Continuing with my theme of the songs I don’t like for the pandemic…

I guess I had intended to give that up, but the song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” has been on my mind a lot today.

#1 son brought his family over today. They were picking up birthday gifts and the birthday cupcakes.

Not very Christmasy, perhaps, but really it was. I gave them a pandemic Christmas ornament and passed on some coffee a client had sent, too.

We had a lot of conversation and they admired my holiday decorations and we made plans for Christmas Eve.

So it is looking a lot like Christmas.

 

 

 

 

Meredith Wilson, who wrote The Music Man, wrote this song in 1951. It talks about how there are Christmas trees and stuff all over the place, but the best part of the holiday is at home. This will be true during the pandemic, since we are all staying home this year and enjoying our own firesides.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
Take a look at the five and ten, it’s glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes that glow
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door
A pair of Hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben
Dolls that’ll talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
There’s a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well
It’s the sturdy kind that doesn’t mind the snow
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Soon the bells will start
And the thing that’ll make ’em ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door
Sure, it’s Christmas once more
The lyrics are sappy, but also hard for young people to understand. They do not know that a “five and ten” was a five and ten cent store, or what they would call a dollar store. They don’t know what Hopalong boots are, either, being unfamiliar with Hopalong Cassidy.
It was written for Perry Como. Michael Buble has also recorded it. This is a clue to the fact that it isn’t actually easy to sing. You might think it is, because it has such a silly little tune. However, it requires some skill not to make that first “Christmas” sound dumb, and the whole song is an invitation to scooping and other vocal flaws.
So we can think of it as a good song for showing off vocal technique.