You can count or plan on me? Reportedly, there was confusion. “In the TikTok post, the person played several versions of ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas,’ including those performed by artists Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Carpenters.” Only Carpenters used “count.” Later versions tended to lean toward “count.”
From the Library of Congress: “On October 4, 1943, Crosby recorded ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra for Decca Records. Within about a month of its being copyrighted, the song hit the music charts and remained there for eleven weeks, peaking at number three. The following year, the song reached number nineteen on the charts.
“It touched a tender place in the hearts of Americans, both soldiers and civilians, who were then in the depths of World War II, and it earned Crosby his fifth gold record. ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ became the most requested song at Christmas U.S.O. shows in both Europe and the Pacific. Yank, the GI magazine, said Crosby accomplished more for military morale than anyone else of that era.”
I attended a holiday concert in the late 1990s at a venue in the College of Saint Rose. The show featured Kim and Reggie Harris and the duo Magpie. Someone told a story—the details are lost to me—about how so many GIs did not make it home for Christmas. All I know is that by the time they sang, “If only in my dreams,” I was weeping. And it still makes me melancholy.
Another lyric change
Here’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland, from the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, which Kelly convincingly argues is better than the lyric changes Sinatra made. She sings:
Someday soon we all will be together,
if the fates allow;
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow,
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
He changes the “muddle” line to “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” It’s more optimistic, but the film’s situation doesn’t call for it. And I relate to “muddle through.”
The late Diane Hall
Until she died, I did not know this: “‘First Christmas’ is Diane Keaton’s debut Holiday Song. A reflection on cherished memories and moments of the stories of life. The song and video celebrate the joy and peace found in holding these memories close. The original song was co-written by the legendary Carole Bayer Sager and Jonas Myrin, with Myrin also taking the helm as producer. “
It echoes another song mentioned here:
Hearing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
It only makes me miss him
When you love someone for so, so long
Yet they’re not coming home
The snow falls on my window
I wish that I could let go
It’s a silent night
It’s another year
The first Christmas without you here
Several commenters believed she recorded this knowing she was dying. I have no idea, but it is poignant.
Since Judy Garland was about to turn 100, I decided to see The Wizard Of Oz at Albany’s Spectrum Theatre in early April, and my wife accompanied me. We had never seen the film in a cinema before. There were only the two Tuesday showings, at 4 and 7 pm, so I figured it would be packed; there were less than ten of us there at the latter.