Music has always been part of Christmas celebrations. As I remember becoming aware that I was in the world, during World War II in the early 1940s, even in the hard times music was a great part of Christmas. I think the first Christmas song I learned was "Silent Night." Our Sunday School class learned to sing Silent Night as part of our church Christmas program. That was 1943. Kids often have a bit of difficulty hearing and learning parts of "Silent Night." I remember puzzling about round John virgin. I would have known about "around yonder," but I didn't get it about "round yon." I also didn't get it about glories stream or radiant beams. Those were new words to learn.
I didn't know until many years later that "Silent Night" began as a German song, written because the church organ was broken, and the organist needed a song that could be played on guitar and sung for Christmas. I guess the Germans would have said das organ ist kaput, although kaput may mean unfixable. As I understand it, the organ was fixable, but there was not money or time enough to fix it before Christmas. So, we have "Silent Night."
I had learned "Jingle Bells" at home about the same time as I learned "Silent Night." Again, I learned much later that "Jingle Bells" is a really old song, written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont. It remembers a snowy Christmastime and horse-drawn sleigh rides with bells ringing. It is more about fun in a snow-covered northeastern wintertime than it is about Christmas, and I understand it was originally intended for Thanksgiving, but it easily fits Christmas, too. "Jingle Bells" is just one of many secular traditions that have come to be attached to the Christmas season. I'm thinking of several of those secular traditions which have become part of the music of the Christmas season.
One very beautiful secular song appeared during World War II, as a way of remembering the troops who were "overseas" at Christmastime in 1943. Bing Crosby came out with "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and the song has been a Christmas standard ever since. It fits other people who are hoping to get "home" for Christmas, as well as those who are serving in the military in distant places. "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams!" Some people may remember playing Bing Crosby's "I'll be Home for Christmas" on a 78 RPM Decca record. Those old 78 records were such marvels in their day! In our day of digital music players, we may be forgetting those great old 78 RPM record players (as well as the later 45s and 33 RPM long-plays).
In 1942, Bing Crosby brought out his recording of Irving Berlin's "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," which, like "I'll Be Home," has come to be a natural part of Christmas seasons ever since. It is fascinating to me how we love to sing of snow, even while we hate dealing with the cold and wet and sloggy reality. We love the Currier and Ives snowy landscapes and the comfy Thomas Kinkade snow-covered houses all full of light and warmth. Of course, we kids loved the snow for sledding and playing; just not so much for feeding the cows and carrying in the firewood. Lovely snows are great to look at, not so great for getting our car out of the icy driveway.
One of the Christmastime surprises, to me, has been Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer." Rudolph was a story before it was a song. The story was written by Robert May in 1939 and published by the Montgomery Ward Company. Later, Robert May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, turned the story into a song. When Gene Autry put out his recording of Rudolph in 1949, it was a tremendous hit. Rudolph is such a fanciful song, I still wonder at its enduring popularity. Maybe we all connect with Rudolph's red-nose situation, which at first was an embarrassment and a cause for distress, but which eventually turned into a helpful and happy thing. Maybe we all hope eventually to find the acceptance and affirmation that Rudolph found, as teasing and taunting turned into admiration. Gene Autry also wrote and sang the 1947 Christmas ditty, "Here Comes Santa Claus."
One of our long-time favorite comedians, Bob Hope, in 1951 gave us the beautiful song, "Silver Bells," which he sang with Marilyn Maxwell. I see all these secular Christmas songs as happy decorations to the settings of the Christmas season. But my favorite Christmas songs are those that are about the real Christmas, about the Christ child, such as "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Away In a Manger," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Angels We Have Heard On High," and "Once in Royal David's City." Those give the real substance to Christmas. Without them, without the message of Christian hope and faith, all the other songs are empty, a straining after a magic and light-heartedness without anything real to be happy about. What gives heart and life to Christmas is the Christ!
Jesus is the heart and life of Christmas, and the theme of the really great songs.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Editorial on 12/10/2014