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Natal

Era inevitável, esta semana tinha mesmo de ser dedicada ao cancioneiro pop natalício, músicas impregnadas de good will e “vontade de paz na Terra” mas que tendencialmente são mais ligadas às tradições anglo saxónicas que se tornaram entretanto ubíquas nesta altura do ano.

Mesmo quando por aí anda tudo a rir com as compotas e almoços no quintal há já muito tempo que chegamos por volta desta data e muito mais do que a Mariah belting “tudo o que ela quer para o Natal” ou a Smooth a martirizar gentes incautas com o Bublé sei que há uma verdadeira e expressa vontade de partilhar com todos a alegria de estarmos juntos, de sabermos que o ano está quase a findar, que algures nesta data nasceu alguém que celebramos como redentor dos nossos desígnios.

No entanto esses mesmos propósitos são apimentados por uma profanidade coloquial e saudável:  Yippee-ki-yay, motherf****r, frase proferida pelo agente John McClaine em resposta ao gozo expresso pelo seu inimigo Hanz Gruber é talvez para a minha geração a frase mais natalícia de sempre. A esse Die Hard irei sempre associar Let it Snow, original de 1945 da dupla Sammy Cahn e Jule Styne durante uma tão grande vaga de calor na California (já na altura a coisa ardia por essas bandas) que os seus autores escreveram este hino que depois ficou alojado nesta quadra.

É com a versão de John Zorn editada em 2011 no album A Dreamers Christmas que começo a encher de presentes este meu pinheirinho.

No entanto não é o único xmas tune que veio por chaminés enviesadas. Mais à frente escolhi uma canção que recentemente até se envolveu numa certa celeuma pós-Me too: Baby It’s Cold Outside, aqui na interpretação da repetente Pearl Bailey (já cá tinha aparecido na M4we dedicada a duetos) contracenando a diatribe de fim de noite com o trompetista e cantor Hot Lips Page. Escrita por Frank Loesser em 1944 e introduzida “ao grande publico” em 1949 no filme Neptune’s Daughter, uma comédia romântica em Technicolor com uma parada de estrelas como Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalbán, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn, Xavier Cugat e Mel Blanc. Mas a canção tinha sido concebida para Loesser cantar em jantares com a sua esposa Lynn Garland. Esta um dia disse que depois da primeira vez que a cantaram em público “we became instant parlor room stars. We got invited to all the best parties for years on the basis of “Baby”. It was our ticket  to caviar and truffles. Parties were built around our being the closing act”. É certo que a canção nunca menciona a época festiva no entanto quando Frank vende os direitos para o filme Lynn ficou furiosa e chegou mesmo a firmar que se sentia pior do que se o tivesse encontrado na cama com outra mas o Oscar para melhor Canção Original talvez tenha metido um fim à sua fúria conjugal. Que belo embrulho…

Mas nestes 40 cadeaux há de tudo para todos, pode muito bem ser o Dylan com acordeão, ou o piano que Vince Guaraldi faz o Linus tocar para Lucy, se até o Rufus Thomas ou a Marlene Dietrich tiveram direito a festas felizes, então o que nos impede de termos também um jolly good time indeed? Pode ser o lado mais novelty como Santa Brought Me Choo Choo Trains ou I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. Pode ser Louie Vega que em 2016 puxava mais uma vez dos seus galões nuyorican para com Cindy Mizelle fazer uma ode ao Natal em NYC assim bem ao jeito da trupe Browder, Darnell, Hernandez e Daye em Cherchez la Femme…

Trenet e Salvador em representação da lingua francesa, Luis Aguile que arrebata “doce puntos” lá para a chaminé dele enquanto o Ol’ Blue Eyes mostra aos mais novos como é que se comportam os senhores, se a ocasião é propícia para o Grilo Falante pedir ao rato Mickey nos desejar um bom Natal então quer dizer que tenho luz verde para poder culminar evocando o meu amigo e companheiro de luta Ricardo Coelho fez há uns anos um refix a Last Christmas, clássico natalício dos Wham, Fiel à sua onda electro-glitch da altura é na verdade uma recriação, que mantem dotes do original mas que trás o todo para o sec. XXI. Segundo Ricco “[Rain]deers are replaced with unicorns and sleigh-bells with cowbells”. Bem haja estas almas caridosas que sentem o Natal de forma profunda e por vezes profana.

Mele Kalikimaka para os meus amigos and to all a good night…

#staysafe #musicfortheweekend

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It was inevitable, this week had to be dedicated to the Christmas pop songbook, songs steeped in good will and a desire “for peace on Earth” but which tend to be more linked to the Anglo Saxon traditions that have become ubiquitous at this time of year.

 Even when everyone in Portugal is laughing loudly with all this “jam and lunches in the yard” we always get around this date and much more than Mariah belting “everything she wants for Christmas” or Smooth FM torturing unsuspecting listeners with a shot of Bublé, I know and feel that there is a real and deep desire to share, a certain joy of being together, of knowing that the year is almost over, that sometime on this date someone was born that we celebrate as the redeemer of all flaws in our designs.

However, these same purposes are peppered by a dose of colloquial and healthy profanity: Yippee-ki-yay, motherf **** r, phrase uttered by agent John McClaine in response to the enjoyment expressed by terrorist Hanz Gruber is perhaps for my generation the most memorable Christmas phrase ever.  To that Die Hard I will always associate Let it Snow, original of 1945 and made by the duo Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne during such a great heat wave in California (at the time things were already burning up) that its authors wrote this hymn later located to this time of the year. It is with John Zorn’s version, published in 2011 on the album A Dreamers Christmas that I begin to fill this particular stocking with presents.

However it is not the only xmas tune that came via skewed chimneys.  Later on I choose a song that recently even got involved in a certain post-Me too uproar: Baby It’s Cold Outside, here in the interpretation of Pearl Bailey (she had already appeared in the M4we dedicated to duets) opposite the   the trumpeter and singer Hot Lips Page.  Written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and introduced “to the general public” in 1949 in the film Neptune’s Daughter, a romantic comedy in Technicolor with a parade of stars like Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalbán, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn, Xavier Cugat and Mel  Blanc.  But the song had been designed for Loesser to sing at dinner parties with his wife Lynn Garland who later said that after the first time they sang it in public “we became instant parlor room stars.  We got invited to all the best parties for years on the basis of “Baby”.  It was our ticket to caviar and truffles.  Parties were built around our being the closing act ”.  It is true that the song never mentions the festive season however when Frank sold the rights to Hollywood Lynn was furious and even stated that she felt worse than had she found him in bed with another woman. With a bit of wishful thinking the Oscar for better Original Song maybe did put an end to this marital headache with some beautiful wrapping…

But in these 40 cadeaux there is always something for everyone, it may well be Dylan with an accordion, or the piano that Vince Guaraldi makes Linus play for Lucy, if even Rufus Thomas or Marlene Dietrich were entitled to a happy holiday what  prevents us from also having a jolly good time indeed?  It may be the more novelty side like Santa Brought Me Choo Choo Trains or I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. It could be Louie Vega who in 2016 pulled up his nuyorican medal and produced with Cindy Mizelle an ode to Christmas in NYC just like the troupe Browder, Darnell, Hernandez and Daye in Cherchez la Femme…

Trenet and Salvador in representation of the French language, Luis Aguile who snatches “doce puntos” to his pine tree while Ol ‘Blue Eyes shows the youngsters how grown men do, if the occasion is propitious for Jiminy Cricket to ask Mickey Mouse to wish us a good Christmas so it means that I have a green light to be able to culminate evoking my friend and a few times musical partner Ricardo Coelho who a few years ago did a refix to Wham’s classic: Last Christmas. True to his electro-glitch wave the whole thing is actually a recreation, retaining the original’s endowments while bringing the whole to the XXI century.  According to Ricco “[Rain] deers are replaced with unicorns and sleigh-bells with cowbells”. Bless all these charitable souls who feel Christmas as profound and at times profane.

Mele Kalikimaka to my friends and to all a good night…

#staysafe #musicfortheweekend

John Zorn – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Harvey Averne Band – Let’s Get It Together This Christmas

Elvis Presley – Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)

Radio Royale – Sonhei com o Pai Natal

Spike  Jones & His City Slickers – Santa Brought Me Choo Choo Trains

Charles Trenet – Chanson Pour Noël

Tony Bennett – My Favorite Things

Seamus Haji – Xmas Wrapping

Seth MacFarlane – Mele Kalikimaka

Patti Page – Boogie Woogie Santa Claus

Siw Malmkvist – Frosty, der Schneemann

Jiminy Cricket and Mickey Mouse – From All Of Us To All Of You

Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time Is Here

Pearl Bailey and Hot Lips Page – Baby It’s Cold Outside

Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald – Marshmallow World

Luis Aguile – Ven a mi casa esta Navidad

Bob Dylan – Here Comes Santa Claus

Rufus Thomas – Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

Louie Vega Starring Cindy Mizelle – Christmas In New York

Run DMC – Christmas In Hollis

Brenda Lee – I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus

João Gilberto – Presente De Natal

Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby

Bobby Starr – Jake The Flake

Chicago feat. Dolly Parton – Wonderful Christmas Time

Henri Salvador – C’est Noêl m’amie

Marlene Dietrich – Der Trommelmann

Frank Sinatra – Christmas Dreaming

Lu Ann Simms – I Dreamt That I Was Santa Claus

Burl Ives – Snow For Johnny

Gayla Peevey – I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

She & Him – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree

Augie Rios – Ol’ Fatso

The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping

Jona Lewie – Stop The Cavalry

Dolly Nunn – Nuttin’ For Christmas

The Jackson 5 – Christmas Won’t Be the Same This Year

The Flaming Lips – A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)

Tatiana Kochareva – Christmas at Home

Wham – Last Xmas (Cavaliers of Fun ReFixxx)