Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: The 3rd Lyric Change

Judy Garland’s singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” in the 1944 film “Meet Me in St. Louis” made the song a Christmas standard. It’s certainly one of the favorites we present in the Christmas version of “When Swing Was King” to senior care facilities. And when we come to that number in the show, I sometimes explain that the lyrics of that song have actually been changed twice -- first at the insistence of Judy Garland herself when the film was still being made and then again in the 1950s at the whim of Frank Sinatra.

Well, here from a memorable devotional from Joni Eareckson Tada comes the very moving story behind yet a third change in the song’s lyrics. Check it out…

Have Yourself a Blessed Christmas 

One of the Christmas classics you hear so often this time of year is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The composer of that poignant song is my friend Hugh Martin. Years ago, when Hugh came to Hollywood after leaving New York, he fell on difficult times, which led this dear man to the feet of Jesus. And sometime after his conversion, Hugh went back to the piano and composed new lyrics to his beloved classic. This time, he wanted his Lord and Savior to be honored in the music. Hugh went home to be with Jesus in 2011 at the age of ninety-six, but before he died, he was a guest on our radio program, and I sang those new lyrics for him: “Have yourself a blessed little Christmas, Christ the King is born. Let your voices ring upon this happy morn.” The old lyrics were tender and sweet; the new lyrics may go on ringing into eternity.

Thank You, Lord, for the story of Hugh Martin’s changed life. It’s a story that can be told millions upon millions of times. You change lives, King Jesus. You lift up people from darkness, heartbreak, and impossible situations and give them hope, happiness, and a new song to sing.

And thank you, Joni, for passing along this wonderful Christmas account.

About Auden's Night Mail

Night Mail was commissioned for the United Kingdom’s documentary film of the same name which Auden was working on in 1936. It was determined by the producers that a spoken word poem would increase the film’s dramatic impact. They were right as the poem not only worked very well for the film, it quickly became one of the best loved of all Auden’s poems. 

And if you'd like to watch that original 24-minute documentary, do so right here.

Night Mail by W.H. Auden

This is the night mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,

Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.

Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time.

Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shoveling white steam over her shoulder,

Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from bushes at her blank-faced coaches.

Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.

In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes.

Dawn freshens, her climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descends,
Towards the steam tugs yelping down a glade of cranes
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In dark glens, beside pale-green lochs
Men long for news.

Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or to visit relations,
And applications for situations,
And timid lovers’ declarations,
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled on the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, the adoring,
The cold and official and the heart's outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Thousands are still asleep,
Dreaming of terrifying monsters
Or of friendly tea beside the band in Cranston’s or Crawford’s.

Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and long for letters,
And none will hear the postman’s knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

The Last Song from the Titanic?

Many students of the Titanic disaster believe that “Autumn,” an old Anglican hymn, was one of the songs played by the 8 musicians in the ship’s orchestra before the mighty craft broke and sank below the frigid north Atlantic waves. The song was featured in the classic 1957 film about the tragedy, “A Night to Remember,” as well as a 1979 film version. 

It is intriguing to speculate how that well-known song would have affected the hearers, some being rowed away to safety (though they would hardly have known that at the time) and some knowing full well that they had but minutes to live. I print the lyrics below, compelling spiritual lyrics that would have been known and remembered by many of those hearing the heroic members of the orchestra play the song…lyrics which may well have caused the hearers, even at that last opportunity, to trust in the soul-saving truths they presented. 

“Autumn” 

(Lyrics written by Louis von Esch, music by François H. Barthélemon, 

Early 19th Century) 

“God of Mercy and Compassion, look with pity on my pain. Hear a mournful broken spirit, prostrate at thy feet complain. Many are my foes and mighty, strength to conquer I have none; nothing can uphold my goings, but thy blessed self alone. 

Savior, look on thy beloved; triumph over all my foes. Turn to heavenly joy my mourning, turn to gladness all my woes. Live or die or work or suffer, let my weary soul abide, in all changes whatsoever, sure and steadfast by thy side. 

When temptations fierce assault me, when my enemies I find, sin and guilt and death and Satan, all against my soul combined, hold me up in mighty waters, keep my eyes on things above, righteousness, divine atonement, peace and everlasting love.” 

The Titanic band members all went down with the ship. 

The English musicians were Theodore Ronald Brailey (pianist, 24 years old), John Frederick Preston Clarke (bassist, 30), Wallace Hartley (Bandleader and violinist, 33), Percy Cornelius Taylor (cellist, 32), and John Wesley Woodward (cellist, 32). Roger Marie Bricoux (cellist, 20) was French, John Law Hume (violinist, 21) was a Scotsman, and Georges Alexandre Krins (violinist, 23) was Belgian. 

A second class passenger who survived the tragedy gave a fitting epitaph for these men, “Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. The music they played served alike as their own immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.”

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: The 3rd Lyric Change

Judy Garland's singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in the 1944 film "Meet Me in St. Louis" made the song a Christmas standard. It's certainly one of the favorites we present in the Christmas version of "When Swing Was King" presented to senior care facilities. When we come to that number in the show, I sometimes explain that the lyrics of that song have actually been changed twice -- once at the insistence of Judy Garland herself and then again at the whim of Frank Sinatra.

Well, here's comes Joni Eareckson Tada in this morning's email devotional to describe yet a third change of lyrics. Trust me, you'll find this an interesting and memorable devotional.

Have Yourself a Blessed Christmas 

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)

One of the Christmas classics you hear so often this time of year is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The composer of that poignant song is my friend Hugh Martin. Years ago, when Hugh came to Hollywood after leaving New York, he fell on difficult times, which led this dear man to the feet of Jesus. And sometime after his conversion, Hugh went back to the piano and composed new lyrics to his beloved classic. This time, he wanted his Lord and Savior to be honored in the music. Hugh went home to be with Jesus in 2011 at the age of ninety-six, but before he died, he was a guest on our radio program, and I sang those new lyrics for him: “Have yourself a blessed little Christmas, Christ the King is born. Let your voices ring upon this happy morn.” The old lyrics were tender and sweet; the new lyrics may go on ringing into eternity.

Thank You, Lord, for the story of Hugh Martin’s changed life. It’s a story that can be told millions upon millions of times. You change lives, King Jesus. You lift up people from darkness, heartbreak, and impossible situations and give them hope, happiness, and a new song to sing.

“And Let This Feeble Body Fail”

Life on this poor, problematic planet will not last.

There couldn't be a truth more obvious. And yet men constantly seek distraction from honestly facing the fact of their death as well as such other hard realities as pain, grief, desperation, injustice, and deep longing.

However, for the Christian; that is, the person who has received the gift of salvation via the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, there is a joyful confidence that this planet is not our final destination.

Here is how Charles Wesley described this assured expectation in a funeral hymn written in 1759.

And Let This Feeble Body Fail

And let this feeble body fail,

And let it droop and die;

My soul shall quit the mournful vale,

And soar to worlds on high;

Shall join the disembodied saints,

And find its long sought rest,

That only bliss for which it pants,

In my Redeemer’s breast.

In hope of that immortal crown

I now the cross sustain,

And gladly wander up and down,

And smile at toil and pain:

I suffer out my threescore years,

Till my Deliverer come,

And wipe away His servant’s tears,

And take His exile home.

O what hath Jesus bought for me!

Before my ravished eyes

Rivers of life divine I see,

And trees of paradise:

I see a world of spirits bright,

Who taste the pleasures there;

They all are robed in spotless white,

And conquering palms they bear.

O what are all my sufferings here,

If, Lord, Thou count me meet

With that enraptured host to appear,

And worship at Thy feet!

Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,

Take life or friends away,

But let me find them all again

In that eternal day.

Christmas Quiz --- Number Three

By the way, the first two parts of this Christmas quiz can be found here and here. 

1) In what year did Charles Dickens write A Christmas Carol? A) 1790 B) 1843 C) 1890 D) 1933

2) Which popular Christmas song was actually written for Thanksgiving? A) “Frosty the Snowman” B) “Winter Wonderland” C) “Jingle Bells” D) “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” E) “Deck the Halls”

3) In A Charlie Brown Christmas, Linus reads about the real reason for the season from what book? A) The gospel of Luke B) The gospel of Matthew C) “The Little Drummer Boy” D) A Christmas Carol

4) After worshiping the baby Jesus, the magi from the east were warned by God in a dream not to return to: A) Egypt B) Parthia C) Jerusalem D) Bethlehem

5) “Adeste Fideles” is more commonly known as: A) “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” B) “Frosty the Snowman” C) “The Christmas Song” D) “Silver Bells”

6) Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus the Savior literally means: A) Salvation B) House of bread C) Without a home D) Anointed home

7) Who wrote the short story, “The Gift of the Magi”? A) Charles Dickens B) Lewis Carroll C) O. Henry D) Clement Moore E) Mark Twain

8) The Messiah, George Frederick Handel's beloved Christmas oratorio, was first performed in 1742. In what city was it performed? A) London, England B) Jerusalem in what was then known as Palestine C) Dublin, Ireland D) Berlin, Germany

9) One of the marvelous adventures of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes, is set in the Christmas season. The story involves: A) The murder of a man disguised as Father Christmas B) A valuable gem discovered in a dead goose C) A secret message hidden in a child's doll D) A bomb in a Yule log designed to assassinate the King of England.

10) The first people to receive a “formal announcement” of Jesus' birth were common laborers who were looked down upon as social inferiors. Who were they? A) Shepherds B) Tax collectors C) Reporters D) Actors

11) How many wise men visited the stable on the night Jesus was born? A) 3 B) 7 C) 12 D) None

12) In the poem, “”Twas the Night Before Christmas,” what headgear was worn by the Momma? A) Nightcap B) Red towel C) Christmas stocking D) Kerchief

13) In Victorian times, Londoners would have been familiar with a “goose club.” What was that? A) Holly boughs wrapped up and set on the fire B) A three-stringed musical instrument C) A method of saving to buy a goose for Christmas D) A group of Christmas merry-makers, usually involved in mischief

14) For what singing cowboy was “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” a smash hit? A) Gene Autry B) Tex Ritter C) Hank Williams D) Roy Rogers E) Rex Allen

15) The flight into Egypt was: A) Saint Nicholas' escaping from the Turks B) The magi fleeing from Herod C) The nation of Israel being delivered from Pharaoh D) The Holy Family traveling to safety after a message from God


Answers: 1) B 2) C -- James Pierpont composed the song in 1857. It's original title? “One Horse Open Shay.” 3) A 4) C – King Herod (in Jerusalem) had told the magi to return to him and give a report on Jesus' whereabouts. However, he wanted not to worship Jesus (as he had lied), but rather to murder him. 5) A 6) B 7) C 8) C -- Handel wrote the work to aid charities in Ireland. 9) B -- In “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” Holmes recovers a gorgeous diamond and, in the charitable spirit of the Christmas season, allows the repentant thief to escape imprisonment if he promises to leave England forever. 10) A 11) D – The Bible does not say how many magi there were who came to visit and worship Jesus. Most Bible scholars believe it was probably several. However, the visit of the magi almost certainly did not occur on Christmas night but many months after Jesus' birth. 12) D 13) C -- “Goose clubs” were popular with the working-class of London, who paid a small amount every week towards the purchase of a goose or turkey to eat for Christmas dinner. 14) A 15) D

The Brave Musicians of the Titanic Knew Just What to Play

Many students of the Titanic disaster believe that “Autumn,” an old Anglican hymn, was one of the songs played by the 8 musicians in the ship’s orchestra before the mighty craft broke and sank below the frigid north Atlantic waves.

The song was featured in the classic 1957 film about the tragedy, “A Night to Remember,” as well as a 1979 film version.

It is intriguing to speculate how that well-known song would have affected the hearers, some being rowed away to safety (though they would hardly have known that at the time) and some knowing full well that they had but minutes to live.

I print the lyrics below, compelling spiritual lyrics that would have been known and remembered by many of those hearing the heroic members of the orchestra play the song…lyrics which may well have caused the hearers, even at that last opportunity, to trust in the soul-saving truths they presented.

“Autumn”

(Early 19th Century) 

(Lyrics written by Louis von Esch, music by François H. Barthélemon.)

“God of Mercy and Compassion, look with pity on my pain. Hear a mournful broken spirit, prostrate at thy feet complain. Many are my foes and mighty, strength to conquer I have none; nothing can uphold my goings, but thy blessed self alone.

Savior, look on thy beloved; triumph over all my foes. Turn to heavenly joy my mourning, turn to gladness all my woes. Live or die or work or suffer, let my weary soul abide, in all changes whatsoever, sure and steadfast by thy side.

When temptations fierce assault me, when my enemies I find, sin and guilt and death and Satan, all against my soul combined, hold me up in mighty waters, keep my eyes on things above, righteousness, divine atonement, peace and everlasting love.”

The Titanic band members all went down with the ship. 

These Brave Musicians Knew What to PlayThey were Englishmen Theodore Ronald Brailey (pianist, 24 years old), John Frederick Preston Clarke (bassist, 30), Wallace Hartley (Bandleader and violinist, 33), Percy Cornelius Taylor (cellist, 32),  and John Wesley Woodward (cellist, 32); Frenchman Roger Marie Bricoux (cellist, 20); Scotsman John Law Hume (violinist, 21); and Belgian Georges Alexandre Krins (violinist, 23).

A second class passenger who survived the tragedy gave a fitting epitaph for these men, “Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. The music they played served alike as their own immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.”

Church Culture: Music, Bible Translations, and a Prayer Inside a Historic Chapel

“The problem with my youthful logic only began to dawn on me about seven years ago. I had come to recognize that these ancient hymns accomplished something that the new songs weren't. While contemporary worship seemed to take the listener on an exciting and emotional rollercoaster, the old hymns engaged the mind with deep and glorious truths that when sincerely pondered caused a regenerated heart to humbly bow before its King.”

The above observation comes from an insightful and compelling article, "My Journey Away from Contemporary Worship Music" by Dan Cogan. Check it out.

“About 88% of Americans have a Bible in their home, and when they reach for their Bibles, more than half of them are still reaching for the King James Version (KJV)…Yet, it is interesting that the KJV translators themselves had particular ideas about translations other than their own, and they lay out their views clearly and forcefully in the published Preface of the original edition of their eloquent translation. Ironically, their views are very different from those who champion their translation today.”

Interesting? You’ve no idea yet! So please go on and read the short but revealing article from Dr. George H. Guthrie, “6 Surprising Ideas the KJV Translators Had about Other Bible Translations.”

“A Prayer in a Park, for Peace and for Preservation” by Tom Gilson is a brief, inspirational piece about he and his wife coming across a historic chapel in Michigan’s Hartwick Pines State Park. A very nice article with applications that go beyond the rustic beauty of the chapel itself.

"When Swing Was King" for June

The  next volume of When Swing Was King” makes its debut today at two senior care facilities, Bethany in Council Bluffs and House of Hope in north Omaha. The schedule for the rest of the month (as always) is posted at the Vital Signs Ministries website.

The song list this time around?

1) Glenn Miller Orchestra —
“Elmer’s Tune”

2) Chick Webb Orchestra —
“I’ve Got Rhythm”

3) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
(with vocals by Frank Sinatra)  —
“The Song Is You”

4) Harry James Orchestra — “Alice Blue Gown”

5) Art Lund (with the MGM Orchestra) — “Mam’selle”

6) Phil Harris Orchestra — “Y.O.U. Just Plain You”

7) Artie Shaw Orchestra (with vocals by Tony Pastor) — “Jeepers Creepers”

8) Dean Martin — “Sway”

9) Lawrence Welk Orchestra (featuring Henry Cuesta) — “La Mer”

10) The Mills Brothers — “Georgia on My Mind”

11) Benny Goodman Orchestra (with vocals by Helen Forrest) — “It Never Entered My Mind”

12) Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (with vocals by Bob Eberly) — “Fools Rush In”

Book & Music Notes (Weekend Edition)

* Scott Johnson over at PowerLine not only mentioned a short story by Sinclair Lewis that I had never heard of, he quite decently provided a link to it. Thanks, Scott; the story (“Young Man Axelbrod”) is a gem.

Here’s a brief excerpt to serve as an introduction:

And at sixty-five Knute Knute Axelbrod was like one of his own cottonwoods, his roots deep in the soil, his trunk weathered by rain and blizzard and baking August noons, his crown spread to the wide horizon of day and the enormous sky of a prairie night. This immigrant was an American even in speech. Save for a weakness about his j's and w's, he spoke the twangy Yankee English of the land. He was the more American because in his native Scandinavia he had dreamed of America as a land of light. Always through disillusion and weariness he beheld America as the world's nursery for justice, for broad, fair towns, and eager talk; and always he kept a young soul that dared to desire beauty…

With a longing for music and books and graciousness such as the most ambitious boy could never comprehend, this thick-faced farmer dedicated himself to beauty, and defied the unconquerable power of approaching old age. He sent for college catalogues and school books, and diligently began to prepare himself for college.

* “To understand why Putin took Crimea, read his favourite authors” (Colin Freeman, Telegraph)

* “Chick Webb: ‘The Lord Gave Me Some Years To Play’" (Vital Signs Blog)

* “Getting Upset About the Wrong Things in Disney Movies: A Christian Tradition” (Brian Brown, aleteia)

* “The library of the future” (Jane Fagan, Mercator)

* And here's a couple more articles from Breitbart's Big Hollywood on the new movie, Noah. --- “9 Problems with Aronofsky's Noah” by Ben Shapiro and  “Noah Review: Brilliantly Sinister Anti-Christian Filmmaking” by John Nolte.

* Okay, this YouTube video isn’t a quick thing. But if you want a delightful, thoughtful hour and a half, connect your computer to your TV and watch, listen, and enjoy this performance by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (directed by Sergiu Celibidache) of Anton Bruckner’s haunting Symphony Number 8 in C minor.

The performance was filmed in Suntory Hall in Tokyo, October 1990. (And yes, you could always play the music in the background while you’re reading. No one will know you are using this complex, ethereal beauty for mere background music. I won't tell anyway.)

Larry Clinton & Bea Wain Present "Heart and Soul"

Rarely do I get to promote any of the songs we include in our "When Swing Was King" ministry with a moving picture. Yes, each of the 23 volumes of "When Swing Was King" involves a couple hundred terrific photographs (to accompany the 12 songs from the big band era), but they are still pictures, in the most literal sense.

But here's a nice exception. Throughout the month of March, all eleven facilities where we have presented the program have delighted in hearing the Larry Clinton Orchestra perform "Heart and Soul" featuring the superb vocal stylings of young Bea Wain.

Well, you can now hear -- and see -- that same song...courtesy of Paramount Studios...and YouTube!

"Safely Home" -- Your Free Gift

"Safely Home" may be our very favorite of all the superbly-crafted songs from the talented team at Little Bird Studios. Composed by a longtime friend of Vital Signs Ministries, "Safely Home" is a complex instrumental song that describes in music a dynamic spiritual conversion. It is rich. It is provocative. It is inspirational.

Our friend offers "Safely Home" as a free download throughout the month of May to all visitors to the Vital Signs Ministries website. You can download your own copy of the song -- completely free of charge -- by simply pushing the button on the screen.

Of course, our friend does hope a few of you might like to help Vital Signs Ministries continue our fight against the enveloping darkness. There's a form on the VSM website for that too.

But the song "Safely Home" is a free gift through July 30.

Please give it a try. And then check out the samples of other beautifully fashioned songs at Little Bird Studios.

Deep Winter Reading: World War II, Alistair MacLean, Perry Mason... and More

I've been deep in World War II the last couple of weeks with the help of some outstanding historians …and one novelist. I pass along the best of these as hearty recommendations.

* Dan Kurzman's excellent history of the Allies' effort to destroy the Nazi's supply of heavy-water (especially involving a handful of daring heroes from the Norwegian underground) is titled Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb. It was published in 1997.

* Ben Macintyre's Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (2012) is an excellent history of Britain's brilliant and stunningly successful counter-espionage program. Imagine -- capturing every single spy Germany sent into England and then turning most of them into remarkably effective double agents whose misinformation was critical to the Allies' victory.

* Stephen Ambrose's Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944 is a detailed (and stirring) description of the early hours of D-Day starring the British glider commandos and paratroopers who took (intact) the river and canal bridges at Benouville and defended them until relieved. The efforts of this small band of heroes, quite literally, may have saved the invasion. If you doubt it, please read the book, first published in 1985.

* The novel I referred to above was Alistair MacLean's thrilling adventure about the Merchant Marine in WW II, San Andreas (1984). It's superb.

Other reading going on? Well, besides the Bible study material and the necessities of Vital Signs Blog, the late evenings of the deep winter months usually find me curled up with a few favorite mystery authors. Among that group would be Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Dick Francis, John D. MacDonald, Jonathan Gash, Donald Hamilton, John Dickson Carr, Helen MacDonald, Leslie Charteris, Eric Ambler, and the like.

This year, however, it was 30 some Erle Stanley Gardner novels, most of them featuring Perry Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake and company. For a bit of spice, I did toss in a few of Gardner's books written under the pen name of A.A. Fair. Those star the diminutive but street smart private eye, Donald Lam.

Slipped in there were Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds (which I posted about previously in The American Revolution's Frontier War) and The President’s Lady by Irving Stone, a fine historical novel about Andrew and Rachel Jackson that we read for our book club in February.

Oh yes, there was also the much more substantial book written by one of my favorite historians, Samuel Eliot Morison. That was The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1963, 610 pages.) That book also prompted a Book Den post which you can find here.

But back to the more recent reading. In addition to the World War II books I mentioned at the outset of this post, March titles have included three more Alistair MacLean novels (Fear Is the Key, The Guns of Navarone, and Caravan to Vaccares). I enjoyed them all. For well-written, thrilling adventure novels, MacLean never disappoints. And then there was the The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healey that was the subject of a Book Den post from earlier in the week. 

Next up -- I'm about halfway through Studies in Words by C.S. Lewis; two thirds through A Solo in Tom-Toms by Gene Fowler; and I've just begun Unjust Enrichment: How Japan's Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs by Linda Goetz Holmes. In order to best serve "When Swing Was King" ministry, I'm also reading through a few books dealing with Big Band history. Among them are Star Dust by Richard Grudens and The Big Band Almanac by Leo Walker.

Plugging the Planotones

Is there anyone better in producing classic, soulful, rock music than the venerable Kenny Vance and the Planotones?

If so, I don't know 'em -- and I'm willing to bet that you don't either!

To acquaint yourself with this legendary singer, composer and musical director, check out his website. And, may I suggest 3 specific items on that site? Great.

1) Go to the video section and click on "Cara Mia."

2) Check out the Profiles interview that's embedded on the site.

3) If you're hooked, then head over to the merchandise section and get some Kenny Vance and the Planotones tunes of your own. You'll be listening to them over and over.

An Upscale Flash Mob: Banco Sabadell Celebrates A Birthday

The music is, of course, Beethoven's Ninth. And the event is a commercial of sorts for the Bank of Sabadell in Sabadell, near Barcelona in Spain. Very cool!

(Reposted at Vital Signs Blog)

Was Mozart Dissed in Death?

Poor Mozart ! In life pushed from pillar to post; in sickness working to the last moment to bring bread to his family; in death occupying an unknown grave!

After Mozart's death, that night of December 4, 1791, the little house on Roughstone Lane, in Vienna, was almost deserted. Only two or three callers came. The men who made money by the dead master's genius stayed away. The widow was left almost destitute, as Mozart's fortune amounted to five pounds in money and his effects were valued at about twenty-six pounds more. A heavy draft on this was made by the undertaker's and doctor's bills, which amounted to perhaps twenty pounds.

The cold rain and sleet pounded down, that gloomy day when the little group left the house. After the services at the church the mourners dropped off, and when the hearse reached the cemetery no one followed the remains of the composer of "Don Juan" and the "Jupiter" symphony.

Two paupers had been buried that day; and, as it was late, Mozart's coffin was hastily thrust into the pauper's grave being the last for the day it was uppermost, the earth was hastily thrown in, and the great composer lay at rest in a pauper's grave.

But a stranger thing happened. After some years the grave was opened to receive more bodies of the unfortunate poor. The grave-digger remembered which was Mozart's grave and, having been an admirer of Mozart's music, he preserved the great composer's skull. This man sold it to a certain official, who in after years bequeathed it to his brother, and it was he who made known to the world the fact of this gruesome possession.

Be this as it may, Germany can by no admiration for Mozart's works at this day atone for her neglect of their author at the time of his need and distress. It will always be a blot on the good name of Vienna and the Fatherland.

(From Anecdotes of Great Musicians by Willey Francis Gates, published by T. Presser, 1905.)

It makes for a great story with memorable morals about gratitude, loyalty, the fleeting nature of fame, excellence will survive, and so on.

But did it really happen?

Not quite.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on December 5th, 1791. On that there's no contest. But the tale of ignominy, ingratitude and poverty surrounding his funeral is not based on fact. Yes, the records reveal that Mozart's body was buried in but a wooden coffin and in a pit where another four or five bodies would be laid as well. But that wasn't because Mozart was poor or forgotten. It was merely the standard practice for middle class people of late 18th Century Vienna. Only aristocracy assumed they would have a private burial plot.

The Gates anecdote, already famous before he included it in his 1905 collection, makes no reference to Mozart receiving a Christian funeral service. But he did.  His body was consecrated with the traditional rites at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Afterward, it was solemnly taken by horse-drawn wagon to St. Mark's Cemetery.  The sad anecdote emphasizes the lack of mourners along the way but again, that was normal for the day. Indeed, reliable sources describe how a few friends and devotees defied convention and accompanied the hearse anyway.

Also, the digging up of Mozart's body (another somber element of the legend) wasn't considered a desecration at all. In fact, the city held the rights to re-use (for whatever purposes) the grave sites after a period of 10 years and frequently exercised that privilege. In such cases, the bones of the dead were disinterred, crushed to allow for more room, and re-buried in consecrated ground. With such a policy, it should be no surprise that the exact site of Mozart's remains are unknown. However, the honor of recognition is not denied Mozart by the cemetery officials or the people of Vienna. In later years, a monument commemorating his life was erected in the cemetery near the spot where Mozart's remains must almost certainly rest.

What about the skull? Well, it's true that the Salzburg Mozarteum was presented with a skull in the early part of the 20th Century. And the donation was supposed to be Mozart's. But there is no hard evidence at all to connect the skull with the legend.

It just might be that the original source of the sad tale depicting Mozart as a forgotten genius was Mozart's widow herself, Constanze. Mozart had left her with an awful lot of debt and she needed to not only get out from under that but to provide for herself and her two children. We know that she applied for (and received) a pension from the Emperor. Plus she also organized publication of Mozart's music and had concerts performed. There's no doubt that interest in these things was greatly stimulated by the story of an unheralded musical giant and his impoverished widow -- a story that could well have been exaggerated by the widow herself to guarantee the success of the numerous ventures.

By the way, Constanze also helped her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, write a detailed biography of Mozart. With these measures, Constanze lived well and was not at all the destitute, broken-hearted widow of the legend.

So the lesson here? Learn what you will from legends, fables and old wives' tales. But don't confuse hysteria and hype with real history.

Music, Fire and a Moment of Respite

Last night Claire and I spent a couple of hours sitting in front of the fire and listening to music. Specifically, we listened first to highlights from the original cast recording of Phantom of the Opera (Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Steve Barton). Then it was an album of show tunes from Debbie Gravitte, "Defying Gravity." And we ended up with two albums by torch singer extraordinaire, Julia Rich.

We have a touch of personal history with all three -- just a touch -- but it was enough to add a little spice. We saw a wonderful production of Phantom at Her Majesty's Theater in London in 2003 (I know, name dropper!) and we enjoyed performances of the two ladies here in Omaha at the Holland Center. Julia we especially enjoyed (twice, in fact) as she was singing with the new Glenn Miller Orchestra.

There's something very nice about having this kind of relaxing, reflective moment. And when you're listening to wonderful music with someone you love (not to mention the the beauty, warmth and mysterious movement of the fire), the experience goes beyond the moment. It lasts...well, sometimes it lasts forever.

These are the high callings of romance and art, of conversation and music, of fine literature and the contemplation of nature. They remind you of the personal God Who is behind the curtains of the commonplace and secondly, of the eternal pleasures that await His adopted sons and daughters, pleasures that are but hinted at in this realm.

So, do not neglect the responsibilities that life brings your way...even when the completion of them takes courage, sacrifice and your most spirited work. But do not neglect the tender moments when God allows a sabbath, those bittersweet moments of respite that give you perspective on the past and present as well as hope for the future.

Music of Beauty, Music of Meaning. Announcing Little Bird Studios.

The art of creating music that is genuine, complex, provocative and mature -- and not just a simple ditty to be performed by a stage-struck "worship team" on Sunday morning. Well, that is rare indeed.

But I'm very pleased to let you know that a friend of mine, a trusted friend of over 40 years, has begun to produce just such music. And alongside him are some of the most talented and stylistic musicians in the Midwest, musicians who have played with Mannheim Steamroller and other popular performers. I think you'll find the music fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable.

Please try one of the selections at Little Bird Studios and give my friend motivation to keep creating. I think you'll find motivation to keep coming back.

By the way, I love them all. But perhaps because Claire and I were allowed "behind the curtain" during the days when "Penitent Man" and "Safely Home" were being shaped...and because we know a bit of the story behind these very profound songs...they're at the very top of our list.

Pleasant Enrichments

I started to title this post "Pleasant Diversions" because I am going to jot down here a quick update of things we've been reading, watching and listening to in recent days. But I decided on a more appropriate word because the things going into that list have not been as much diverting for my soul as they have been deepening, developing and enriching.

And that's the trick for Christians, isn't it? To select things to enjoy in your leisure hours that do not divert you from your stated convictions of faith and morality but rather which enhance your knowledge, sharpen your communication skills and entertain in ways that will not dull your conscience.

Modern Christians are much too quick to accept whatever the culture throws at them. We are not discriminating and we are not properly protective of what our heart takes in. We take television, movies, popular music and modern novels as a natural right without carefully considering how dramatically different in morality they are from past years. Think of The Lone Ranger, Leave It To Beaver and Playhouse 90 compared to today's shlock where dysfunctional families, sexual promiscuity (even perversions), coarse language, leftist politics, disrespect for Christianity, and a general lack of creative quality abound.

There are better things to do with your time...and your mind.

With that said, let me get to that catch up list.

* I finished Micah Clarke, Arthur Conan Doyle's novel about the Monmouth Rebellion of 17th Century England and found it to be a wonderful read -- exciting and instructive and, thanks to Project Gutenberg, completely free. It is a novel of battle, religious conviction, politics, honor and friendship that is splendidly carried by Doyle's rich prose and his steady eye for historical accuracy. I will definitely recommend Micah Clarke for next year's Notting Hill Napoleon list.

* Claire is well into Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell's panaromic view of the American Civil War and its aftermath. We have both read it in years past but it is this month's selection for the Napoleons so we're re-reading it. Well, Claire is. In typical fashion, I'm kinda' late in getting to it. And with the novel stretching over 1100 pages, that's a bit dangerous.

* The reason I'm not yet into GWTW is partly because I've been spending most of my evenings creating new "When Swing Was King" presentations. That requires downloading photos, editing them, sorting them into categories, downloading music, increasing the volume as I enter the songs into the Power Point program, researching information about the songs and musicians, and finally actually creating each 13-song, 160-180 picture volume.

* Another couple of reasons that I'm not yet into the antebellum South is that Claire and I have started taking long walks in the evening and there is often the need to work on my sermons for Faith Bible Church. (By the way, here's a great hint for all of you who, like me, are Bible students. Check out the resources of StudyLight.org)

* And yes, there's one other distraction I'd better admit to. For instead of opening GWTW last night, I opened the Kindle and started reading Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage by Gyles Brandreth. Claire had alerted me last week to a Kindle special offering a bunch of titles for 99 cents and I opted for this one. And, boy; am I glad I did. It is absolutely delightful, a charming and extremely interesting book about two people you think you know...but don't. I did about a third of the book last night and now I'm afraid I've got to finish it before I start on Mitchell. It'll be tight.

*On the viewing front? Well, there's not much in this category except that we have often watched episodes of The Rifleman on MeTV. There's also episodes of Wanted: Dead or Alive which we picked up over Christmas at ShopKo -- all 7 seasons of the show on disc for $19.99. Not bad. And finally,  on the advice of the Goldens who we had over to dinner a week ago or so, we watched the movie, Seven Days In Utopia starring Lucas Black and Robert Duvall. It was a terrific story. Well developed. Inspirational. Quirky. A great family film. We can rarely recommend movies but we do this one.

Okay, we're up to date on our "pleasant enrichments." Feel free to e-mail us suggestions from your experience too. Or to drop them in the Facebook thread following this post there.

Andy Willams Talks About His TV Christmas Shows