventor, Reginald Fessenden, broadcast one of the first-ever AM radio programs, and the first-ever to feature entertainment and music for a general audience, from his Brant Rock, Massachusetts station. After playing Handel’s “Largo” on an Ediphone phonograph, he proceeded to play “O Holy Night” on his violin, singing the last verse as he played. He finished the broadcast by reading various passages from the Gospel of Luke, before wishing his listeners a Merry Christmas.

From Songfacts

In a 2006 poll of over 37,000 listeners, the British classical music radio station Classic FM voted this carol as the UK’s Christmas favorite.

In the first ever Official Carols Chart by the Official Charts Company in December 2009, it was revealed this is the most downloaded carol in the UK. Runner up was “Silent Night”, followed by “Once In Royal David’s City” in third place. Official Charts Company MD Martin Talbot commented: “The fact that ‘O Holy Night’ has beaten more familiar carols such as ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Away In A Manger’ is something of a surprise, although its success is driven by the fact that popular mainstream singers such as Celine Dion, Aled Jones and Katherine Jenkins have recorded new versions over recent years.”

The carol entered the UK singles chart for the first time in 2012 with a version by the children of Ladywell Primary School in Motherwell, Scotland. Proceeds from their single went to meningitis charities and it was recorded in memory of a 6-year-old classmate who died from the illness.

I have found that many people add and subtract lyrics…here are three different versions.

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; oh, hear the angel voices
O night divine, O night when Christ was born

O night divine
O night
O night divine
Night divine

The Pretenders – 2000 Miles

The guitar in this song is haunting…

This song is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25.

“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, where it peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.

In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK that December.

2000 Miles

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you The children will sing
He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you

I can hear people singing
It must be Christmas time
I hear people singing
It must be Christmas time

How The Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966

You’re a mean one…Mr. Grinch.

The cartoon was released in 1966 and has been shown every year since. This one along with Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and a few more were a part of Christmas. These specials would prime you for the big day.

One cool thing about the cartoon was that Boris Karloff was the narrator. Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of Tony the Tiger) sang the great song “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. ”

The citizens of Whoville looked and acted like the others of Dr. Suess’s universe. They were all getting ready for Christmas while a certain someone…or thing looked down from Mt. Crumpit. The Grinch has hated Christmas for years and sees the Whovillians getting ready for Christmas and is determined once and for all to put an end to it.

He dresses up as Santa Clause and makes his poor dog Max act as a reindeer to swoop down and steal Christmas. The Grinch sleds down the hill almost killing Max and they soon reach Whoville. He is busted by one kid…Cindy Lou Who, who asks him questions as the Grinch took her family tree. He lies to her and sends her to bed.

In the morning after he has everything including “The Roast Beast,” he listens for the sorrow to begin.

You need to watch the rest or rewatch…

A live-action remake came out in 2000 but I still like this one the best. You cannot replicate Boris Karloff.

The Budget – Coming in at over $300,000, or $2.2 million in today’s dollars, the special’s budget was unheard of at the time for a 26-minute cartoon adaptation. For comparison’s sake, A Charlie Brown Christmas’s budget was reported as $96,000, or roughly $722,000 today (and this was after production had gone $20,000 over the original budget).

You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch The famous voice actor and singer, best known for providing the voice of Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, wasn’t recognized for his work in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Because of this, most viewers wrongly assumed that the narrator of the special, Boris Karloff, also sang the piece in question. Upset by this oversight, Geisel personally apologized to Ravenscroft and vowed to make amends. Geisel went on to pen a letter, urging all the major columnists that he knew to help him rectify the mistake by issuing a notice of correction in their publications.

Mr Grinch

You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel
You’re as cuddly as a cactus
You’re as charming as an eel
Mr. Grinch
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel
You’re a monster, Mr. Grinch
Your heart’s an empty hole
Your brain is full of spiders
You’ve got garlic in your soul, Mr Grinch
I wouldn’t touch you with a
Thirty-nine and a half foot pole

You’re a vile one, Mr. Grinch
You have termites in your smile
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile
Mr Grinch
Given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the seasick crocodile

You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch
You’re a nasty wasty skunk
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk
Mr Grinch

The three best words that best describe you
Are as follows, and I quote”
Stink
Stank
Stunk

You’re a rotter Mr Grinch
You’re the king of sinful sots
Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots
Mr Grinch

Your soul is an appalling dump heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable
Mangled up in tangled up knots

You nauseate me, Mr Grinch
With a nauseous super nos
You’re a crooked jerky jockey and
You drive a crooked horse
Mr Grinch

You’re a three-decker sauerkraut
And toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce

http://mentalfloss.com/article/72593/13-spirited-facts-about-how-grinch-stole-christmas