Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! (And Everyone Else, Too)

Gary pointed me to this article at EMusic, describing how that timeless classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, came into being, featuring the wonderful music of jazzman, Vince Guaraldi.

It was also 1965, of course, and the hormonal juggernaut of rock & roll was detonating not only American music but the very tempo of American life — the Beatles were going supernova, Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone" and youth culture seemed destined to revolutionize the entire world. Guaraldi's gentle, genteel jazz leapfrogged Schulz's show out of the frenzy, perfect for the story's anti-commercialism theme. More subtly, jazz provided a light, safe allusion to the existential alienation of the hep-cats and beatniks of just a few years prior, a precursor to Charlie Brown's eternal "why me?"; the music's Latin and African-American influences reflected an increasingly cosmopolitan society.

To all my readers and friends, I wish you a very happy holiday season, and a bright, healthy, happy and peaceful New Year.

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