My response to music tends to be visual. To this day, when I hear Rod Stewart’s Maggie May, I’m looking through the windshield of my parent’s Chevy wagon, flush with the excitement of my newly-acquired learner’s permit. At times, the visuals suffer a kind of disconnect, as with Badfinger’s Day After Day. Here, I’m looking at the Boydon school, an elementary school on the other side of my hometown that I never attended. As with dreams, the juxtaposition of image vs. reality can lead to some baffling and crazy combinations.

Nothing crazy about my visuals in relation to Brenda Lee’s recording of Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. Here, I’m on a sled being pulled around the frozen surface of the pond behind my house at break-neck speed, my five-year-old knuckles showing white beneath the fabric of my gloves. My older brother John is ignoring demands from my mom to slow down, as I scream for an even faster ride. Such was the inspiration for my purchase of Brenda Lee - Jingle Bell Rock several years later - purely a nostalgia-driven impulse buy.

The ten songs that appear on the 1993 MCA Special Products release cover selections from classic to traditional to the very obscure among available holiday fare. On a scale, the variety ranges from totally pop (Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree) to the pure country ramblin’s of Strawberry Snow. In a reflection of their Top Forty heritage, all cuts clock-in at under three minutes, the shortest being Silver Bells, at 2:02.

Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (Johnny Marks) 2:25

♫ Rockin’ around the Christmas tree, have a Christmas party hop. . .
mistletoe hung where you can see, every cou-ple tries to stop ♫

The short introduction combines country guitar twang (with hints of Les Paul) with capable back-up harmonies. The simple arrangement with standard base-line allows for ample musical flexibility, with a mid-song grinding saxophone solo that would get a granite statue moving. Lee’s distinctive voice and clever phrasing are the icing on this cake. Unofficial estimates claim sales figures topping seven-million total copies for the single release.* The only down-side is the song’s abbreviated length.

This Time Of The Year (Cliff Owens-Jesse Hollis) 2:34

A slow and beautiful, yet somewhat forgettable country ballad. Basically a kid carol that would make a nice background when the young ‘uns are opening their presents.

Jingle Bell Rock (Joe Beal-Jim Boothe) 2:08

♫ Jingle Bell time - is a swell time. . .
to go ridin’ in a one-horse sleigh ♫

This pop Christmas classic begins and ends with a stylized tribute to the traditional Jingle Bells of origin, settling down to a moderate tempo toe-tapper. Competent back-up harmonies let it rip with a mid-section solo, where their Ray Conniff / Mitch Miller School roots begin to show. Throw in some strings and a big bucket of reverb, and you have another Gold Record for the largest-selling female recording artist in history.*

Strawberry Snow (Ronnie Self) 2:29

Part Country crawler, part kid carol - another slow and steady ballad that highlights Brenda’s clear vibrato, as well as the living strings - that pop staple of an earlier era. The lyrics hold no clue to the significance of the title. At least they thought better than to call it Lemon Snow.

Silver Bells (Jay Livingston-Raymond Evans) 2:02

♫ Children laughing, people passing, greeting smile after smile. . .
and on every street corner, you hear. . . ♫

This is one of the two traditional Christmas standards included on the album. Endowed with an odd arrangement that stirs-up images of dancing fairies replete with flutes and copiously plucked strings, the resulting tedium is small tribute to a beautiful song.

Winter Wonderland (Felix Bernard-Richard Smith) 2:56

The second standard to appear, this song gets hijacked by another odd arrangement and given an up-beat Cha Cha tempo. Surprisingly, this works - with clever back-up harmonies and Brenda Lee’s occasional staccato phrasing, this song does what Christmas carols were designed to do. A couple of rounds with Winter Wonderland and you’ll be wishing for snow year ‘round.

Blue Christmas (Billy Hayes-Jay Johnson) 2:40

♫ You’ll be doin’ alright, with your Christmas of white. . .
but I’ll have a blue, blue Christmas. . . ♫

Elvis can rest comfortably in the knowledge that his version of this song is the undisputed king of all time. Here, it’s played pure Country - right down to Brenda Lee’s melancholy delivery and the pensive, lethargic piano tinklings. Appropriately depressing to pay those holiday credit card bills by.

A Marshmallow World (Peter DeRose-Carl Sigman) 2:30

♫ . . .it’s a time for play - it’s a whipped-cream day. . .
I wait for it the whole year ‘round ♫

As the title suggests, another up-tempo kid carol with a fun and other-worldly batch of lyrics thrown in. This is the song that should be on when the Michelin Man drives up looking for that crazy dog of his that’s always running off. Once you learn the lyrics, a great song for sing-along with any kid in need of some frivolous holiday cheer.

Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day (Lee Jackson-Patti Seymour) 2:26

With an opening reminiscent of the mid-sixties heyday of Petula Clark, this semi-rockin’ self-pity party is a tribute to holiday love lost. On the upside - you could dance to it. The downside is that, coupled with Blue Christmas, you will be too depressed to do so.

The Angel And The Little Blue Bell (Johnny MacRae) 2:53

This charming concoction is the closest thing to a religious carol on the album. Slow and simple, it contains angelic back-up harmonies that highlight the story of a church bell that couldn’t ring, until a visit from an angel sets things straight. An excellent Christmas Eve bedtime song to calm those pre-Santa nerves.

Brenda Lee - Jingle Bell Rock is a CD worthy of any holiday collection. The blend of old and new technology has its audio-quality limitations, but for less than six bucks you get a lot for your yuletide dollar. Available at Amazon.com and other cyber / real-world vendors.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Brenda Lee has left the building . . .

♫ Rockin’ around the Christmas tree, have a happy holiday . . .
everyone's dancin' merrily, in the new-old-fashioned way. . . ♫

My thanks to Don_Krider, Dean of the Epinions College of Musical Knowledge.

And my pal Willy who let me borrow his notes. ♫

An entry in carstairs38's Christmas Music Write-Off


*Source: Official Brenda Lee Website: www.brendalee.com/pages/biography.html

Brenda Lee - Jingle Bell Rock
MCA Special Products
MCA Records (1993)

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: With Family