Born Feb. 27, 1807 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the greatest poets of our time, and a national treasure. He was known for poems like, “A Psalm Of Life” and “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
Henry and his wife Fanny Appleton Longfellow raised six children. In 1861 her dress caught fire. The fire was intense and Henry did everything he could to put it out, even covering her with his own body. She died from her burns a short time later, and Henry was so badly burned that he couldn’t even attend her funeral. He grew a beard to cover burns on his face and was so grief stricken he feared being placed in an asylum. His eldest son Charles ran away from home at 18 and joined the Civil War without his father’s knowledge. When his son finally returned from the war he was badly wounded and required Henry to care for him. It was during this time one morning, that he heard church bells outside his window and wrote the poem, “Christmas Bells.” This was put to music in 1872 by an English organist by the name of John Baptiste Calkin. This is the carol we know today as, “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”
The song, “Silver Bells” first appeared in the movie The Lemon Drop Kid in 1951. The first recorded version was by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards on Sept. 8, 1950 and Dean Martin included “Silver Bells” on his Christmas album in 1966. It was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The song started with the title, “Tinkle Bells.” Ray Evans was quoted as saying, “We never thought that ‘tinkle’ had a double meaning until Jay went home and his wife said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?’” And so we have “Silver Bells.”
Hugh Martin and Ralf Blane wrote “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” for Judy Garland in 1944 for the movie Meet Me In St.Louis. Martin said that the song began with the melody. “I found a little tune that I liked but couldn’t make it work. I played with it for two or three days and then threw it in the trash.” Fortunately Blane had heard it and told Martin that it was too good to throw away. Blaine said, “We dug in the trash till we found it, and thank God we did.”
And so let us embrace the true meaning of Christmas, with all of our loved ones gathered around. Let us try and do the things that Jesus would appreciate. Let’s care for those less fortunate than ourselves. You will never understand what everything is until you lose it. And while I would like to think that Hugh Martin is a distant relative of mine (I don’t think so) I am grateful to a man named Blane who knew a good tune when he heard it. And to a man’s wife who knew that the word tinkle had a double meaning!!
Merry Christmas to you all and remember God loves us all especially when we sing.