Every year, upon returning from the Thanksgiving Day parade on the Parkway, our son would get out all of the Christmas recordings and  fill the house with songs we hadn’t heard for eleven months.  The first was usually the Carpenters (excellent) Christmas album and Karen Carpenter’s first solo was the exquisite Christmas Waltz.  I tend to weary quickly of Christmas tunes through occupational over-exposure, but The Christmas Waltz remains one of my favorites.  The music is by Julie Styne, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn and it was written in 1954, the same year the movie White Christmas came out, but don’t get me started on that venerable example of the filmmaker’s craft!

I chanced upon some string players hiding in a part of my keyboard that I rarely visit, so for fun, I put them to work.  Click above to hear our collaboration.  The lyrics are beneath it.  (I like the line, which I suspect is unintentionally deadpan, about Santa filling his sleigh with things.)

The Christmas Waltz

Frosted window panes

Candles gleaming inside

Painted candy canes on the tree.

Santa’s on his way,

He’s filled his sleigh with things,

Things for you and for me.

It’s that time of year

When the world falls in love,

Every song you hear seems to say:

“Merry Christmas,

May your New Year dreams come true.”

And this song of mine,

In three quarter time,

Wishes you and yours

The same thing too.