I am a sucker for Christmas music. I love to listen to the great Yuletide classic songs over and over again, may it be with different artists or even the same version repeatedly. It doesn't matter. I love it! But of course, after the 25th of December, I erase the Xmas playlist and wait for the next year to do it all over again!
Every year, I like to play my favorite Yuletide music hits at Christmas time!
Of course to me, the best Christmas music is the one that brings back memories of long ago, when I was a kid waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. (Yeah, that long ago!) These are the songs that take me back to those bygone days when the spirit of Christmas was quite different from today, so you won't find any songs by Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Justin Bieber or any of the other current pop stars here!
Frank Sinatra released SINATRA & COMPANY on the Reprise label in 1971. The album features several bossa nova styled songs recorded for a planned second album with Antonio Carlos Jobim but were used instead as part of this new production. Here, Sinatra sings several hits from new composers such as John Denver, who penned "Leaving On A Jet Plane", a nice tune which was incidentally used briefly on the1996 film THE ROCK where Sean Connery sings to it while taking a shower!
You can listen to the song here:
The song is one of several where Frank makes references to flying and air travel.
As 2021 slowly but surely steps in, and in the aftermath of the sad and shameful events that transpired on January 6th at Capitol Hill, I feel the need to review some of the things that, for me, make life worth living. These favorite things still bring a smile to my face and give me a sense that, in spite of all the idiocy and brutality in the world, there will always be a reason to be thankful and keep my hopes high!
