Annie Zaleski
Appearances
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
I knew you were going to say that because I did not realize what a polarizing that song was. And so this was actually written by a man named John Rocks. He basically had studied music in Vienna. He wrote some Broadway songs. And the singer was 12. Her name was Gayla Peavy. And so she was kind of on a child star who was kind of on an upswing. And she sang the song.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And I think what's most fascinating about this song is that the way they promoted it. I think now it's kind of foreshadowed the way music promotion is now. You know, so basically the whole story is she wants a hippopotamus for Christmas. And so how they promoted the song was saying she needs the real gala needs a hippopotamus.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And so they did all of these, you know, fundraisers and promotion and they did a fundraiser and they actually donated, people donated $4,000, which in the early 50s, you know, I calculated it was more than $40,000 today. And they basically found an elephant, Matilda, and they, she went to the Oklahoma City Zoo and she lived there for decades.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
So it's a weird song and it's definitely kind of all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. There were a lot of songs like this in the early 50s, you know, the post-World War II baby boom, you know, children were music consumers. And I think that was definitely one of the songs too geared toward them.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
That one is so funny because it's one man and he basically, and so if people know the song Witch Doctor by David Saville, and he put together the chipmunk song, he bought a really real cassette recorder and manipulated the tapes to make the chipmunk voices, which honestly for the time was very forward thinking. And he basically made these characters, these chipmunks.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
It's funny because he actually almost did not end up on chipmunks. You know, he wasn't sure if the singer should be them or insects. He actually thought of being butterflies, which is or mice or rabbits. They almost were not chipmunks, which is funny.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Oh, boy. I mean, and so this came out in 1943, which, you know, obviously was in the middle of World War II. It was an even more fraught time, I think, than when White Christmas came out. And, you know, basically, it's less optimistic. I mean, I think, you know, even, you know, I'll be home for Christmas. When you hear the title, you're like, that's a promise. I'll be home there.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
But honestly, when you actually kind of listen to the song, the lyrics almost hint that coming home for the holidays is a fantasy, that this is something that might not be possible. You know, I think the parenthetical is, if only in my dreams, is I think, you know, kind of, you know, basically points to that, basically, that, you know, that there's no guarantee.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And I think this is another song that just really, really summed up the time. It's fun. Funnily enough, the song actually has a very complicated backstory because there were lawsuits involved in terms of these songwriters. People had shared this song and there were copyright things.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And so for a song that is just so melancholy and just so downtrodden, there was a lot of drama and legal drama behind the scenes. But boy, Bing just really, too, his performance and his delivery on the song, too. He really, really lived the song and leaned into the melancholy. But it was comforting in a way.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Absolutely. And, you know, Jingle Bell Rock is another one of those when I mentioned, you know, songwriting credits. That is a fascinating, fascinating one, because the songwriters who are credited are Joseph Carlton Beale and James Ross Booth. And there's not a lot of information about them. You really have to kind of dig to find out sort of what they did.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Bobby Helms over the years has always claimed, you know, he's no longer with us. But when he was alive, he claimed, I wrote a bunch of this stuff. I really rewrote this song and he didn't get credit for it. And so, but, but he, and he was in country music. That was so interesting is that he had had a couple of country hits.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
So when he kind of came up with this song that was, you know, a little bit, um, You know, it's funny because it's very early rock and roll, kind of easygoing. You can tell that he was in country, by the way, with the instrumentation and the musicianship. Hank Garland was on it, big country music performer, and just really sort of being laid back and sort of shuffling.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And it's just, it's one of those feel-good songs when, you know, Jingle Bell Rock is Jingle Bell Rock is basically it's people going, you know, you're going to Jingle Bell Square, you know, so it's kind of playing up the iconography of Christmas and just kind of for teenagers going out and dancing. That's very much this.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Same thing with Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, you know, and this Brenda Lee, first off, nailed it. This was another song that she recorded right in the dead of summer. And it was written by Johnny Marks, who is notorious because he also wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
No, actually, you know what? She was 12. She might have even been 12. I'd have to look up when her birthday was. She was so young, and you wouldn't know it. I mean, I think that's what's so incredible about that song, is that she always sounded so much more sophisticated and adult than she actually was.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
A hundred percent, you know, and she said that it was a turning point, you know, and that it's really, she called an interview, it breathed new life into the tune. And, you know, it hit number one last year. I mean, I think that's what's striking, you know, decades after it came out.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
She, you know, it basically, you know, Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You parentally hits number one around the holiday season and Brenda Lee did last year. Just unbelievable. Yeah.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And it's funny when you think about it, you know, that was 40 years ago now, you know, and the Eagles was almost 45 years ago. And so, you know, when we were growing up, those songs from the 40s and 50s, those were the classics. So yeah, they are now the classics. Wham's Last Christmas is so...
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
you know unbelievable because i think george michael especially has been getting a lot more credit for his songwriting his production you know in recent years and that song he basically wrote himself he was at his parents house and he was hanging out you know um andrew ridgely his wham bandmate was also there and he basically got inspiration and he went upstairs and he happened to have a keyboard in his childhood bedroom and started writing the song
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And then he actually ended up recording it in the studio by himself. There was just an engineer. And he played the instruments on it, too, with some synthesizers and a drum machine. And, you know, that was basically a George Michael production. And that song is so funny because the interpretations of it vary so wildly. You know, I mean, I've always said that...
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
that it's basically you run into an ex at a Christmas time and that you go through a whirlwind of emotions, your anger, your bitter, your sad, your longing, and that you're basically saying, nope, they are no longer worth my time. I'm done with you. It's time to move forward. But people have many different interpretations of that. It's very, very interesting.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
I've had some heated conversations with people about Last Christmas, which you would not expect for the way it sounds being such a synth pop classic.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Oh, the Eagles. And so, and I, you know, this is, it's funny that the Eagles have so many good songs. And I honestly think this is one of my favorite Eagles songs, to be very honest. And I think it's, you know, for starters, I think it's the vocal performances. You know, I think, obviously, their harmonies are...
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
unparalleled and i think this one especially this really highlights it this was actually written though by charles brown and so and he is you know he's a very very underrated musician basically you know he was he had started playing in the 1940s with johnny moore's three blazers um who actually had a hit with merry christmas baby long before uh you know it became very well known and
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And then he also fronted the Charles Brown Trio. But he basically recorded this song for King Records, which was a very infamous and very influential record label in Cincinnati. And so he basically and the Eagles found it and covered it. And so it had been released decades before, and they put just a really wonderful kind of R&B, you know, rock, soft rock spin on it.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And like I said, I just, you know, I love this song. You know, I mean, I think Joe Walsh and Don Felder, they were really, they're such powerful guitar players, and they were very, very subtle. And it was actually the first time Timothy B. Schmidt contributed bass to an Eagles song, which I think also probably contributes to the sound of it as well.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
What I love about this song, The Origins, is that it was written during the summer. And so this was written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells. And it was a very, very hot summer day. And he was like, you know, writing this Christmas song, maybe this will cool me down. And so they ended up writing the song in like 45 minutes.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Thanks for having me.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Christmas music, I've always been a longtime fan ever since I was a small child. And I think one of the things that I'm really fascinated by is that you can really see the world history, social movements, and they're all reflected in Christmas music. So when you look at the history of Christmas music across the decades, you can kind of see how American culture has moved forward.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
You know, so that was written by Irving Berlin. I don't think Irving Berlin needs any introduction. He's one of the greatest composers in American history. And he actually ended up writing it for a movie called Holiday Inn. And that came out in 1942. However, White Christmas came out the year before and basically emerged during the Christmas season right after World War II broke out.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
The song was actually, he played it on his radio show. The song was actually shipped to the UK that year, late 1941, to kind of provide solace for troops. And what I just really love about this song is that it's reassuring. You know, it's a very, he's very empathetic about it. You know, it's a very kind of longing song. It's full of nostalgia.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
It's very wistful that with the hope that maybe one day, you know, everyone will be together. Christmas will be better again. And it really kind of summed up the time. You know, it was a very anxious time in the world, a very fraught time. Families were being separated and it was sort of a beacon of comfort, I guess.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Yeah, it just fit at the time. No, I mean, he wrote this movie. So Holiday Inn had a couple of other holiday-themed songs that were kind of included on the movie soundtrack. And it did not, you know, obviously, I think when World War II broke out, it was one of those right place, right time things. The song just really summed up the mood.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
i love about this song the origins that i did not realize until doing this book is that it was written during the summer there was actually a lot of christmas songs that were written during the summer and so this was written by mel torme and robert wells and actually what happened is that mel was going to robert's house just for you know a writing session and it was a very very hot summer day it was excessively hot as he put it
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And he happened to see on the piano, there were some lyrics that referenced Christmas carols, roasting chestnuts. And he was like, you know what, getting in the Christmas spirit, writing this Christmas song, maybe this will cool me down. And so they ended up writing the song in like 45 minutes. They immediately took the song to Hollywood.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And Nat King Cole liked the song enough that he recorded it the following year twice. Actually, he did two separate takes in 1946. But that song just sums it up right there. That came out right as World War II ended. And so there were a lot of people that there were... getting back together, you know, trying to recover from a very, very difficult four years.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And so that also really kind of, you know, summed up and really provided a lot of comfort for families sort of in the opposite way that White Christmas did.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
100%. And I think that's, you know, his voice. He had such a singular voice. He was so deeply empathetic. And he was such a wonderful interpreter. He really lived the songs that he sang.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Oh, I love Blue Christmas. Oh, no, absolutely. You know, then that came out in 1957, you know, and it's funny, he wasn't actually the first one to do it, which I was very interested about that had been recorded many times before he ended up tackling it. But I think this is another one where his vocal performance just nailed it.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
You know, he just nailed the when you're not having a good Christmas, basically, if you're having anyone who's having a melancholy Christmas and not having a great year, you know, he really he really captured it. And it's funny enough, the writer actually was inspired by Gloomy Day when he actually wrote it, Jay Johnson. And he was actually known for penning scripts for radio shows.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
He wasn't necessarily a songwriter. He was commuting from Connecticut to New York City, and it was a rainy day. And he basically wondered why someone hadn't written a holiday song with some blues in it. And so he decided to write one himself. And he teamed up with a composer friend named Billy Hayes, and they put it together.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
So she actually wrote it with a collaborator of hers, Walter Afanaseff, who he also co-wrote Hero and One Sweet Day. And so they were writing a lot of songs together, you know, and she loved Christmas. I mean, I think that's obvious if everyone looking at it now, she really leans into it because of the song, but she loved Christmas. And so she basically wrote this song
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
You know, it was a silly love song, you know, a whimsical love song, not silly, but whimsical, that she's basically waiting for her beloved, you know, that she's going to be underneath the Christmas tree, you know, waiting underneath the mistletoe, waiting for them to come up.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
You know, and it's one of these songs that I'm still trying to figure out why it's become so popular and why it is just endured and why that one in particular has become a standard. And I think it's probably because, you know, you have her, she really leans into the vocal performance. She really goes for it.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And the instrumentation as well is, you know, kind of old fashioned, you know, you have sleigh bells, you have piano, you know, with a little bit of a different production that could have come out in another decade.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
You said that and I immediately started singing that in my head because, yeah, it is one of those memorable songs that like her hook with that. And, you know, it's funny. She wrote that song with Greg Kirsten and who has a very interesting background. He was in a 90s band called Gegita that very few people remember. But he's done a lot of production for mainstream pop.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And they conjured kind of the Wallace Sound production style. They kind of modernized it and kind of drew on that. And, you know, basically, true love makes Christmas better. I think it's one of those timeless songs that they went with the classics and decided to go for it. I think her vocal performance too.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
She is obviously a big fan of Mariah Carey's, but also some of the other powerful songwriters and powerful female vocalists through the years. There are a lot of women who have sang Christmas songs, Darlene Love, obviously, the Ronettes. She's in the long tradition of those very powerful women singing Christmas songs.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
It's been around since the 40s, which feels like forever, I guess, depending on your perspective. This was in Meet Me in St. Louis, which is Judy Garland. So it's very connected to her post Wizard of Oz. And what was so fascinating about the song is that it almost didn't come to be. So the songwriters are Ralph Blaine and Hugh Martin.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And basically, Hugh was writing the song and played it, just couldn't get the song to work, and he threw it in the trash. And Ralph was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. And he actually said, no, no, no, this is good, and made him take it back out of the trash so they could finish it. And even then, obviously, it's such a pivotal part of Meet Me in St. Louis as well.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And it actually almost didn't end up in the movie, apparently, because they were worried that it was a little bit too dour. Yeah.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
Absolutely. And I think, you know, when I was talking about female vocalists, you know, just really nailing Christmas songs, she really did. And this one as well. So, you know, Richard Carpenter handled the music and Frank Pooler wrote lyrics and people might not necessarily know who he was. What's interesting is that he wrote the song basically as a Christmas gift for a girl to get a crush on.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And it didn't work out or anything, but he kind of kept the song. And he later became a teacher. He was a choral director at California State University, Long Beach, and met Richard and Karen Carpenter. And basically, they asked, hey, do you have any Christmas songs? they could perform. He dug out his lyrics and Richard wrote music to it. What a lovely story.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
He didn't realize that he was doing it. Richard just invited Frank to the studio and said, hey, I want you to listen to something. He put together the song. Karen's performance on this is just so I mean, there's almost no words to describe how beautiful it is. And it's just so tender and dynamic. And it's really, you know, that was fairly early in their career becoming hit makers.
Something You Should Know
True Stories Behind the Greatest Christmas Songs & The Downside of Renewable Energy
And I think it was definitely one of those songs that showed, you know, another side of her and just showed her depth.