Revised and updated, this appraisal of Frank Sinatra's Christmas recordings as an art form unto themselves was first published in TheBluegrassSpecial.com in 2008.
Shakespeare, Keats, Robert Burns, Thomas Campion and Robert Frost reflect on the modds of winter. Plus seasonal-oriented cartoons starring Mickey Mouse and friends and Woody Woodpecker. Bing Crosby makes an appearance too.
In 1850 JAMES LORD PIERPONT, inspired by one-horse open-sleigh races in his home town, wrote a Thanksgiving ditty for his father's Sunday School class. Thus the humble origin of 'Jingle Bells.'
What Americans hear when they listen to 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' is not anything like what the English peasants meant when they first sang this song more than 500 years ago. So claims best selling author ACE COLLINS.