The 25 days of Christmas: Day 4

A 3/4 Christmas.

I’m calling an audible on this one. I had intended to post She & Him’s version of “The Christmas Waltz,” but in reading up on it I happened to listen to the Carpenters’ version and realize I like it even better:

Such a gorgeous performance. Karen Carpenter had one of the most pristine voices in pop and this song really showcases it. Listen to her nail that off-note on “same” in “…wishes you and yours the same thing too.” (She was also an ace drummer, incidentally.)

Interesting origin story to this song: It was written as something of a throwaway. In 1954 Frank Sinatra was recording “White Christmas” (because the world definitely needed even more recordings of “White Christmas”) and didn’t have a B-side for it. For some reason he didn’t want to record another standard; he wanted a new Christmas song, and asked Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne to write one. They replied, sensibly, that you don’t just sit down and write the flip side to “White Christmas” on demand, and Sinatra informed them that yes you goddamn do. Styne had a waltz he’d been toying with but didn’t have lyrics for, and they realized there weren’t really any Christmas songs in waltz time, so there you have it.

My only problem with this song is the title. The lyrics are so lovely, and offer a handful of better options: “Frosted Windowpanes,” “It’s That Time of Year,” “When the World Falls in Love,” etc. Calling it “The Christmas Waltz” is a cop-out on par with Elton John’s “Your Song.”

There are at least 46 recorded versions of this song. A few standouts:

• Laufey - Laufey is an Icelandic singer whose style Wikipedia describes as “a mixture of jazz pop and bedroom pop,” which I guess will do. The song really suits her voice, and in fact I considered writing about her 2022 version today. Bringing in a children’s choir must have seemed unforgivably maudlin on paper, but is tight as a monkey wrench in the listening.

• She & Him

• Frank Sinatra

Onward!