It’s that time of the year. For myself and lots of other people, they have a Christmas song or album that kicks off or sparks the childhood Christmas spirit we all hope for this time of year. Okay, maybe not everyone looks for a selection of Christmas music to put them in the spirit of the season. But, for me, it’s Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.
To be honest, for television Christmas specials, it’s a toss-up between Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas that gets me going. But, when it comes to music, the first album I cue up on the CD player, MP3 Player or whatever on Thanksgiving weekend is the music from the 1965 TV Animated Christmas Classic.
I don’t remember the first time I watched the much-heralded Christmas special. The show was first broadcast on CBS in 1965. I was born in 1967. That being said, it’s been on every year of my life. For much of my childhood, I would watch ALL of the kids’ Christmas specials…Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty and of course Charlie Brown. My sister Kathy would always make some comment every year about these specials being on AGAIN. But, I would watch it every year. I’m sure in my teenage years I would miss the airings because of the High School activities along with a part-time job to take up my time.
When I got to college, I was living on 3rd floor Mantor Hall at KSC(now UNK). One night(maybe after a holiday break), one of the guys on the same floor was blaring a cassette tape of him playing piano at a high school talent show. What was the song he was playing?… Linus and Lucy – the iconic theme song for everything Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. As the familiar music came from his stereo speakers, I was filled with a wonderful feeling of the innocence of youth and I felt that playfulness of the music fall over me. In those college years, I was struggling with my studies as a music education major. I wanted to succeed. But, as I learned…it was hard. The sound of the Vince Guaraldi music took me back to a place in my life where things were easier and less stressful.
In 1989, the jazz label GRP released a various artists album called Happy Anniversary Charlie Brown. This album featured many of the contemporary jazz artists that were on the label performing music Vince Guaraldi and Peanuts TV specials. In the late 80’s, MTV sister station VH-1 had programming that was geared for a more Adult Contemporary audience. I even remember watching their Sunday morning Jazz programming. One of those Sundays, there was a video for pianist David Benoit’s version of Guaraldi’s Linus and Lucy.
I think I may have even opened up the CD for in-store play at Dustys just so I could hear Linus and Lucy again and again. Later, I had some friends of mine that went to the Ranch Bowl in Omaha to see Joe Satriani and his band play. They came back to tell that Joe’s bassist Stu Hamm did this bass solo where he played Linus and Lucy as part of the solo. I thought “that is sooooo cool.” A couple years later on Stu’s album The Urge, he had a track on the album titled Quahogs Anyone? Which was basically a live recording of his bass solo featuring the famed Charlie Brown song. I bought the Stu Hamm CD because that kind of instrumental stuff was some of my favorite stuff in those days.
As the 90’s progressed, this piece of music became fairly popular with musicians and music lovers alike. In 95 and 96, I spent a lot of time hanging out with my college buddy Mark P and his (now ex) wife Betsy. There were many conversations about music and movies that were banded about at the time. It was a common thread that we shared. At one point, a CD of Vince Guaraldi was put on. I don’t know if it was a “Best of” or the Christmas album. All I knew was that after hearing the different versions of the iconic songs, there was something intangible and unique about the original.
In 1996, Windham Hills artist and pianist George Winston released an album of Vince Guaraldi songs called Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi. I think I received the CD as a Christmas gift that year. I absolutely loved it. It was nothing but solo piano. I’m sure some of my friends who knew me as a hard rocking drum loving guy were surprised by my fondness for this CD. It was the relaxing piano music that I cherished. As time went by, it still seemed just a little stale in comparison.
Fast forward to Christmas 2006. It had been a year since my wife and I had separated. But, I was still having quality time with our son who would have been 2 years old by this time. I was having a hard time trying to get myself into “The Christmas Spirit”. So, what other way is there to spur it on? Buy some Christmas music. I had a couple of special Christmas CD’s I had compiled while my wife and I were together. Then, I saw a copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas original soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi. It was priced reasonably. So, I bought it and I’m glad I did. Then, I realized that it wasn’t just the piano jazz that I loved. It was the jazz trio of Guaraldi on piano, Fred Marshall on bass and Jerry Granelli on drums that drew me in. Of course, I knew Linus and Lucy. But, it was arrangements of traditional Christmas tunes like O Tannenbaum and What Child is This along with Guaraldi’s original songs Skating, Christmas is Coming and Christmas Time is Here all together that resonated in me as and adult yearning for the childlike wonderment of Christmas. The other thing that I loved(as a drummer) was the sound quality of a small drumkit in the recordings as you can hear the ride cymbal swinging away and the rack toms along with the use of brushes on the snare. It makes me want to sit down on a small kit and play along. It’s such a great feeling. It’s like the way the kids are drawn to feel in this video.
This weekend I picked up a book from the library called A Charlie Brown Christmas – The Making of a Tradition.
It’s interesting to read about this traditional holiday special. It was made in only 6 months and was delivered to the CBS network only a week before it aired. The two network executives that watched that first copy of it were not impressed and didn’t like it. But, the show was scheduled to air in less than a week. So, they couldn’t pull it off the schedule. The TV Critic who was to watch it after the execs eventually liked it but didn’t say anything after his initial viewing. But, it’s been a beloved Christmas special ever since. Another thing that’s always highlighted about this special is that Charles Schulz wanted to have the characters actually quote a passage from the Bible to highlight the true meaning of Christmas. That message still resonates as our society continues to grow in the commercialism of the holidays that even Charles Schulz could see way back in 1965.
I’m glad I eventually bought this on CD. I’ve ripped the CD onto my MP3 every year since I bought it. I dial up these songs on a daily basis during the month of December. I even keep some of the non-Christmas tunes on my player for a little while longer and then put them on my player at the end of November to rev me up for the holiday season.
In the book A Charlie Brown Christmas:The Making of a Tradition, Guaraldi’s son David said about his father’s music
The Music he wrote for the shows relates to each scene and the Peanuts kids’ feelings. He captured that perfectly because he loved kids; he did a lot of things for kids in his life.
As Linus quotes from the TV Special says:
Of all the Charlie Browns in the World
You’re the Charlie Browniest!
If that’s a way to describe this holiday classic TV special and music, then it’s not such a bad way to be described.
MERRY CHRISTMAS CHARLIE BROWN!!
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