Merry Christmas to our readers around the world. Below is one of the classic Christmas songs, appropriately titled, “The Christmas Song.”
You have to wonder whether other songwriters were jealous when songwriters Bob Wells and Mel Tormé named their song “THE Christmas Song.” How could anyone come up with a more definitive title for a Christmas song than this one first published in 1945?
But then you hear Nat King Cole sing it, and you finally understand why it is “THE Christmas Song.”
Cole recorded the song several times during his career. He first recorded it in early 1946 as part of The Nat King Cole Trio, but later that year Cole asked to re-record it with a string section. It was that second version that became a massive hit. Cole recorded it again in 1953 with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. A version we often hear was recorded in 1961 with an orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael.
According to Wikipedia, Tormé later added a coda to the ending of the song, adapting the words from “Here We Come A-wassailing.”
Love and joy come to you; And to you your Christmas too; And God bless you and send you a happy New Year; And God send you a happy New Year.
One of the great albums for finding solace amidst middle-of-the-night anxiety is Frank Sinatra’s “In the Wee Small Hours.”
In our series “3 a.m. Albums,” we look at albums that are perfect for those nights when you cannot sleep due to sadness, loneliness, despair, or other reasons. We begin the series with an album that is appropriately named, In the Wee Small Hours, which is one of Frank Sinatra’s masterpieces.
Frank Sinatra recorded most of In the Wee Small Hours in the late night hours in early 1955, releasing the album not long after completion in April of that year. Often considered as an early concept album, In the Wee Small Hours received its main inspiration from the dissolution of the relationship between Sinatra and actress Ava Gardner, who Sinatra had married in 1951.
The ballads, arranged by Nelson Riddle, features more sparse instrumentation than on many Sinatra classics, allowing the heartache in Sinatra’s voice to bleed through your speakers above the sounds of the guitar, celesta, piano, and strings. The title song, which was new at the time, stands well next to the album’s classics like “Mood Indigo.” The song “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” remains one of the great opening album tracks of all time, setting the mood for the entire album.
Sinatra poured his tears, sweat, and blood into these tracks. The liner notes claim the album creates “the loneliest early-morning mood in the world.” Reportedly, Sinatra broke down crying after recording “When Your Lover Has Gone.”
The album has stood the test of time. The song “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” has stood the test of time, being covered by many singers, including a recent cover by another singer famous for his relationships, John Mayer. B.B. King has talked about listening to the album on many late nights (“I practically put that In the Wee Small Hours album under my pillow every night when I went to sleep”), and Tom Waits lists it as one of his favorite albums of all time, echoing the album’s artwork on his own The Heart of Saturday Night (1974).
When one thinks of Sinatra, the songs on In the Wee Small Hours may not be the ones you first think of as you run through songs like “Lady is a Tramp” and “Summer Wind.” But it is one of his original albums best heard in its entirety from start to finish rather than as a collection of greatest hits or live performances. And it is best heard at 3 a.m. as you face the demons in your own life, somehow finding comfort knowing that even Ol’ Blue Eyes knew (and somehow survived) the same type of heartbreak. Thankfully, he is there, giving words and music to your feelings like a friend buying you a drink in an empty bar at closing time.
What is your favorite 3 a.m. album? Leave your two cents in the comments.
