Winter Wonderland by Eurythmics—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2025-‘26

 

Winter Wonderland is one of those Winter songs that are always on Holiday Season playlists despite having no direct connection to the holiday.   Ordinarily I wait until after Christmas to post but this year here in the far Northwest boonies of the Chicago metroplex we were pasted by a major storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow on us.  It is an El Niño so a cold and snowy Winter looms ahead of us.  By late December we may already be sick to death of white accumulations and resistant to early dazzling alure. Here is the story of the song if we can stomach it.  

Winter Wonderland was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard B. Smith. Since its original RCA recording by Richard Himber and his Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra, it has been covered by over 200 different artists, including Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Amy Grant, Michael Bublé, and Radiohead.  In 1987, Eurithmics had a modern twist on the old standard using synthesizer and the ethereal vocals of Anne Lennox. 

Smith’s lyrics were reportedly inspired by memories of his hometown Honesdale, Pennsylvania park freshly buried in snow but were written while he was being treated for tuberculosis in the West Mountain Sanitarium in Scranton. 

Among the most notable covers were by Johnny Mercer, who reached #4 on the Billboard radio play chart in 1946, and by Perry Como the same year which was in the top ten songs in retail sales. 

Winter Wonderland snowman--Parson Brown or Circus Clown?

Sinatra’s version is notable for changing the lyrics.  Despite the earlier success of the song, Sinatra was warned that powerful Protestant clergy were prepared to demand radio stations ban the song because of the line “In the meadow we will build a snowman/We’ll pretend that he is Parson Brown/He’ll say, ‘are you married?’ We’ll say no man/But you can do the job when you’re in town.”  The preachers were alarmed that the words implied hanky-panky by the unmarried couple.  Old Blue Eyes changed the word to the nonsensical “In the meadow we can build a snowman /And pretend that he’s a circus clown/We’ll have lots of fun with Mr. Snowman/Until the other kiddies knock him down.” 

Some later covers of the song used Sinatra’s version while others stood by the original words.  Some even used both versions. 

Annie Lenox channeling the Sprit of Christmas Present for her classic holiday album Christmas Cornucopia.

We Gather Together for the First Sunday of Advent—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2025-‘26

 Today in most Western Christian churches is the first Sunday of Advent, the four-week liturgical season of anticipation of the birth of Christ.  Although most Americans call the whole time from Thanksgiving to December 25 the Christmas Season, Christmas was the 12-day period from the Nativity to the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6.  In churches only hymns of prophesy of a coming Savior, songs of Joseph and Mary on their journey to the City of David, and finally announcement carols on Christmas Eve were sung during Advent.  Songs of celebration of the Birth come after. 

Lighting the Candle of Hope on the Advent Wreath.

In most churches in addition to specific Bible readings light the first of the four candles on an Advent wreath as part of their services.  The first candle represents Hope. 

In the U.S. unless there are 5 Sundays in November, the First Sunday of Advent follows Thanksgiving and elements of that holiday are often also part of the services in many Protestant congregations. 

One of the most beloved Thanksgiving carols, is song known as We Gather Together.  Originally written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as Wilt heden nu treden to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout it was thus a patriotic song rather than a religious one.  But of course, it had religious overtones since it celebrated the defeat of Catholic Spain over the mostly Reform Dutch patriots whose congregations could finally worship safely free from fear of the Inquisition.  Which is why you will probably rarely hear it sung in a Mass.

  Adrianus Valerius wrote the patriotic Dutch song Wilt heden nu treden in 1597 and is still considered  a  national Hero in The Netherlands. 

It was originally set to a Dutch folk tune and was introduced in an American hymnal in 1903.  When the Dutch Reformed Church in North America decided in 1937 to abandon the tradition of singing only Psalms and add hymns in church services, We Gather Together was chosen as the first hymn in their first hymnal.  It soon spread to other denominations, notably in the influential Methodist hymnal.  Church music historian Michael Hawn explained the song’s new popularity, “by World War I, we started to see ourselves in this hymn,” and the popularity increased during World War II, when “the wicked oppressing” were understood to include Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. 

There are several different translations from the Dutch and other adaptations published under a variety of titles.  Unitarian Universalists warble We Sing Now Together with lyrics by Edwin T. Becher.  But probably the most popular version has lyrics by Thomas Baker was arranged for Choir and congregation by Stephen Paulus.  That is what we will hear today performed by the First United Methodist Church of Houston, Texas under the direction of Cynthia Douglas accompanied by Jay Whatley.