FIVE CAROLS AND HOW THEY GREW
During the 19th century, as The Battle for Christmas raged, classical composers and church organists captured the holiday in carols. But many modern carols have surprising creation stories. Here are five:
“Do You Hear What I Hear?” — By 1962, Leon Schleinger had seen enough of war. A native of Alsace, he was drafted into the Nazi army but escaped and joined the French Resistance. Wounded in an ambush, Schleinger came to America after the war, changed his name to Noel Regnei, and wrote a few hits. Then came the Cuban Missile Crisis. One afternoon, as the world perched on the brink, Regnei was walking in Manhattan. The sight of mothers pushing strollers suggested a line: “Pray for peace, people, everywhere.” When the lyrics were finished, Regnei gave them to his wife, pianist Gloria, who wrote the music. But neither could bear to sing the song. “Our little song broke us up,” Regnei recalled. “You must realize there was a threat of war at the time.” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” was released in time for Christmas. “Said the night wind to the little lamb. . .”
2. “The Christmas Song” — This most recorded of all carols was created on a sizzling July afternoon in L.A. in 1945. Trying to “stay cool by thinking cool,” pianist Bob Wells began dreaming up icy metaphors. Chestnuts roasting. Jack Frost nipping. Folks dressed up like Eskimos. Wells scribbled the images on a spiral pad not imagining a song, just trying to cool off. But his musical partner, singer Mel Torme, saw the possibilities and within forty minutes the song was finished.
3. “The Little Drummer Boy” — Classically trained pianist Katharine Kennicott Davis had written hundreds of songs for school choirs. Eking out a living as a music teacher, she lived quietly near Boston. Then one afternoon in 1941, Davis was trying to take a nap. But you know how you get a song stuck in your head? The song was an old French carol — Patapan. The lyrics described shepherds playing instruments for the newborn Jesus. The chorus sounded the instruments — patapatapan. Hmmm. Pah-rum-pah-pah-pum? The Trapp Family Singers recorded “Little Drummer Boy” in 1951, setting it on its course.
4. “Silver Bells” — Songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans were inspired by the bells they heard on Manhattan street corners, tolled by Salvation Army Santas. But the original lyrics hailed “Tinkle Bells.” Then Livingston’s wife told him what all kids in 1950 knew — that “tinkle” meant peeing. Carols work in strange ways.
5. “Let it Snow, Let it Snow” — That must have been some LA heatwave in July 1945 because as Mel Torme was imagining “Jack Frost nipping at your nose,” across town Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn were also using lyrics to stay cool. There in the sweaty heat, they began, “Oh the weather outside is frightful. . .” “Let it Snow” was out by Christmas. BTW, the following summer, during a heat wave in Boston, Leroy Anderson wrote “Sleigh Ride.”
